We talked to Arkady Bakenov and Rosa Filippello, winners of the Professional Rising Star Latin at UK Open 2016 in January this year. Arkady and Rosa are from Australia but live in London now and represent England. Very recently they won the same event in Blackpool as well.
You need to let your own personality to come out and not to be a copy of the champion or anyone else. Trust yourself and trust what you can do, what you love to do.
Let's start with the congratulations. I guess you must have been very happy yesterday
[Rosa]: Thank you. Yes, very, very happy.
How did you start dancing?
[Rosa]: I come from the dancing family. My mother, my auntie, my grandparents, they all dance; my uncle... everybody. So I was, kind of, born into Ballroom dancing family.
How old were you when you started dancing?
[Rosa]: I was seven when I started, and I was nine when I started competing. In Australia, when I started dancing, they have 3 styles so we did all the ten international dances and extra five New Voque.
Yes, we had a long discussions if we should be introducing results of the New Vogue and also the American Smooth and American Rhythm on our websites...
[Rosa]: I don't know much about American styles but...
[Arkady]: I love watching the American Smooth and Rhythm. Especially when they are incorporated into shows.
[Rosa]: I think New Vogue is good for young children. It teaches discipline and good fundamentals and principles in dance. But I don't think it is something I would do in the international scale. I don't think it would take off outside Australia.
OK, back to your dancing history. Who was your first partner?
[Rosa]: His name was Travis Chester. My second partner was Brett Reilly, he also came from a dancing family. His parents were both Professionals.
Where from Australia do you come from?
[Rosa]: I was born in Sidney but grew up in Perth. So we danced with Brett and we were quite successful as Juvenile and Juniors. After that I had quite a few partners. Then I came to the UK where I had some successful partnerships and then Arkady.
OK, and now Arkady, what is your story?
[Arkady]: I started from the age of eight. I was born in Kazakhstan. One day a dance teacher came to our school, and I fell in love with dancing.
Usually boys that age prefer football
[Arkady]: Oh, I was doing different things every day. I was doing swimming, piano, choir, painting, and dancing on another day. The teacher partnered me with a girl I liked, actually (laughing). So when she asked who wants to go to the studio, my hand went automatically up (laughing). I loved dancing straight away. After few years my parents asked what activity I wanted to give up: dancing or swimming. I said, swimming. Then we moved to New Zealand. My parents emigrated there, wanted a better life for us. After four years we moved to Australia. That was for dancing, to further my dancing career. Then I moved to London...
[Rosa]: First, you studied in Australia in the WAAPA (West Australian Academy of Performing Arts).
[Arkady]: I had to finish the university there, yes, because I wanted to do Bachelor of Arts and Dance in London, ballet and contemporary dance. Then we partnered up. After half a year when I finished the school, we started travelling.
How did you meet?
[Rosa]: We first met in Australia. Then I moved to the UK to dance with somebody else...
Are you a couple in private life?
[Rosa]: Not any more (laughing), and this is also an interesting story.
OK I see (laughing). So was the fact she is a beautiful girl and he is a great guy, one of the reasons you started dancing together?
[Rosa]: We partnered up because we both worked with Ruud Vermeij at the time. I was looking for a partner, he was looking for a partner. I did not want to go back to Australia. Ruud said that I can learn a lot from Arkady, that he is in the Spanish dance company and he is learning a lot ... So we had a try-out and that's how it started. Instantly what I loved about him was his frame and his face. I could practise every day looking at that face (laughing). That was nine years ago.
[Arkady]: It will be ten years in September.
Long time! And what about that interesting story you promised, Rosa?
[Rosa]: Oh yes, it is not that interesting (laughing). We started dating and it was a little bit dramatic ...
[Arkady]: You were too young probably.
[Rosa]: But we both had the same goals and same values in dance.
[Arkady]: We said that to each other from the beginning that no matter what happens in private life, we will still dance. SO it was hard for six months before and after we broke up, but now it is much better.
[Rosa]: We both are very, very stubborn.
[Arkady]: Some people said that we going to break up within the first year. And we were, like, no, we going to stay together just to prove them wrong (laughing).
So how long are you dancing while not being a couple?
[Rosa]: Seven year I think.
[Arkady]: Long time.
How do you manage you private lives then?
[Rosa]: We keep our private life very personal. We try to keep our partners outside of dancing. We keep things separate to protect our business together and to protect our private lives. But we are best friends. We share everything together. I would never do anything to jeopardise our partnership or our friendship.
So your boyfriend is not a dancer?
[Rosa]: OK, at the moment ... I don't have one.
So what about you, Arkady, who is your girlfriend?
[Arkady]: I also don't have one (laughing).
[Rosa]: He doesn't have one, he has many (laughing).
[Arkady]: We travel a lot and it is quite hard to keep a relationship...
Yes, hence my question, how do you cope with private life, to which your answer was: great! But now you are saying you don't have one (laughing).
[Rosa]: Oh, usually we manage.
[Arkady]: We are very busy. We were so busy last year that we did not really have time for personal life.
So your personal life is limited to your Facebook friends? Or do you have some real ones?
[Rosa]: We definitely have real ones. I am just thinking of one of our mutual friends, she is a bit crazy but great and she is not a dancer (laughing).
[Arkady]: I have a lot of friends from dancing, and from outside of dancing, from University, different countries we lived in... We don't need to see them often to have a relationship. We do catch up when we go to a competition in Australia or Singapore. I have a family there.
[Rosa]: We keep in touch on Facebook or WhatsApp. With this technology and these apps it is quite easy to keep in touch these days.
But it is not quite the same as physical contact, is it.
[Rosa]: Well, yes, it is something missing.
What else do you use in terms of technology or Internet?
[Rosa]: Mine in limited to WhatsApp and messaging (laughing).
[Arkady]: Both Apple products...
[Rosa]: Makes it easier to stick to one
[Arkady]: We use IPhones, IPads...
[Rosa]: He's got everything. I've just got IPhone.
Do you use Facebook?
[Arkady]: Not that much. Instagram... not as much any more.
[Rosa]: It just takes up so much time. We don't really have time for all that (laughing).
What dancing websites do you visit?
[Arkady]: Dancesportinfo
Come on, no need to be polite. What else?
[Rosa]: No, really. When we want to know any information we go there.
[Arkady]: For dance results we sometimes go to scrutelle, easycomp ... thebestcomps.net ...
What about any Australian ones?
[Rosa]: There is a new online dance magazine called Outside Change. It is a new one but I think it may become more popular. With our life style, everything needs to be online for us to use it.
What do you do outside of dance, what do you like doing? Eating, skiing, reading?
[Arkady]: Definitely not skiing!
[Rosa]: We read a lot.
Real books?
[Rosa]: Yes, we have a lot of books. We like to learn.
[Arkady]: Because we travel, we always go and buy couple of books at the airport.
So you don't use Kindle or eBook but paper books?
[Rosa]: Yes, we prefer that.
[Arkady]: I love paper books, but I also have a lot on my IPad, like sports books.
Sports books?
[Arkady]: Inspirational sports books, like autobiographies, for instance about famous rugby players, cyclists, anyone who can give you inspiration.
[Rosa]: I also like that. I also like self-help books, anything which can help me to improve me as a person and as a dancer.
OK, so it is another form of training for you, but is it fun?
[Rosa]: I enjoy that! I don't really like reading fictional books. I feel like I am wasting my time. I am also not a big movie person.
[Arkady]: You have to force her to go to the movie. But once she is there, she enjoys it.
[Rosa]: Yes, but I much rather watch a documentary to learn something than wasting my time.
As you don't go often to the cinema, what was the last movie you've seen?
[Rosa]: I watched Star Wars. That was quite good.
[Arkady]: She doesn't like Star Wars but the last one she liked.
[Rosa]: But I had to be forced to go. Someone just bought me a ticket and we went. But before that... I cannot remember. Probably something I watched on a plane.
How do you organise your travels?
[Arkady]: I do it all.
[Rosa]: This is one of his jobs, he books all the flights ... Because I would just book the first one. I don't have the patience to look for the cheapest flight.
[Arkady]: Although the last one I did was a shocking itinerary for Rosa to go to Australia (laughing).
[Rosa]: And it wasn't actually cheaper. It took like three days to get there.
[Arkady]: It was with budget airlines. She flew from Indonesia to Singapore, then Singapore to Melbourne, then Melbourne to Perth. While she could just take direct flight from Indonesia to Perth (laughing).
[Rosa]: It would have been a three hour flight... It's OK, I forgive him just this once.
[Arkady]: It wasn't cheaper. It was the same price (laughing).
OK, so Arkady is organising travels but he is not doing that job very well?
[Arkady]: No, no, I am actually very good.
[Rosa]: Normally he is quite good with that.
[Arkady]: That last time was a bit of a shocker.
Who does design your costumes?
[Rosa]: For the last twelve months, Melia has designed our outfits. We just gave her that responsibility. She's done very well actually. Everyone was impressed with how we looked in the last year. Yesterday there was a comment that we both finally got it right. It was nice to hear.
So did you have any problems before?
[Rosa]: We might had some fashion problems.
[Arkady]: It was a bit up and down. We tried different things. And sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't.
Who is doing your choreography?
[Rosa]: Mixture of people, but mostly us. People give us ideas. At the beginning it was Ruud Vermeij, Michal Malitowski. It was a long time ago, and we progressed from that really.
[Arkady]: We kept some things, we adjusted some things.
[Rosa]: As dancers we progressed ...
[Arkady]: In a sense that we don't rely on others to tell us what to do. You know, you don't throw their ideas but you improve on them.
[Rosa]: Give them our touch.
How important for you are your own ideas, your own input into your dancing?
[Rosa]: Very important for us. We push each other to each other's limits, we don't need that push from teachers. We fell that the choreography has to portray us.
[Arkady]: Even if we are given some phrase by our teacher, we still need to make it our own.
Did it ever happen that you say "No, it doesn't suit me" to your teacher?
[Rosa]: Of course. Or we just ask, is there something else we could do, or another option.
What is the most important aspect of dance for you?
[Rosa]: Teamwork
[Arkady]: Yes, partnering which is being together, dancing for each other.
Sometimes, when you look at the couples on the floor, Amateurs or Professionals, do you think something might be missing in their dancing?
[Rosa]: I've never actually looked at it like that.
[Arkady]: Technique and choreography tend to be good... The skill level is very good.
[Rosa]: Maybe individuality is missing sometimes. There is a lot of people who look the same, they have the same style and dress the same. I don't think you should try to dance like somebody else. All of the great dancer never tried to be like someone else.
[Arkady]: In the Professionals final all the couples were different, all had their own style.
But where is the line of pushing the boundaries and still staying within the character of each dance?
[Rosa]: I am not saying you should be pushing the boundaries to be different. You need to let your own personality to come out and not to be a copy of the champion or anyone else. Trust yourself and trust what you can do, what you love to do. Everybody is unique, everybody is different. So why, when we dance, we are not all different?
[Arkady]: Focus on what is important to you, is it music, is it the performance, sport aspect, or partnering. And that's what makes people different.
[Rosa]: Figure out what is most important to you and show that.
What do you consider best and what is worst in your partner? Describe your partner to me.
[Rosa]: Arkady is very caring, very happy, very positive. These are all great things about him but sometimes they are the worst things about him. Sometimes I want him to be selfish and focus on himself, stop caring about other people. If somebody falls over, he would go and look after them. And I love his face, he is very good looking. I know it sounds very artificial but you have to like the person you dance with. And you have to like the look of them.
You both look like a couple, you obviously like each other. The way you look at each other, and care about each other – you surprised me earlier when you said you were not together.
[Rosa]: (laughing) Oh, I don't know, you never know what's going to happen but right now it is just friends.
I understand! I am not pushing you into relationship (laughing). OK, your turn Arkady.
[Arkady]: I like her because we are very different. Before, I was a little bit more like a kid, and she is more serious. She makes me grow up and not do silly things. She is very caring and beautiful person. Even if on the outside, she shows herself as very tough and strong...
[Rosa]: I am tough. He is lying (laughing).
What do you like in each other dancing?
[Rosa]: I love his knowledge of other forms of dance and the fact that he could push me to my limits. He knows different techniques, different choreography.
Do you argue? Do you remember last time you argued or biggest argument?
[Arkady]: Hmm... it was probably something completely insignificant. We do quarrel though.
If you said to me you never argued in these nine years...
[Rosa]: No, we do, we argue a lot. But nothing major. It usually is when one of us is tired or hungry or something like that and little things just spark the quarrel. I remember we bought new locks for our suitcases and we were having an argument over setting a code!
[Arkady]: Totally irrelevant
[Rosa]: It was just stupid. But I remember it was so bad and took over us that I don't remember to this day what code we put in. So these locks are useless to us now (laughing). Now every time we have an argument, we just say: remember the locks. Having this stupid argument did not benefit either of us.
[Arkady]: A lot of it is due to one of us being hungry. It is down to hunger (laughing).
So what do you like to eat?
[Arkady]: I just love to eat.
[Rosa]: He eats a lot, everything and a lot.
But he still looks fit!
[Rosa]: I know. He is terrible. I just look at food or smell it, and I put on weight! He eats it, and doesn't put on any weight. OK, we eat quite healthy, it is usually fresh fruits and vegetables.
[Arkady]: Not junk food or chocolates or snacks.
[Rosa]: The worst is probably a kebab. Every now and then we have one, but usually we eat meat and vegetables, maybe pasta.
Favourite food?
[Rosa]: We eat simple food. I cook just for survival. But when we go to his parents' house that's where we eat a lot of traditional Russian food.
[Arkady]: But we don't see my parents that often.
[Rosa]: When we go to my parents' house, my mother is Mauritian, we eat a lot of Mauritian food which is also quite heavy. My grandmother is a fantastic cook.
So she did not teach you to cook properly?
[Rosa]: She tried but I spent too much time doing other things. I think it might be just laziness
[Arkady]: Rosa is a great cook actually
[Rosa]: I've not got time to cook so...
[Arkady]: But she cooks beautifully. She can do really wonderful things.
[Rosa]: I can bake cakes. But I get into trouble because nobody wants to eat a cake.
[Arkady]: Everybody is on diet (laughing)
What a shame, you could bring some to this interview (laughing)
[Rosa]: When we win Professional Open, I will bring you a dozen cakes (laughing).
It is now on record (laughing). OK, who is driving when you travel?
[Rosa]: We both are. We are doing half/half now that we've got a car that I like. It is a Mercedes A-class. Before we had a Volvo which was way too big and I hated it.
[Arkady]: I loved it but we broke it on the A3 road.
[Rosa]: It just died.
[Arkady]: But this one we've got through lessons, so this is good
[Rosa]: Exchanged it for lessons, with the student.
What do you do when socialising with friends who are not dancing?
[Rosa]: Usually just eating or go out for a drink maybe. We are very basic people (laughing).
How do you keep slim and fit then?
[Rosa]: To burn all these calories we spend a lot of time in a gym. That is part of our training. We wake up and go to the gym, then practice, have lessons...
[Arkady]: We spend so much time teaching, practising, we are very active most of a day.
Do you use any electronic devices to keep track of how many calories you have burned, or how many steps you've made?
[Rosa]: I let my personal trainer keep the track, I am terrible with that.
[Arkady]: I've got this watch a moth ago, Apple of course, my Mum gave it to me. There are three settings there for you to set if you are not very active, average or super active. In a day I do three or four times the required exercise of the highly active person.
Do you plan to open your own club or studio?
[Rosa]: Yes, we do. There are so many things we want to do.
Where?
[Rosa]: That's the thing. At the moment we live in the UK. We would like to open something in the UK. But we travel so much, and there are so many great countries around the world that it is hard to decide.
[Arkady]: We probably are not going to start anything until we finish competing. We just started competing in Professional so we want to really focus on that because we know a lot of people who started their own studios and then...
[Rosa]: It takes over
[Arkady]: Yes, the focus is on that so at the moment we are competing and doing as well as we can. Afterwards, ultimately, the plan is to have a studio and produce good couples.
Do you think it is better to have one teacher or a group of teachers, each working on a separate aspect of your dancing?
[Arkady]: It is great to have a coach
[Rosa]: I think it also depends on the kind of person you are. Some people need that one person that they trust 100% and give the full responsibility to.
[Arkady]: We like variety. Every different person has something to offer.
[Rosa]: We have a team and we are very happy with it. We take responsibility for most things. When we make a mistake or a bad result, it is our own fault. If we get a great result, we share it with our team obviously, but no one else that feels the same we feel.
Which competitions are your favourite?
[Rosa]: Blackpool for me.
[Arkady]: We love the ones in England. We enjoy them so much, Blackpool, International, UK Open, there is so much build up to them done for a month, and after finish you feel a bit down, not depressed but deflated. There is no other competition that you feel like that. I do like the Australian Championships as well. It's in a huge hall. The atmosphere is good, the floor is big.
Bigger than Blackpool?
[Rosa]: No. The venue is bigger, the floor is about the same.
[Arkady]: It's a stadium.
When you said you like Blackpool, did you mean the competition or the town? (laughing)
[Rosa]: The competition. I don't like the town so much but it has a certain character. I love the competition, everyone dances their best, the best dancing gets produced.
When you dress up in beautiful gowns, or wear the dinner suit, don't you feel out of date, different to the others?
[Rosa]: No, I don't care actually. I always felt different at school, because I had something else in my life other than school work. I did not go to the parties other kids went to, because I had to go training. I did not go to the school camps and things like that because I had another commitment. When people went home, I went dancing or had another thee ours of tuition or training.
[Arkady]: I missed my graduation, the prom.
[Rosa]: You just get used to it and don't care what others are thinking about it.
Do you dance Standard sometimes?
[Rosa]: We never danced Standard together. We tried but it was a disaster (laughing).
[Arkady]: To do it just socially, yes, but not in competition.
Would you describe yourselves as perfectionists?
[Rosa]: Me – yes, him – no.
[Arkady]: I used to be but I relaxed a bit.
[Rosa]: Maybe you are, as a dancer, but definitely not as a person.
Do you like electronic gadgets?
[Arkady]: I do, but I don't buy them, my parents buy them for me. I've got few things like Apple watch, Bluetooth headphones...
[Rosa]: He loves them, he's got a lot.
[Arkady]: I don't have that many, I like them, but not going to spend my money on them, myself (laughing).
[Rosa]: He likes his Mama and Papa to buy them (laughing).
How do you manage financially?
[Rosa]: Our parents were a huge help for us. In Amateur.
[Arkady]: Now, as we are Professional, we have much more work, we have support from other Professionals ...
[Rosa]: We always managed, haven't we?
[Arkady]: We also go to Asia to teach and do shows around. But teaching is the main source of income really.
Any sponsors?
[Rosa]: I have a dress sponsor. He is based in China and is called The One. It is very, very good. Like I said, Melia designs my dresses, we draw them and then I send it to him with detailed description. When he sends it back it is always spot on.
Shoes?
[Rosa]: From Rayrose. They've been great. Chrisanne Clover sponsor the fabrics. We feel very lucky to have lot of support both financial and emotional.
[Arkady]: From a lot of people. We can't even name them. The list is so long.
[Rosa]: We had shortage of money, absolutely, when we were Amateurs. But I don't think any Amateur dancer doesn't.
[Arkady]: When we first moved to London, the placed we stayed... oh, terrible.
[Rosa]: It was horrible, but cheap. The man who we rented from was a hoarder so to get to our room we had to pass three washing machines, five fridges ...
[Arkady]: Holes in the wall..., I think there was a mouse there as well.
[Rosa]: But when you do what you love, you can go through it. But it was much easier as well because we had each other. We always helped each other to go through hard times...
For some people the life of dancers appears a very glamorous life, beautiful clothes, elegant manners, international travel...
[Rosa]: No, I don't think so. We are very humble. There is one side to us when we are dancing, but another when we are with friends. When we are dancing we dress appropriately, when we don't, we wear trainers and tracksuits. I happily shop in Primark.
[Arkady]: But we do like to dress up. We don't like to look bad.
What do you prefer, competitions or shows?
[Rosa]: Competitions
So competing is important for you?
[Arkady]: Yes.
[Rosa]: Yes, it is
[Arkady]: To win is very important to Rosa (laughing).
So how do you choose competitions you go to?
[Rosa]: As long as I get to dance UK Open, Blackpool, the Worlds and the International, I am happy. If he wants to do any more competitions, and I think it is worthwhile, we go.
[Arkady]: Most of the big competitions don't coincide with each other. So no problems there.
[Rosa]: This year, we have more money, so we will go to more like Dutch Open or Paris. It was more difficult in the past as it was an extra expense.
What do you think of the current situation in dancing?
[Rosa]: I don't know what to say really. We were one of the affected couples with the split between WDC and WDSF. We were banned and that's why we started representing England because we could not dance for Australia anymore.
[Arkady]: They banned us from doing Nationals... So for us, it was an obvious choice to leave WDSF.
Why banned?
[Arkady]: Because we did Freedom to Dance and Blackpool and all these competitions.
[Rosa]: We had a seven-year ban, or something like this which means we could not teach...
[Arkady]: Twelve-years ban! It was year 2010 and they banned us till 2022.
[Rosa]: None of the couple we would have taught would be allowed to compete...
[Arkady]: So we would not be able to compete in the Nationals in Australia, and the only one there was the WDSF. There was no other option to us but to move to England.
[Rosa]: We did give it a go though. I remember, we decided to do WDSF competitions for twelve months to see how far we go. But it just wasn't for us.
[Arkady]: Also, we could not do, financially, all these competitions.
[Rosa]: And, like I said, for me Blackpool is a must.
[Arkady]: She did not like dancing so much in sports halls.
[Rosa]: The results in WDC and Freedom to Dance competitions were better for us as well.
[Arkady]: She is very results oriented (laughing).
Did you see any difference between WDSF and WDC style of dancing?
[Rosa]: Yes.
[Arkady]: WDSF is more sports oriented. Less focus was on the individuality, more on stamina and power.
[Rosa]: But don't get us wrong, we think they are the great dancers! Some do the most amazing things.
[Arkady]: The skill level is amazing as well.
I guess great dancers, but different dancers?
[Rosa]: Absolutely.
Did you feel any difference when you switched from Amateur to Professional?
[Rosa]: We expected less competitiveness... but we felt we had to prove ourselves and fight even harder.
Did you change anything in your style?
[Rosa]: It was more of a mental change. Less stress. But we did not change the choreography, we did not fell we needed to revamp everything.
[Arkady]: I think the dancing did change a bit. We focused more on a finer detail, on what we are actually trying to express rather than just dance the choreography.
[Rosa]: You need to take more responsibility on what you are doing and how we portray ourselves.
When you think of each of the dances what comes to your mind?
[Rosa]: Hard to say, because when we dance we concentrate so much on the competition...
[Arkady]: Cha Cha for me is like I am out of breath, Samba is like a party... Rumba is one of the dances when I can take my time, full of emotion and we can concentrate on a relationship between each other.
[Rosa]: Paso Doble is a bit like a revenge, this is when I can get my own back (laughing).
[Arkady]: Jive is when we can just have a party, play around with the audience.
[Rosa]: It is a like our gift to the audience. It is a privilege to be able to dance Jive because when you dance Jive here in England, you are in the top 12.
Have you ever go to the floor right after an argument?
[Arkady]: Yes. Not this time thought but sometimes yes. For instance, you start the round and you feel something did not go right. We know when we start discussing it, it will turn into an argument.
[Rosa]: If I stumbled, or made mistake, he better not say anything. I know I made a mistake.
You don't want any words of support? Like, don't worry about it?
[Rosa]: No.
[Arkady]: Actually, never thought about it, maybe it is a good idea (laughing).
[Rosa]: I prefer him just to leave me alone. I have my own way of recollecting myself. It is better just to leave me alone.
[Arkady]: We have done it, and had fight in between the dances but it doesn't make it better, it is not enjoyable.
So what do you do between the rounds?
[Rosa]: We like to switch off and mentally prepare for the next round. Most people do.
What about practising?
[Rosa]: He does.
[Arkady]: I like to do that, she doesn't.
[Rosa]: I am like, don't touch me.
[Arkady]: She is in her zone. Event, the night before the competition, she goes to the hotel room and just sits there.
[Rosa]: You make me sound like a crazy person (laughing). I am not quite like that.
[Arkady]: OK, she doesn't just sit there, she watches dance videos or reads, or does something quiet.
[Rosa]: I don't like to be around people then.
[Arkady]: I go out and catch up with friends, and talk. I like to relax and chat a bit, and not focus that much on the coming event.
Has it ever happen that you were late for the floor?
[Arkady]: No. But it happened we forgot the ticket or she forgot her dress.
[Rosa]: And you forgot your trousers. We left stuff behind.
So what did you do?
[Rosa]: Do you remember when you forgot your ticket first time you came to Bournemouth?
This is easy, you just buy another one.
[Arkady]: But we had no money.
[Rosa]: We had to make few phone calls. But it was fine.
[Arkady]: Once we left a passport, and after the competition and we were to return to Australia. We realised we have left the passport when we were 15 minutes away from Heathrow.
[Rosa]: We??? You've left your passport.
[Arkady]: We had to go back. But there was nobody at the house and we already put the keys through the letterbox, so we had no keys. We had to go to the cat sitter, and anyway, we just managed. The taxi driver was amazing to get us to the airport on time. We did not take any extra money to pay him, but he drove like 100 miles an hour on a motorway to get us there. He was speeding for us, just to help us.
Was it travelling from Bournemouth?
[Arkady]: No, no, it was in London. We stayed in Norbury and travelled to Heathrow.
Plans for the near future?
[Arkady]: We have few lectures coming up which is a bit scary, we are doing judging exams which is exciting. We will be judging some little comps...
Why is giving lectures scary?
[Arkady]: Speaking is the worst for me. She is great. But I am awful. Last time we had lectures it went well because we were prepared (laughing). That helps.
[Rosa]: We will do some competitions like Asian Tour.
[Arkady]: We are excited about coming Pro competitions, this year there will be European Championships in Russia. I haven't been back there since we emigrated eighteen years ago. Then we are going to do the World Showdance Championships. Maybe go to America...
Good luck! I hope to see you in Blackpool.
All photos taken by Peter Suba
