Anna "Anya" Garnis (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Анна "Аня" Гарнис; born May 26, 1982) is a

Latvian American Latvian Americans are Americans who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are 93,498 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent. History The first significant wave of Latvian settlers who immigrated ...

ballroom dancer based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2007 she was a finalist on the American

reality television show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

.'' In 2001, Garnis moved to the US with

Pasha Kovalev Pavel "Pasha" Kovalev (russian: Па́вел "Па́ша" Ковалёв) is a Russian professional Latin and ballroom dancer. Kovalev started dancing at the age of eight, and in 2001, moved to the United States with his professional dance par ...

to dance professionally. She was a top 20 finalist on ''So You Think You Can Dance'', season 3, and went on to take part in the live tour. She was brought back to the program to take part as an all-star. Kovalev and Garnis were also the lead dancers in '' Burn the Floor''. She was then the lead dancer in ''

Dancing With the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' Live in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Garnis rejoined Kovalev on the cast of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' as a professional dancer for

series 11 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

in 2013, in which she was partnered with

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

actor Patrick Robinson. They reached the semi-finals, before losing the dance-off to

Natalie Gumede Natalie Gumede (born 20 March 1984) is an English actress. She is known for playing Kirsty Soames in the ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street'', from 2011 to 2013. She previously played China in BBC Three comedy show ''Ideal''. She has also ap ...

and

Artem Chigvintsev Artem Vladimirovich Chigvintsev (russian: Артём Влади́мирович Чи́гвинцев; born 12 June 1982) is a Russian-American professional dancer, specializing in Latin dancing. Chigvintsev was a cast member of '' Burn the F ...

. Garnis returned to ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in Week 11, Series 13 to replace

Ola Jordan Aleksandra "Ola" Jordan (''née'' Grabowska; born 30 September 1982) is a British-Polish professional ballroom dancer and model. She appeared as a professional on the British TV show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2006 to 2015. After winning a ch ...

for professional dances only. Her partner in those dances is Pasha Kovalev.

References

External links

*
''So You Think You Can Dance'' official siteStrictly Come Dancing television series, up to Series 11, week 12
Living people 1982 births So You Think You Can Dance (American TV series) contestants Russian ballroom dancers Dancing with the Stars 21st-century American dancers 21st-century Russian dancers Expatriates in England {{US-tv-bio-stub