Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine (born in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

) is a professional 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 ...

. He currently competes in the

American Rhythm This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those. This glossary lists terms used in various types of ballroom partner dances, leaving out terms of highly ...

division with

Liana Churilova Liana Churilova (born April 25, 1991) is a professional ballroom dancer based in New York City. She is the current World American Rhythm Champion, with her partner, Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine. They were also featured on ABC's '' The View'' (14th ...

and is ranked first in the United States. A student of

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, modern dance,

Haitian folklore Haitian may refer to: Relating to Haiti * ''Haitian'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Haiti ** Haitian Creole, a French-Creole based ** Haitian French, variant of the French language ** Haitians, an ethnic group * Hait ...

, and

ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...

, his passion for partner dancing led him to found Caminito, a top school of international-style ballroom dance in his native

. He came to be honored as an official dance representative of Haiti when competing abroad. Antoine closed Caminito in 2003 and moved to New York to further his dance career. In 2004, he partnered with fellow Haitian Alexandra Gregoire in

, and the two took 4th place in the World Mambo Championships that year. Between 2005 and 2006, the pair also won the Empire State Ballroom Challenge and Las Vegas Holiday Classic. After Gregoire moved to Florida to be with family, Antoine paired with fellow Stepping Out Studios instructor Joanna Zacharewicz. They won the World Mambo Championships in 2005, and got 2nd place in the 2006 U.S. National Dancesport Champions (Professional Rhythm) in 2006. Their success also garnered them appearances on PBS' ''

America's Ballroom Challenge America's Ballroom Challenge is a competitive ballroom dance television series that aired on Public Broadcasting Service in the United States between 2006 and 2009. It is part of the annual Ohio Star Ball, a festival of DanceSport in Columbus, Oh ...

'' and ABC's ''

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 ...

''. In 2007 Zacharewicz and Antoine ended their partnership, and Antoine paired with

champion Julia Powers, whose husband and longtime partner Bob Powers had been forced to retire from competition due to an injury. The pair placed 3rd in the U.S. National Dancesport Champions (Professional Rhythm), and 2nd in the National Showdance Championships in American Rhythm. His two-year-old son, Ishaan, was killed in the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

References

Living people American ballroom dancers Haitian emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people) {{dance-bio-stub