Joanna Leunis (born May 22, 1981 in Rocourt, Liège,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

), is a professional Latin

ballroom dancer 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. ...

. With Michael Malitowski, she is a former professional World Latin Dance Champion and the current

International Latin American Dance Champion The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by ''Dance News'' special events. The current full title is the ''Elsa Wells International Dance Champio ...

. The couple represented

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

until 2011, choosing to represent England until their retirement in 2015. At the age of 8, she suffered from a blood disease similar to

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, but recovered after a year on bedrest. Joanna speaks several languages, including French, English, Dutch and German, and is reportedly learning Italian. Joanna’s dance background includes training in

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 ...

, tap and ballroom and Latin American dance. Prior to her famous partnership with Michael Malitowski, Joanna had several successful partnerships. At age 18, Joanna won the World Amateur Latin Championship, with

Slavik Kryklyvyy Slavik Kryklyvyy (Vyacheslav Kryklyvyy, uk, Славік Крикливий, Вячеслав Крикливий) (born on 1 July 1976 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Blackpool Dance Festival The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920. It is also the largest ba ...

2015 for the eighth time, Michael and Joanna announced their retirement from the competition circuit. In August 2019, it was announced that Michael and Joanna had decided to separate. They no longer live, work or dance together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leunis, Joanna Living people Ballroom dancers Belgian female dancers Belgian dancers 1981 births Sportspeople from Liège