Aric Yegudkin is an Australian choreographer and professional dancer born on 14 November 1985. Yegudkin is best known as a professional dancer on the Australian Dancing with the Stars.

Early life

Yegudkin started taking ballroom dance lessons at 8 years old after his parents noticed him dancing to Michael Jackson songs. They chose ballroom for their son because they were Russian as was the local ballroom dance teacher. Yegudkin competed as a Latin American dancer in

dancesport Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesport organizatio ...

competitions. In July 2001, Yegudkin partnered with Masha Belash, and the two began competing together in the youth category of dancesport. Together the pair won the Australian National Youth Latin American Championship three times. Yegudkin is an accredited Dancesport Australia instructor. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

Career

Yegudkin first competed as a professional dancer Australian ''Dancing With the Stars'' in season 3. He won his first season of the reality dance competition with celebrity partner

Ada Nicodemou Ada Nicodemou (Greek: Άντα Νικοδήμου) (born 14 May 1977) is an Australian actress of Greek Cypriot descent . She began her acting career in 1994 in TV serial ''Heartbreak High'' as Katerina Ioannou. She also starred in '' Police Re ...

. After winning their season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', Nicodemou and Yegudkin competed against past winners Tom Williams and

Kym Johnson Kym Herjavec (née Johnson; born 4 August 1976) is an Australian professional ballroom dancer and television performer who appeared in the first three seasons of the Australian version of ''Dancing with the Stars'' as a professional dancer, b ...

in a special televised competition. Both couples performed three dances over two weeks for the panel of judges. Nicodemou and Yegudkin won the competition and were given the "Champion of Champions" trophy. Yegudkin's other past ''Dancing With the Stars'' partners include Haley Bracken, Zoe Cramond, Rhiannon Fish and April Rose Pengilly. For the fifteenth season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', Yegudkin was partnered with presenter

Emma Freedman Emma Freedman is an Australian television and radio presenter who grew up on the Mornington Peninsula. Freedman formerly co-hosted '' The Grill Team'' on Triple M Sydney. Prior to this, she was a weather presenter on ''Weekend Today'' and hos ...

in which they won on 7 September 2015. In October 2016 Channel Seven announced ''Dancing with the Stars'' would not return, making Freedman and Yegudkin the final winners of the series on

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. After

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

revived the show in 2019, Yegudkin returned partnering

Michelle Bridges Michelle Bridges (born 20 October 1970) is an Australian personal trainer, author and television personality. From 2007 to 2015, she was a trainer on the Australian version of ''The Biggest Loser'', making her first appearance in the second seas ...

in season sixteen and then

Claudia Karvan Claudia Karvan (born 19 May 1972) is an Australian actress, producer and scriptwriter. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film, '' Molly'' (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in ''High Tide'' (1987). She portrayed a teacher in ...

in season seventeen. Yedgukin's Dancing with the Stars results are shown on the table below: Outside of television, Yegudkin has served as a choreographer and dancer in the Australian touring stage show ''Shake, Rattle 'n'Roll''. Yegudkin has also performed in productions of ''

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway in New York City and the West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries worldwide. The show has also featured seve ...

'' and ''Dance, Dance, Dance''. In January 2017, Yegudkin and Belash announced they would be opening a dance studio in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

called Move by Aric and Masha.

Personal life

Yegudkin proposed to his professional dance partner Masha Belash in 2013. Yegudkin and Belash married in October 2018. Their wedding was featured in Vogue Australia the following April. The couple are parents to twin daughters born in 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yegudkin, Aric Australian ballroom dancers Dancing with the Stars (Australian TV series) winners Living people 1985 births Australian male dancers 21st-century Australian dancers