Elena Samodanova, whose biography began to interest the viewer immediately after the broadcast of the Russia-1 TV channel of the project “Dancing with the Stars”, is a professional dancer and judge of the international category. How did Elena begin her career and what facts from the life of a star might be interesting to her fans?
Curriculum Vitae
Elena Samodanova was born in the Rostov region, in the city of Volgodonsk. Her father and mother were professional dancers.
A girl from an early age began to engage in ballroom dancing. Due to her dedication and hard work, Samodanova was already at the age of sixteen one of the youngest professional Latin American dance performers in the world.
Samodanova performed at dance championships, which were held in China, Australia, Japan and England. Repeatedly, Elena was awarded the champion title. Once, a young athlete even got into the world top ten performers of Latin American doubles dance.
In between dance championships, Samodanova managed to get a higher education - she graduated from Moscow State University of Culture and Arts with a degree in choreography. A little later, Elena received a diploma from the Sydney Theater School and passed international certification as a teacher of ballroom dancing. This allowed the choreographer to work in England, Australia, Hong Kong and Russia.
Participation in television projects
Elena Samodanova began participating in television projects in 2010. Then the choreographer was invited to the Chinese show “Mr. Hong Kong” as a judge.
In 2012, Elena appeared as a dancer on Australian shows - AACTA and "Everybody Dance Now." And when, in the same year, the Dancing with the Stars project was launched on one of the Australian channels, she joined the celebrity there.
After that, Elena, as director and dancer, worked on Sydney TV shows Voice of Australia and SYTYCD. In 2014, Samodanova participated in the Indian “Dancing with the Stars”, and in 2015 she took a place of honor in the jury of a similar Russian competition.
In Russia, the choreographer proved to be the most strict judge. Each time, she rated the acting couple 2-3 points lower than her colleagues. Elena explained this severity with her objectivity, because she practically does not know Russian stars, so she has the opportunity to evaluate exclusively their choreographic data.
Work with celebrities
Elena Samodanova is not familiar with the Russian elite, because for the past ten years she has been living abroad. According to the choreographer, she is invited to speak at world championships for different countries - China, Australia, etc.
Foreign television projects played a major role in the dancer's career, which allowed her to make acquaintances with the world stars of show business: Ricky Martin, Rihanna, Cheryl Crow and many others.
As a result, in 2009, as a choreographer, Samodanova worked on a concert by Cheryl Crow in Hong Kong, in 2012 she collaborated with a rapper named Akon, in 2013 with a British singer Seal and an American star Ricky Martin.
Personal life
Elena Samodanova and her husband Gleb Savchenko are both dancers. They met when they were eighteen: during this period, both choreographers were engaged in the same dance studio. Then the young people began to communicate, but the romantic relationship between them never happened - soon Gleb left for America. A few years later, Elena was outlined simple in work, and Gleb invited her to the States to dance with him in pairs. Thus began the story of their love.
The personal life of Elena Samodanova began to interest the public immediately after the broadcast of "Dancing with the Stars." And all because in this project, Samodanova was sitting in the chair of the judge, and her husband Gleb Savchenko was dancing in tandem with Olympic champion Adeline Sotnikova. After the first issue of the television program, the yellow press began to come up with stories about the novel by Gleb and Adeline, which were not confirmed. Journalists also asked what it's like to evaluate your own husband? But Elena reasonably replied that the organizers of the show did not ask her to evaluate Gleb: the main task of Samodanova was to evaluate the dancing star, and not her professional partner.
In her free time, Elena is fond of bikram yoga, surfing and horse riding. Of the desserts Samodanova most of all loves ice cream.
Raising a daughter
Elena Samodanova, whose daughter bears the foreign name Olivia, admits that she and her husband have different views on raising children. But they always find a way to agree.
Both spouses are actively working, so they constantly have to make a schedule with whom and when their daughter will spend her time. For eight years, Gleb and Elena learned to maneuver in the terrible lack of time.
Since two years, Olivia has been attending a dance studio, and it is quite possible that the girl will continue the choreographic dynasty. Despite the fact that Samodanova’s daughter is growing abroad, Elena tries to instill in her the basics of Russian culture and teaches Russian with her.
