Dance Directors
Pavel Cherdantsau and Svetlana Rudkovskaya

Pavel Cherdantsau and his wife, Svetlana Rudkovskaya, compete in ballroom dance competitions around the world. They are among the top professional ballroom dance couples in the country.  Growing up in Minsk, Belarus, Pavel began taking ballroom-style lessons at age six, and began competing at ten.  Svetlana began her training at thirteen and soon began competing as part of a formation team and moved on to dancing in amateur and pro competitions.  Both received their Master’s degree in Ballroom Dance form Belarusian University of Culture.  They have worked in Korea, China, Belarus, as well as in many major cities in the United States.  The couple has placed at numerous competitions.  Most notably, Svetlana has been a 3rd place medalist in Latin and Vice Champion in Standard in Belarus.  Pavel is the Belorussian Champion in Latin and Vice Champion in Standard.  Pavel and Svetlana placed third in the Ten Dance at the US National Championship and at the Ohio Star Ball. Additionally, they   placed third in the show dance category at the US National Championships.  They have trained students who placed first at the Ten Dance US National Championships and have been awarded numerous scholarships.  Since 2003, they have lived and taught in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and travel weekly to teach as well as train with renowned ballroom coaches including Andrei Gaverline, Elena Kruchkova, Hanse Galke, Bryan Watson & Carmen Vincelj, Igor Pilipenchuk, and Luca and Lorraine Barrichi.   Svetlana is currently teaching university-level classes and they are both currently performing in a spectacular live dance and video show “Strictly Ballroom Dance in Time”, conceived and produced by Pavel.   Visit their website for more information: www.jacksonville-dance.com - call 352-266-0015 for an appointment in Wildwood studio.