About Elena Grinenko

Early Years

Elena Grinenko was born in Moscow, Russia, USSR, where she discovered her love for ballroom dancing at the age of seven. Her grandfather was a General in the Red Army. As head of the family, he supported her dancing. She was trained in ballet and Russian folk dancing, participated in the Ballroom Formation Team of Russia, and received a musical education.

Early on, Elena’s teachers noticed her abilities as a competitor, and paired her with Sergei Makeev, a more experienced, titled partner. By the age of 8, she competed against 180 other couples to become Moscow Ballroom Youth Champion in 1984.

Competitive Youth Dance Career

In the years following, at both Junior and Youth levels, Elena became a Moscow, Russian and Soviet Union Finalist in Standard, Latin and 10-Dance. Elena won over 150 competitions in the Soviet Republic during this time. After the USSR dissolved, and Russia joined the World Dance Sport organization, Elena and her partner Sergei Soloviev were among the first to represent Russia at the world championships. By the age of thirteen, she became Vice Champion in the first Youth Russian Championship, with dancers from ages 16 to 18.

In 1994, while still competing in the youth category, Elena won the Moscow and National Championship Latin Division titles with Michael Nadtochi. In the same year, she became a world Latin semi-finalist, a Russian finalist in the standard division, and Russian 10-Dance Champion.

A top student, Grinenko majored in mathematics and geometry. Yet, after graduating high school in 1995, she chose dance as her career and was accepted into the prestigious Art Academy of Russia and studied many forms of dancing, acting, and stage production.

Professional Dance Career and Adult Ballroom Titles

Elena decided to immigrate to the United States of America to open more opportunities for her career in professional dancing. In 1998, Elena received an O-1 visa and her green card two years later and became a United States Citizen in 2008.  After moving to the USA in 1998, Grinenko began competing as a ballroom dance professional. In 1999, she and Nadtochi became a United States National Rising Star finalist and U.S.D.C. Top Rising Star Couple of the Year.

In 2002 Elena partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and, in their first competition together, won the National Rising Star title in the Latin division at Emerald Ball. They went on to win the Rising Star Championship at the International Championships in London England. By January of 2003, they were ranked among the top twelve professional dancers in the world.

Elena and Maksim shifted gears in 2002, and became the lead dancers in Latin Fusion, a New York Broadway show choreographed, produced, and directed by Louis Van Amstel. By 2004, Elena and Maks starred in the follow up production Latin Revolution that later became the popular Ballroom With a Twist, a national show.

In 2005, Grinenko partnered with Tony Dovolani in the American Rhythm category.  With only five weeks of practice, they won their first Ohio Star Ball title by placing first in all dances. Over the next 2 years, they won many National and World American Rhythm titles and were undefeated. They appeared on PBS’s America’s Ballroom Challenge.

Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Dancing