Joanna Leunis i Michal Malitowski

With great satisfaction I woul like to present you to two people: Joanna Leunis - a Belgian and Michal Malitowski - a Pole, who represent Poland on the floors.
In December 2002 they became Professional World Champions in Show Dance Latin, in January 2003 - Polish Champions in the same category.
I had the pleasure to meet Joanna and Michal during the Euro Dance Festival - Szczecin 2003. Among others they also danced to their championship choreography.
Because I was the DJ on this Festival and they had a lot of artistic commitments a direct interview was impossible. Fortunately, we have the Internet - a wonderful mean of communication, thanks to which I was able to interview them and this article may appear on your computer monitors.

We both started to dance quite early.
Joanna had her first dance lesson at the age of 10 in "Perron" Club in Liege, where her parents enrolled her because she had some minor health problems. She had Greg Smith as her first teacher.

As for me, I began "leaping" when I was still a baby. Being unable to cope with that at home parents enrolled me in a dance course. My first instructors were Alicja Gorska and Wojciech Orszak.

Dancing with Slavik Kryklyvy in 2000 Joanna won Blackpool in the amateur category. In the same year she became the World Champion in amateur pairs.
In 2001 together with Louis van Amstel she took the 2^nd place in the Professional World Championships in the Show Dance category.

Michal, you are a four-time Polish Champion in Latin Dances. What else in worth mentioning concerning your career that you would like our readers to know ?

My biggest success was winning the Blackpool Dance Festival in the Youth category in 1999 when I was dancing with Iwona Golczak, also the fact that we had been dancing together continuously for 13 years.

Do you tutor or consult other pairs?

How often do you practise together?

We practise every day. We attend jazz school whenever we have free time, also fitness center and all artistic attractions that Amsterdam offers . . .

As far as I know, both of you study. Please tell us what and where.

Joanna attends Ballroom Dance College in Brussels.
I am in the fourth year of the University of Zielona Gora where I study socio-cultural animation.

Are you going to devote your professional life to dance?

I am personally very pleased that you represent Poland on the dance floors.
Did you have a problem in choosing the country to represent?

Such decision was taken due to the possibility of taking part in the World Championships in Show Dance in December 2002. Other countries which we could represent (Belgium, The Netherlands, The USA) had already chosen their representatives, long before we started dancing together.

What made you switch to professionalism so quickly?

Joanna had won the amateur World Championship two years before she started dancing among professionals. In those circumstances our come back to amateurs did not make sense.

You began practicing together in the beginning of autumn 2002, and already in December you became the World Champions. Could you tell us how your preparations for the Championships looked like and who the author of you choreography is.

You could talk anda talk about our preparations. The methods of work I experienced in TEAM AMSTERDAM simply generate champions!
The choreography was basically our own work with some support from Dr Ruud Vermeij.

Was the title of the World Champion in Show Dance Latin a surprise to you or you had expected it?

Who is your current coach?

The coach, dance teacher you value most.

Which dancing couple is an example to follow for you?

Your "dance" plans for the nearest future.

Your other interest besides dance.

In summer you are going to be lectures at the Summer Dance Academy in Swieradow Zdroj. Could you tell the participants how they should prepare themselves for the Academy to gain most profits from meeting you?

Your advice to dancing couples wanting to succeed in sport dance.

Michal Malitowski talked and answered the questions about himself and Joanna.
Thank you very much and we wish you a lot of success on the world dance floors.

On behalf of the readers of TWIST SERVICE and my own I would like to congratulate you on taking the top position in Professional Latin Blackpool 2003. Are you pleased with the result?

The word 'leased' is not enough!
After Peter Maxwell read the final contestants in the rumba, tears started falling down from eyes on their own. I could not believe it. Blackpool is a magical place for me. I felt the same joy which accompanied me in Blackpool 1999 when together with Iwona we were the first in Youth Latin.

I watched the Blackpool Festival in the Internet. I noticed that you were also excellently prepared as far as media were concerned: your own web with a link from the main internet Blackpool Festival website plus your wonderful photo on this web which showed up the day after the professional tournament.
Could you tell us who takes care of your public relations?

The Internet page was designed by Piet Rullens. He also took care of its promotion. However, the man who is responsible for all our public relations including media is our sport psychologist from TEAM Amsterdam - Maximilian Winkelhuis.

Please, tell us how Poles were seen on this year's Blackpool?

Polish dancers have been playing a major role on the world dance floors for some time now. This year we have been talked about even more. Only Polish fans were missing, so they could check it personally . . .

On the photo I have mentioned you can see Joanna wearing a beautiful outfit. Who is the designer and dressmaker of your clothes?

The idea and the design of our current image are very creative Ewa Szabatin and Robert Kupisz. The clothes were sewn by Jolanta Mataczyna and Japanese firm Yanagida.