A College Place Middle School student finished fifth finals of the 2025 U.S. National Amateur DanceSport Championships at the BYU Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. Out of 15 couples, 13-year-old Felix Sindora of Edmonds and his dance partner Stefaniia Chudova, 10, of Issaquah, placed fifth in the National Junior Rhythm Championship after advancing through the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

Their competition set included cha-cha, American rumba, swing, bolero and mambo. Felix and Stephaniia also competed in the International Latin division, which includes cha-cha, samba, rumba, jive and pasodoble.

Felix’s mother, Julie, said that her son started dancing about a month after his sixth birthday when he saw his father, Scottie, perform a dance at a park concert. “He was mesmerized,” Julie Sindora  said. “He begged us to sign him up for classes to learn to ‘twirl the ladies’ for months. I finally found a pre-ballroom dance class for little kids, and he took to it like he was born to dance.”

In addition to Latin-style dancing, Felix is trained in various ballroom dances, such as waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep and Viennese Waltz. His primary coach is Katia Zakharoff of NIKA International Academy of Dancesport in Bellevue.

“Felix expressed an interest in only training in Latin a few months ago, and his coach suggested they also learn rhythm since there’s some crossover and it allows them more opportunities to compete at events,” Julie Sindora said.

Felix said that the the most challenging part of the competition is to keep his stamina up through the five consecutive dances, which are each about 90 seconds long.

“At first it was for fun but I have realized that it’s more than just fun and it’s a passion I have,” Felix said. “It was very exciting because I haven’t made finals in a national championship level event.”

— Story by Nick Ng