What Does it Mean to be an AIDA Champion?

The catchy phrase,”Champions choose AIDA” has been floating around the ballroom dance world for many years. However, here at AIDA Dance USA, this is not just a catchy phrase. It is also a way for us to describe the high quality of our shoes as well as the dancers who wear our patch. 

Over the past year, we have been introducing you to our sponsored couples by way of interviews on our blogs. More recently, we have been livestreaming with these couples to find out how they have been holding up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the blog and the live interviews have offered you an insight as to who these dancers are on and off the floor.

However, you may still be wondering, who are these #AIDAChampions? How do they help differentiate our brand? What are their responsibilities when it comes to promoting the AIDA Dance shoe brand? If you’ve ever wondered about these questions, then read on!

There are countless AIDA Champions throughout the world, mostly in Russia, Ukraine, and parts of Europe, but in this article we will only focus on the couples that AIDA Dance USA sponsors directly. 

Our AIDA Dance USA Champions team consists of 45 couples. These couples represent categories such as Professional Latin, Amateur 10 Dance, and Theater Arts. Our AIDA Champions have accomplished some remarkable things. Our couples never cease to amaze us, so let’s take a look at some our couples’ most recent achievements:

• 2020 United Kingdom Open Amateur Latin Finalists -Alexander Chernositov and Arina Grishanina
• 2019 Blackpool Dance Festival Rising Star Amateur Latin Runners-Up -Nikolai Tarasov & Sarah Nolan
• 2019 United States National Professional Ballroom Show Dance Champions -Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley
• 2019 United States National Professional Smooth Champions -Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija 
• 2019 United States National 10-Dance Champions -Casey and Kayci Treu
• 2019 United States National Professional Cabaret Champions, Runners- Up and Bronze medalists -Shane & Shannon Jensen, Travis and Jaimee Tuft, and Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey
• 2018 United States National Professional Latin Champions -Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir
• 2018 United Kingdom Open Rising Star Professional Latin Champions -Sasha Altukhov & Cheyenne Murillo

We can literally type out a whole blog about our couples achievements, but that’s another article for another day. Amazing results are only one part of the equation. They also must be high caliber off the floor. These dancers are those that respect the dance world, are humble, and try to give back to the world in some way. 

Humility is the key to being an AIDA Champion. Our couples aim to be humble about their results and stay away from talking badly about their competitors. They aim to focus on creating a positive environment as well as constantly working on bettering themselves.  Being an AIDA Champion means being one on and off the floor.

Our couples are also what pushes us to create an even more perfect shoe. While our couples are out on the practice floor practicing day in and day out we are in the manufacturing room, perfecting our craft and trying to make a perfect ballroom dance shoe. We are also able to take our dancers’ suggestions as to how we can improve our product.  For example, many professional dancers also teach for a living. Since they are always on their feet, it is not sensible or comfortable for many of the teachers who identify as female to wear their heels all day. Thus we created the 121D, the Jenalyn practice shoe. This shoe has a thicker heel and is enclosed, allowing for greater balance as well as all day couples. Much of what our couples do is symbiotic with our process of creating the perfect ballroom dance shoe for you!.

Our symbiotic relationships with these couples, not only helps them, but also helps us! As an AIDA Champion, our couples hold a responsibility to constantly improve our brand. There are a number of requirements that our couples must meet in order to elevate our brand:

• Our couples must always wear an AIDA Patch during any competition. If you see a couple with a cool red and black patch on the floor, that’s us! The purpose of our patch is to show what ‘team’ they are a part of, but it also goes a step further. When people see quality dancing as well as the AIDA patch, they make an association. High quality dancing + AIDA Patch = High caliber brand.  
• After a great result, our couples usually thank us, as well as their sponsors, coaches, family, and friends for helping them. Even though the majority of the effort in getting good results is the couples’ hard work, dedication, and time, however it’s not to say that they didn’t have help. As they always say, “It takes a village.” Even though we are a small part of that large, multi-faceted village, our couples still find time to thank us, publicly and privately.
• They make sure that their students are outfitted properly. Our couples know that our shoes work for them and are high quality, and they want to make sure that their students experience the same high quality that they are. We make sure that every student has a proper fitting shoe that works for them!

So there you have it, a brief overview of what it means to be an AIDA Champion! Stay tuned for our next livestream as well as our next couple interview. Comment below with any ideas of who we should interview next and also make sure to vote on our Instagram stories (poll coming soon)!