How Hollywood dancer Katya Virshilas is teaching ballroom to new generations – after appearing in Shall We Dance with Jennifer Lopez, she moved to Hong Kong and opened her own studio …
Former Strictly Come Dancing star, Canadian national ballroom champion and choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance, Katya Virshilas moved to Hong Kong four years ago – and soon after that co-founded Ballroom Bees alongside her Danish husband, former world ballroom champion, Klaus Kongsdal.
“We were living in London, I was pregnant with our first child and I wasn’t touring. We were on the couch watching Game of Thrones when my husband said, ‘I think we should move to Hong Kong’,” says the mother of two. It was not such a random idea as Kongsdal had a lot of work in China and East Asia at that time. It was not such a hard decision to up sticks either, as Virshilas was used to moving – born in Lithuania and raised in Israel, she moved to Canada at age 13.
It was in Canada that she fell in love with ballroom dancing and became the national champion by age 16. She then got into the film industry, where perfect timing played an important role.
“They gave me a script and I went to the dressing room. I read a few lines in front of a camera. Then I flew to Blackpool in England for the British Open ballroom championships,” says Virshilas, who learned she had got the part while there.
I can’t teach a two-year-old how to waltz … I make it a game, making it super fun and cool
“I was able to do the film, train Richard, and also rehearse.” That role led to more acting work in Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas, John Tucker Must Die and television shows such as Smallville, Supernatural and Psych.
It was perfect synchronicity when she first met her husband while a dancer on one of Britain’s most popular TV shows, Strictly Come Dancing. “My husband is nine years older than me. I was a huge fan of his dancing. And when I was introduced, I was star-struck,” she says. “I used to watch all his competitions when I was a junior.”
Soon after they married, they visited Hong Kong. “I fell in love with [the city] because it reminded me a lot of Vancouver with the ocean and mountains,” she remembers. “But Hong Kong has more grit and fun and speed, which I really like.”
After they moved here, they couldn’t find the right dance studio for the boys. “Everything was centred around ballet and pink tutus,” she says. “There was ballroom dancing but it was too serious for kids.”
A friend suggested that she open her own studio. “I started to develop a method, coordinating early-year behaviour management and psychology with movement and dance,” Vishilas says.
“So basically, I can’t teach a two-year-old how to waltz – they need to know what is a heel and a toe, what is forward and backwards. I make it a game, making it super fun and cool for boys and girls.”
They now have 17 locations and 11 teachers, and hosted a kids’ discovery programme at K11 Musea in December 2021.
Katya Virshilas’ preferred watch – Rolex Oyster Perpetual
- Former star of reality series Strictly Come Dancing, Virshilas has worked with Antonio Banderas and Richard Gere, and appeared in TV shows like Smallville and Supernatural
- Becoming Canada’s national ballroom champion at age 16, she married fellow dancer Klaus Kongsdal, with whom she opened Ballroom Bees – and keeps time with her Rolex Oyster Perpetual