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SARASOTA, Fla. — The World DanceSport Federation Championships are happening this weekend.
Team USA is well represented by one of our new Sunshine State residents.
Born in Ukraine, Dmytro Roshchupkin now has a home base in Sarasota where he is inspiring others by his story.
Dmytro is swinging into every dance practice with a smile.
At 21 years old, he is also a dance instructor with inspirational advice.
“There is no challenge that you cannot overcome,” said Dmytro. “If it is there, you are capable. And when you are able to overcome it, it just makes you a different person, and you are in a better place than you have ever been before.”
He is not just talking about learning how to dance, though.
The war in Ukraine forced him to leave his homeland when he was just a teenager.
“When the war started, it kind of changed everything,” he said. “We had to leave the country. I stopped dancing for, like, probably like a year.”
He moved from Ukraine to Germany first.
Coincidentally, Dmytro returns to Germany for the championships this weekend.
His grandparents, who also evacuated the war-torn city of Kharkiv, are also there.
Dmytro’s parents and siblings are in New York after fleeing the war.
But Dmytro’s experience shortly after the start of the fighting was just a temporary pause from doing what he loves.
He finally landed in Florida, where he is heating up the dance floor.
“Dima has been there through, like, thick and thin,” said his practice partner Alexis Aker. “He has definitely shown me the groundwork and the blueprint of ballroom.”
Aker is also a dance instructor at the Sarasota studio where Dmytro teaches.
She affectionately calls him Dima and is now his dance disciple.
“He has this eagerness for knowledge, and it really elevates everyone in the room,” she said.
She is also lending her time to get him ready for his next challenge which is taking on the best from other countries in the World DanceSport Federation Championships.
She said it is how Dmytro has managed the war experience that really stands out.
“It’s just really inspiring how much he was focused on all the people, on all his students,” she said. “He gave himself to his students and that was like wow…I want to be like that one day.”
For Dmytro, he would not have it any other way.
It is the people who welcomed him to his new home that inspire him.
“It’s the people who greeted me that warmly on the first day I came here. Meeting me at airport, giving me all that love and shine,” said Dmytro. “And being so nice to me when I didn’t even speak any English at the beginning.”
But he does speak perseverance and soon hopes to talk championships.
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Roy De Jesus
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