Edyta Śliwińska

Edyta Śliwińska (born May 6, 1981 in Warsaw, Poland) is a professional ballroom dancer. She is best known for her appearances on the American version of the reality television series "Dancing with the Stars". Śliwińska is the only professional dancer to appear on all seven televised seasons of the American series.

Early life

Śliwińska comes from a working-class Polish background.cite web | url=http://www.edytasliwinska.com/edyta.php | title=About Edyta | accessdate=2007-07-30 | language=English | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070429061102/http://www.edytasliwinska.com/edyta.php | archivedate=2007-04-29] She took her first dancing class at age 11. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20156779,00.html Dancing with the Stars Secrets - People Magazine] ]

"Dancing with the Stars"

In the debut season of "Dancing with the Stars" in June 2005, Śliwińska partnered boxing champion Evander Holyfield, with whom she placed 5th in the competition. For the second season, she was paired with actor George Hamilton, and again came in 5th place. With the third season, her partner was actor Joey Lawrence, and the couple achieved 3rd place. Śliwińska and Lawrence were part of the first performance tour of the show from December 19, 2006 to February 11, 2007. [cite press release |title=Dancing With The Stars - The Tour hits the road this winter! |publisher=AEG Live |date=2006-10-25 |url=http://aeglive.com/print.php?print=news&newsID=51 |accessdate=2006-11-13 ]

For Season 4, she originally had Vincent Pastore as her partner, [cite news |title=The Stars Align for a fourth season of ABC's hit alternative series, Dancing With the Stars|url=http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancing/newseason.html
work=abc.go.com|date=2007|accessdate=2007-02-21] but Pastore dropped out after a week of training, as he was unable to keep up with the hard pace of preparation.cite news | url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/DancingStars/story?id=2912176 | title=John Ratzenberger Joins Cast of 'Dancing with the Stars' | date=2006-03-02 | work=ABC News | accessdate=2007-05-14 ] On March 2, John Ratzenberger was announced to be Pastore's replacement, giving Ratzenberger the least time of any celebrity to prepare for the series. On May 1, 2007, Sliwinska and Ratzenberger became the sixth couple eliminated from the competition, with a finish of 6th place. [ cite news | url=http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/DancingStars/wireStory?id=3120024 | title=Former 'Cheers' Mailman Ratzenberger is Latest Casualty on 'Dancing' | work=ABC News | date=2007-05-01 | accessdate=2007-05-14 ]

In Season 5, Edyta was partnered with soap opera actor Cameron Mathison. They became the eighth couple eliminated before the Semi-Finals, with a finish of 5th place for the third time.

In Season 6 her partner was NFL player Jason Taylor. They won second place, giving Edyta her best finish in six seasons.

In Season 7, Edyta and her partner American Comedian and Roastmaster Jeffrey Ross were the first couple voted off. They did not get their chance to show their Quickstep.

Performances

With celebrity partner Jason Taylor:

Personal life

Śliwińska's husband and professional partner in dance competitions is Alec Mazo, who also participated in "Dancing with the Stars", winning the first season with Kelly Monaco. They have danced together for over 6 years and have performed together multiple times for "Dancing with the Stars" results shows in pair numbers. They married on September 1, 2007. [cite web |url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20054430,00.html |title=Dancing with the Stars's Alec & Edyta Wed in San Francisco. |accessdate=2007-10-29 |date=2007-09-02 |format= |work=People.com ] She shares the same birthdate as "Dancing with the Stars" host Tom Bergeron.

Professional awards

* Emerald Ball Latin Amateur Champion [http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=bio&g=8047&name=edytasliwinska#t=pro&d=23284 Brief bio at ABC.go.com] ]
* 1st Place - 2001 International Grand Ball (San Francisco)
* 1st Place - 2001 Holiday Ball (Las Vegas, Nevada)

References

External links

* [http://www.edytasliwinska.com Edyta Śliwińska] - Official website
* [http://www.myspace.com/edytasliwinska Edyta Sliwinska] - Official Myspace Profile
* [http://www.dancingpros.com Edyta Śliwińska] - Official Dance and Fitness DVD
*
* [http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?style=results&action=couple&what=653 DancePlaza.com entry for Alex Mazo and Edyta]
* [http://teamsliwinska.com Group site for Dancing with the Stars Contestants Edyta Śliwińska & Cameron Mathison]
* Video of Edyta and [http://www.crashutah.com/somethingfornothing/2007/10/08/video-of-dancing-with-the-stars-cameron-mathison-and-edyta-sliwinska/ Cameron Mathison] and [http://sytycd.wordpress.com/2006/11/14/videos-of-joey-lawrence-and-edyta-sliwinska-from-dancing-with-the-stars-week-8-tango-and-paso-doble/ Joey Lawrence] from Dancing with the Stars