Esther Frances & Dmitry Krasnyanskiy
Esther Francés is a professional ballroom and latin dance competitor, instructor and choreographer who, after splitting her time between New York City and Miami, relocated to South Florida to open her dance studio. Esther was born in Houston, Texas and grew up in Florida and Alabama where she trained in classical ballet and piano for over 20 years. Esther completed her Bachelor of Music at the University of Miami in Music Business and Entertainment Industries with a major in classical piano and also received a minor in marketing and dance. She switched to ballroom dancing when she was 16 years old and has won numerous awards over the years. She has also been teaching dance and fitness for over 19 years, with a unique and exciting teaching style stemming from her deep knowledge of music. Her current accolades include winning the 2019 American Smooth title at Ballroom Raymi in Peru, 2018 American Rhythm title in Venice Italy, being a semifinalist in the American Rhythm styles in the prestigious Blackpool competition in 2017, and she also won the top instructor award for the Arthur Murray company internationally in 2018. She is currently a competitor in the American Ballroom Smooth style with her partner Dmitry Krasnyanskiy.
Esther’s passion in life is dancing and teaching how to dance, believing that music and dance provide mental and physical well- being like no other form of art or exercise. For this reason, she is involved with several charitable causes including working with people who have Alzheimer’s (she created a dance syllabus while working for Arthur Murray in New York that was adopted by the Alzheimer’s Association to be promoted nationally), Camp Clio (she helped organize dance themed fund raising events for adopted children) and Fundacion Ars Vitalis (she provided virtual dance lessons to children in Spain aged 7-17). Her involvement in the Nomi Network started 10 years ago when she first moved to New York and she has served on the Young Professionals Board for the past 4 years along with performing at their events and galas.
Dmitry Krasnyanskiy was born in Moscow, Russia and started his training in ballroom dancing at the Aleko Dance training center at 7 years old. He immediately started competing and by the time he was 17 he had successfully competed in over 100 national and international competitions representing his hometown of Moscow.
As an Amateur, Dmitry competed at the Russian championships in 1994 and 1995 as a finalist. He also represented Russia at the 1994 world championships. In 1995 he became the face of the German Open Championship in Mannheim for five consecutive years. Throughout the subsequent years, Dmitry was the winner and finalist in numerous competitions and championships all over the world. In 2003 he won the International Dance Union World Championship in Le Mans, France and in 2004 he became the Vice World Champion at the International Dance Union Championships in Hong Kong.
Since being in the United States he won the Fred Astaire top teacher award twice in 2006 and he won the “People’s Choice” award at the Dancing with the Stars charity fundraiser in Stamford CT in 2007. Since then he has won numerous Pro-Am awards with his students at high ranking competitions such as Ohio Star Ball, Manhattan Dancesport and Yankee Classic. Currently Dmitry resides in Miami and is a finalist internationally in the American Ballroom Smooth style with his partner Esther Francés.