Yuliya Zagoruychenko, along with her partner/husband Riccardo Cocchi, is a ten-time undefeated Latino dance champion and reigning Latino world champion. She was born in Russia and began dancing in a Russian folklore ensemble at the age of four. She liked watching and imitating dancers on television as a child, so her mother consented to take her to dance lessons, where she practiced folk dancing for three years. She later progressed to ballroom dance.
Zagoruychenko began teaching children how to earn money at the age of 11, which she subsequently donated to her parents. She won her first major title in Russia at the age of 12, winning the Russian junior champion. She couldn’t afford to dance ballroom and Latin American dances due to financial constraints, so she began Latin American dancing at the age of 16. She moved to America at the age of 21 and collaborated with Maxim Kozhevnikov. They won the US Pro Championship as a team. She began dancing with Riccardo Cocchi in the autumn of 2007.
In 2010, Zagoruichenko and Kokki won their first World Latin American Dance Championship, and in 2017, they won their eighth. In the professional Latin American program, they are ranked first in the world. At the US Open Dance Competition, they recently won their fifth consecutive US National Professional Latin Champion title. They announced their retirement in October 2019, and their final international tournament was the World Professional Latin in Miami.
Julia is inspired by a variety of dance styles other than Latin American, as well as music. Dancers Syd Charisse, Fred Astaire, Diana Vishneva, Gaynor Fairweather, and Donnie Burns are among her influences. She is also influenced by musicians José Feliciano, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, and Christina Aguilera, as well as dance companies Pilobolus and Alvin Ailey.
