Pavel "Pasha" Kovalev (Russian: Па́вел "Па́ша" Ковалёв; born 19 January 1980) is a Russian professional Latin and ballroom dancer.
Kovalev started dancing at the age of eight, and in 2000, moved to the United States with his professional dance partner Anya Garnis. In 2007, the couple competed on the third season of the American version of So You Think You Can Dance, and they have since participated in the eight subsequent seasons as either choreographers or All-Star partners to the contestants.
Between 2011 and 2012, Kovalev moved to the United Kingdom to take part in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer. After finishing runner-up on both the ninth and tenth series with celebrity partners Chelsee Healey and Kimberley Walsh, he went on to win series twelve with his partner Caroline Flack. Despite facing backlash over her past dance experience and landing in the bottom two three times, he and his celebrity partner, Ashley Roberts, eventually finished as runners-up on the sixteenth series, even becoming the highest scorers in the show’s history – with an average of 36.9 – and holding the record until the twenty-second series, when they were topped by Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec, who achieved an average of 37.3; they also broke the record for the most perfect scores – with a total of five – which they still hold. Kovalev announced that it was his final series on the show as he had decided to "go to the west end" after " 7 series ".
Early life and competitive career
Kovalev began dancing at the age of eight. Until 2000, he competed with partner Anya Garnis in the Amateur Latin category in Russia.
After moving to the US, Kovalev and Garnis turned professional, and from 2002 started competing in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Their competitive achievements include being finalists in the US Open from 2002 to 2006.
In 2007, Kovalev and Garnis auditioned for season 3 of the US reality show So You Think You Can Dance. Garnis made it to the Top 12 stage, whereas Kovalev made it all the way to the Semi-Finals. The pair have since participated in all following seasons as either choreographers or as All-Stars.
Although originally he only attended the audition to support Anya Garnis, he was asked to audition as well and together with Garnis became one of the 20 contestants chosen to compete in the show's third season from June to August 2007.
After making it all the way to the semi-finals, Kovalev was eliminated on 13 August, in the last round before the final, losing out to the two remaining male contestants, contemporary contestants Danny Tidwell and Neil Haskell. Sabra Johnson, the remaining female contemporary contestant, went on to win the competition. Kovalev and Garnis both later took part in the So You Think You Can Dance Tour.
On Season 4, Kovalev assisted Mia Michaels on a Contemporary routine, and he and his partner Anya Garnis choreographed a Cha-Cha routine performed by Courtney Galiano and Gev Manoukian.
On Season 5, Kovalev and Garnis choreographed a Samba for Evan Kasprzak and Randi Evans.
On Season 6, he and Garnis returned to So You Think You Can Dance to lead the choreography rounds during the auditions, and later that season choreographed a Jive for Russell Ferguson and Mollee Gray.
Kovalev was announced as an "All-Star" for both Season 7 and Season 8 of the show, performing all the Latin and Ballroom dances with the female contestants, including winners Lauren Froderman and Melanie Moore.
For Season 9, the following year, he returned to choreograph a Cha-cha routine for contestants Janelle Issis and Dareian Kujawa on the third week of live shows.
Finally, on 16 July 2014, Kovalev returned with Garnis to choreograph a new Jive routine for contestants Bridget Whitman and Emilio Dosal during Season 11.
In September 2011, Kovalev joined BBC's Strictly Come Dancing as the new professional dancer of its ninth series, replacing Jared Murillo who had left after only one series with the BBC programme. He has since reached the finals three out of five series, finishing runner-up on his first and second series, and winning on his fourth.
Statistics and Strictly records
Kovalev was the second Strictly professional dancer to reach the finals four times (after Kevin Clifton) as the winner of Series 12 and the runner-up of Series 9, Series 10 and Series 16.