About Us

Robertas Maleckis and Inga Sirkaite were born in Kaunas, Lithuania. Both started dancing at the age of 7 at the local school in their home town. They have known each other since their early days of competitions and began dancing together almost 17 years ago.

They were competing in both Ballroom (Standard) and Latin American dances. Later, they concentrated more on Latin dances as it better suited their personalities, but they never left Standard.

Although they had good teachers in Lithuania, they wanted to expand their horizons, so in 1995 they started to travel and take coaching from some of the World’s best teachers which helped them to become Lithuanian National Champions and achieve excellent results worldwide.

In 2001 Robertas and Inga turned Professional and decided to put even more focus on their dancing, so they moved to London where they spent almost 2 years. This helped them excel at their first competition as Professionals placing fourth in the Rising Star Professional Latin Division of the most prestigious BRITISH OPEN in Blackpool.

They were the first Professional couple in the history of Lithuania to achieve such a result in Latin dances.

Their dream was to own a dance studio and they could see it happening in the US. At the end of 2002 they moved to Durham, NC, and started as employees at a local studio and in 2005 they started to manage the DANCE PLUS studio. They are very happy here and have very good friendships and support from their students. They train adults, children, beginners, social and advanced dancers. They also coach ballroom teams from Duke, UNC and NCSU universities.

Achievements

Inga and Robertas

• Lithuanian Amateur and Professional Champions
• First year competing Professionally in Europe, won two major competitions in Spain
• 5th Place, prestigious GERMAN OPEN Latin Championship in Mannheim
• 1st Place, Professional Rising Star category, GERMAN OPEN Latin Championship in Mannheim
• 1st Place, INTERNATIONAL ELSA WELLS Rising Star Latin competition in London, (one of the top 5 in the world)
• 4th Place, Rising Star Latin competition at BRITISH OPEN, Blackpool, (the most prestigious competition in the World which attracts over 3'000 dancers from all over the world.)
• 4th place, "WORLD MASTERS" competition in Innsbruck, Austria
• 1st place, IRISH OPEN LATIN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP in 2002
• 2nd place, UK OPEN RISING STAR LATIN CHAMPIONSHIP in Bournemouth, England 2002
• 14th Place, representing Lithuania at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
• Semifinalists at the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP in Germany representing Lithuania
• 16th place overall representing USA, 2004 BRITISH OPEN Professional Latin Championship

In 2002 less then 2 years competing professionally, Robertas and Inga were ranked 8th in the World in Latin dances according to the World Ranking List completed by the World Dances and Dancesport Council, an international professional association.

Competitive results in the United States:

• 4th Place, OHIO STAR BALL, 2003 the biggest competition in the United States which now is televised
• 1st Place, HEART of AMERICA Championship in Kansas
• 3rd Place, PHILADELPHIA DANCE FESTIVAL, Pennsylvania
• 1st Place, ST. LOUIS STAR BALL
• 3rd Place, 2003 YANKEE CLASSIC, one of Americas top 3 competitions in Boston, MA
• 5th Place, 2004 YANKEE CLASSIC, Boston, MA
• 2nd Place, MARYLAND DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS, Baltimore
• 1st Place, FLORIDA SUPERSTARS COMPETITION in Tampa
• 1st Place, FIRST COAST CLASSIC COMPETITION in Jacksonville, FL
• 6th Place, HERITAGE CLASSIC COMPETITION , one of the biggest in Asheville, NC
• 2 time WORLD CUP FINALISTS!