Another baby in the ballroom! Dancing With the Stars pros Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov welcomed their first child, a baby girl, on Tuesday, May 30.
Karagach, 30, and Pashkov, 37, confirmed on Wednesday, May 31, that their daughter had arrived one day prior. “Nikita,” they captioned a joint Instagram post, revealing her name.
The couple met and became dance partners in 2009. After Pashkov’s previous dance partner left New York to join DWTS, Pashkov’s standard coach recommended he pair up with Karagach.
In June 2017, the World of Dance alums reflected back on their first meeting during an interview with Dance Sport Info. “Our try-out was maybe 20 minutes long. That’s it,” recalled Karagach. “We knew instantly that we were right for each other.”
She continued: “It’s funny. My mum, just before the try-out, was asking: ‘What if you start liking him? What if you start having feelings for him?’ And I was like, no way, he is so old! It’s never going to happen.”
After pairing up, the relationship blossomed quickly. “We started dancing together on the 7th of December, and my birthday was December, 26, when I turned 16,” Karagach explained. “On January 1, we started dating.”
The twosome got engaged on New Year’s Day in 2012 and tied the knot in July 2014.
Pashkov and Karagach made history as the first American couple in 40 years to compete in all four styles — Latin, Ballroom, Ten dance, and Show dance — at the world championship level. They made it to the qualifiers on season 2 of World of Dance in 2018 before joining season 28 of Dancing With the Stars in 2019.
Pashkov first partnered with The Office’s Kate Flannery on the reality series, while Karagach started in the troupe. The Brooklyn native was eventually promoted to pro for the following season and went on to win season 30 with partner Iman Shumpert. Both Karagach and Pashkov competed in season 31 but were eliminated without making it to the finals.
The So You Think You Can Dance choreographers announced in November 2022 that they were expecting their first baby. “Baby Pashkov coming May ’23🤍We love you more than words could ever express,” she wrote via Instagram.
Fellow pro Lindsay Arnold, who was also pregnant at the time, took to the comment section to congratulate their friends on the big news. “YES YES YES 😍😍😍😍 beyond happy for you both!” Arnold wrote. Fans in the comments were also quick to point out that DWTS’ Witney Carson, who announced her second pregnancy live on the show that same year, was due the same month as Karagach. (Arnold and Carson gave birth to daughter June and son Jet, respectively, earlier this month.)
Several other costars also shared their excitement for the couple. “@daniellakaragach wait so when we danced to I’m blue, there was three of us 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂,” pro Sasha Farber joked. “This is the best news ever!!!!!!!!”
