Volodymyr Rakov, a dancer, choreographer, and winner of the 6th season of Everybody Dance! (a Ukrainian show based on the format of the American series So You Think You Can Dance), was killed in action on the battlefield.

Source: Volodymyr Rakovʼs friend and colleague Halyna Pekha on social media

Quote from Halyna Pekha: "On 6 January, my closest friend and colleague, Volodymyr Rakov, was killed in action performing a combat mission."

Volodymyr Rakov (on the right) served in the 24th Mechanised Brigade

Details: Many of Rakov's colleagues and famous Ukrainians leave their condolences under Halyna Pekhaʼs post on social media.

Quote from Ukrainian singer Dmytro Monatik: "One of the most talented dancers I was lucky enough to know personally. My condolences to all the family. May you rest in peace and eternal memory, Warrior. It is very sad and painful. Very…"

"Let's be worthy of your heroism, rest in peace Volodymyr Rakov!" wrote choreographer Anatolii Sachivko, in whose Apache Crew band Volodymyr once performed.

Halia Pekha, Volodymyr Rakov, Maksym Kotskyi

Photo: Maksym Kotskyi on Facebook

For reference:Volodymyr Rakov was born in 1994 in Yevpatoria. In 2013, he won the sixth season of the show Everybody Dance! and was a choreographer for the next two seasons. In 2018, as part of the Wonder Crew, he won the World of Dance competition in Berlin.

He was an assistant choreographer for the Ukrainian dance competition show Dancing with the Stars and has appeared in films and numerous music videos. One of his most famous works is the video for the song 2am by Foals, directed by Tanu Muiño. Muiño posted a photo of the deceased on her social media and captioned it: "I don't want to believe it."

After the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 24th Mechanised Brigade.

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