Anna Ermakova: After “Let’s Dance” the fairy tale continues

Anna Ermakova
After “Let’s Dance” the fairy tale continues

Anna Ermakova, Valentin Lusin

© Joshua Sammer / Getty Images

Germany has a new star. What Anna Ermakova is planning now after her “Let’s Dance” victory and how the show has changed her life.

When presenter Victoria Swarovski, 29, says her name shortly after midnight, Anna Ermakova can hardly believe it. With a whoop, the 23-year-old falls to the ground. Her professional dance partner Valentin Lusin, 36, with whom she just won the 16th season “Let’s Dance”, gives her her hand, helps her up and then they jump together in the golden confetti rain across the dance floor. Valentin’s wife Renata, 35, who took part in the last dance, rushes over and hugs the couple.

Anna Ermakova is no longer “just” Boris Becker’s daughter

It is the greatest moment in Anna Ermakova’s life, which is still so young but by no means easy – the 850 spectators in the hall and the 4.3 million in front of the television can feel that – and the stuff of a fairy tale come true. How worried was she 91 days earlier when she went onto the floor for the first time: “I couldn’t speak the language and I’ve never lived here,” says Anna. So how would the audience react to them? So far, the image of being “only” the daughter of tennis legend Boris Becker, 55, has rushed ahead of her.

Her evolution from show to show is huge

Shy and with her hair neatly put together, she appeared in front of the cameras in the first show. But she quickly realized – not least because of the enthusiastic evaluations of the jury, which gave her the best mark of 30 points eleven times (record!): I can do something – and I want to show it.

Anna Ermakova, Valentin Lusin

Sensual and with a wild mane: Anna has learned to let herself go. That’s why she delighted the audience with her dance partner Valentin Lusin

© Joshua Sammer / Getty Images

The applause grew from show to show. The audience fell in love with Anna. Because everyone felt: Behind this young woman is not an easy time. “All my life I had the feeling that I didn’t belong anywhere,” Anna now reveals her innermost self. But that’s exactly what has changed with “Let’s Dance” – in several ways. The stage is her home now. “Anna has become much more self-confident and independent,” says her mother Angela Ermakova, 55, who raised Anna alone and proudly watched the finale from the front row.

Anna has become much more self-confident and independent, according to Angela Ermakova

Nothing in the past shows reminded us of the reserved girl from three months ago – be it in the passionately erotic contemporary or her last appearance in the final. Anna literally danced on the tables as “Alice in Wonderland”. It’s a fairytale climb. Within a very short time, Anna became a real star. Something that has never existed in the history of “Let’s Dance”.

The doors are open to her

So it’s no wonder that Anna, despite her recent studies in art history, would rather continue working in show business. “You will see me again soon in Germany,” she announces in an interview with GALA. She does not want to reveal any concrete plans yet. However, it is clear that she will take part in the “Let Dance” tour through 16 German cities from November – and will certainly become a crowd puller here as well. Because everyone wants to experience this fascinating woman up close.

Germany is also an option for her to live in

And what happens afterwards? “There are many options for Anna,” says juror Motsi Mabuse, 42, to GALA: “Musicals, shows, presentations.” For colleague Joachim Llambi, 58, she scores in two ways: “She has a big name and is a guy.” The prerequisite, however, is that she improves her German. A move from London to Germany is therefore an option for Anna. “I love Cologne. But also Düsseldorf, where my friends, the Lusins, showed me everything,” she says. “But I would like to travel further afield to see everything.”

Anna Ermakova, Angela Ermakova

Angela Ermakova used to not leave her daughter’s side, today Anna masters the limelight just like that

© Joshua Sammer / Getty Images

For the first time in her life, Anna is no longer perceived as the “daughter of” – perhaps the greatest gift that “Let’s Dance” gave her. But she also worked hard for it, as her bruises on her body reveal. “She was one of the best, maybe the best candidate of all time,” Motsi Mabuse summed up to GALA. “Now she stands on her own two feet.” You can see this newly gained independence two hours after the end of the final show. Anna Ermakova is one of the last to come to the after-show party. Her mother Angela knows that she must now let her beloved daughter go and follows her at a distance of a few meters. Anna is now leading the way – for the first time in her life.

Tim Sonder
Gala

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