Petar Daskalov & Zia James

Petar and Zia both grew up in dancing families, but with different traditions around them. Zia, who is half Danish and half English, comes from a family deeply rooted in Latin American dancing. Petar, originally from Bulgaria, grew up with parents whose backgrounds are in ballet and traditional Bulgarian folk dance.

Their paths first crossed in Denmark, where Petar had moved to dance with another Danish partner and was keen to study with Zia’s mother. Four years later, their own partnership began, when they were both twenty. A couple of years after that, they moved to London to further their careers, while continuing to return regularly to Denmark for lessons. Zia’s mother has been their main coach from the beginning, and the complete trust they place in her remains central to their development.

Winning the British Open Amateur Rising Star Championship in 2014 brought their first major breakthrough and a place among the top twenty-four couples at major championships. Progress was not always straightforward. They describe the difficult periods as some of the most valuable years of their career, teaching them patience and perseverance. After finishing in the last forty-eight at the 2015 British Open, they reached their first Amateur final there in 2016 — and sustained that level in the years that followed.

They went on to win the World and European Amateur Championships, alongside the British Open, UK and International titles they had dreamed of since childhood. In 2024, they turned Professional. Third places at the Professional World and European Championships, and appearances in the later stages and finals of the British Open, have marked this new chapter. They remain proud of their achievements and curious about how much further their dancing can develop.

Today, Petar and Zia teach and demonstrate in London and travel extensively to compete, teach and perform. Musicality is fundamental to their work: understanding the relationship between music and the movement of the body, then discovering how that relationship connects two people. As they put it, there are always three essential parts: “Me. My partner. And the music.”

Their partnership extends beyond the dance floor. Having grown together as a couple in life as well as in dance, they see patience, perseverance and the experience of a relationship as inseparable from their artistic development. Buying their own flat and sharing their home with their dog, Cookie, are sources of joy alongside their international careers. Their account of the journey is rooted not only in titles, but in the privilege of learning, teaching and sharing a life through dance.

In Season 13, MasterClass #37, Petar and Zia explore how two individual dancers become a genuine team. Their experience brings shared purpose, communication, honest feedback and artistic identity into focus, connecting the daily work of a partnership with the trust needed to grow and perform together.

Read the MasterClass reflection