Phan Hien and Thu Huong recently brought home 3 gold medals in DanceSport at the 2026 Southeast Asian Championships.
Previously, both had repeatedly achieved impressive results for Vietnamese sports, such as 3 gold medals in Southeast Asia 2025, bronze medal at the World Latin Dance Championships in the US, 3 gold medals at SEA Games 31, 1 gold medal at SEA Games 32...
In his career, Phan Hien has changed up to 6 dance partners. Usually, each dance partner cooperates with him for 2-3 years to maintain freshness, as well as limit non-professional issues. However, the case of champion Thu Huong is considered special.
Thu Huong and Phan Hien are attached to each other 2019. The couple created a brilliant journey, achieving many admirable achievements, winning many medals in regional, continental and world arenas.
A noteworthy detail, the person who chose the dance partner for Phan Hien is champion Khanh Thi - the coach and also his wife.
When I stopped my playing career and returned to being a coach, I went to find a dance partner for my husband. Many people said I was'crazy', as if I were looking for a girlfriend for my husband.
Dancesport requires a lot of physical impact. But we consider it a partner. Hien is very cooperative in finding dance partners for him. Throughout the process of Hien competing until now, he has changed 6 dance partners. But with all 6 dance partners, Hien and his partner both won the championship.
Hien values training and competition results more than his wife finding him a new'girlfriend'," Khanh Thi once shared with Lao Dong.
As for Dang Thu Huong, Khanh Thi was the one who stood up to persuade her to pair up to compete with Phan Hien.
In the early stages, Thu Huong hesitated and thought, but when entering serious and dedicated training, both quickly understood each other's intentions and gradually achieved success.
Khanh Thi said that she loves Thu Huong's situation very much, believing in the seriousness of both: "Huong is different. Huong has a family, has children. I love Huong very much. She has a special situation".
Therefore, Phan Hien and Thu Huong continue their journey, being reliable companions in recent years at regional and international DanceSport competitions.
