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International Latin American Dance Championship
The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by ''Dance News'' special events. The current full title is the ''Elsa Wells International Dance Championships'', and includes all categories in Standard and Latin American ballroom dance. The series of Latin American International Championships were started once the initial choreography, teaching and adjudications standards for these dances were stabilised. This occurred in the 1950s, after a period of debate and discussion initiated by Monsieur Pierre and his associates. Although English in origin and organisation, the championships were open to the world, as is the case today for all the major ballroom championships held in England. There are two main series, one for professionals, and another for amateurs, plus various age-limited categories. The division between amateur and professional has persisted in ballroom dance long after it disa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Laird
Walter William Laird (26 July 1920 – 30 May 2002) was a major influence in the development of Latin American dancing in Britain after the Second World War. He was World Professional Latin Dance Champion three times. He coached many successful dancers including Allan Tornsberg, Vibeke Toft, Espen Salberg, Jukka Haapalainen, Sirpa Suutari, Donnie Burns & Ian Waite. Peter Maxwell & Lynn Harman were amongst his first major champions and a couple on which much of his ultimate technique was developed. Laird was a Fellow and Examiner of the IDTA, and until 2000, he was Secretary (and later President) of the Ballroom Dancers' Federation. Laird first danced with his sister Joan in the 1930s. His professional partner during the war and after was Andé Lyons (née Ashcroft, and subsequently Andé Tyrer). They met when Andé was sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough as a shorthand typist. One day she took dictation from Walter Laird, who was a scientist working t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballroom Dance Competitions
A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic mansions and palaces, contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses, a large room such as the main drawing room, long gallery, or hall may double as a ballroom, but a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring, such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble or stone). In later times the term ballroom has been used to describe nightclubs where customers dance, the Top Rank Suites in the United Kingdom for example were also often referred to as ballrooms. The phrase "having a ball" has grown to encompass many events where person(s) are having fun, not just dancing. Ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for dancing, as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna Leunis
Joanna Leunis (born May 22, 1981 in Rocourt, Liège, Belgium), is a professional Latin ballroom dancer. With Michael Malitowski, she is a former professional World Latin Dance Champion and the current International Latin American Dance Champion. The couple represented Poland until 2011, choosing to represent England until their retirement in 2015. At the age of 8, she suffered from a blood disease similar to leukemia, but recovered after a year on bedrest. Joanna speaks several languages, including French, English, Dutch and German, and is reportedly learning Italian. Joanna’s dance background includes training in ballet, tap and ballroom and Latin American dance. Prior to her famous partnership with Michael Malitowski, Joanna had several successful partnerships. At age 18, Joanna won the World Amateur Latin Championship, with Slavik Kryklyvyy. Later, with Malitowski, she won the WDC World Professional Latin Championship in 2008 and 2009. In 2012, Leunis and Malitowski became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Malitowski
Michael Malitowski is a ballroom dancer, a former World Latin Dance Champion with his partner Joanna Leunis. Michael (christened ''Michał'') was born 28 May 1980, in Zielona Góra, Poland. His partnership with Leunis has, since 2002, resulted in a string of victories: in 2008 and 2009 they won the World Professional Latin title, and in 2012 they won first place in Latin dance at the Blackpool Dance Festival The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920. It is also the largest bal .... This is the prestigious Open British Championships held every year in Blackpool, England. Before that, he won the Polish Latin dance championship four times with Iwona Golczak. References Living people Polish ballroom dancers Polish male dancers Polish dancers 1980 births People from Zielona Góra Competitors at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmen Vincelj
Carmen Vincelj (born 1972 in Stuttgart) is a German professional dancer. Together with her partner Bryan Watson she has won the WDC World Latin Dance Championships in the professional category nine times (1999–2007), as well as 7 British Open Professional Latin American Championships (2000, 2002 - 2007) at the prestigious and most coveted Blackpool Dance Festival (a record at the time, and would be surpassed by Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis in 2015, after they won 8 consecutive titles) . Before partnering with Bryan Watson in 1999, Carmen was a regular Amateur finalist in all championships with her Italian partner, Sandro Cavellini. In 1996, under the training of 14 time WDC World Professional Latin American dance champion, Donnie Burns MBE, Carmen turned professional after partnering with Allan Tornsberg from Denmark. They were finalists in all major professional championships from 1996 - 1999. Today, together with her former partner Bryan and fellow World Latin Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karen Hardy
Karen Hardy (born 14 July 1970) is a British professional ballroom dancer, coach, teacher and adjudicator. In 1998 she won the professional International Latin American Dance Championship with Bryan Watson. She also won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships. She now runs a dance studio at Imperial Wharf, London. She is best known for being a professional dancer in '' Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2005 to 2009 and as a regular contributor to '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two''. She has also filled in for some of the judges on The Strictly Live Tour. Dancing career She started dancing aged five in her home town of Bournemouth, and competed in the United States for two years from the age of 18 winning both East and West Coast amateur championship titles. She returned to the UK in 1990 after two years in America where she teamed up with new partner Mark Lunn. It only took 6 months before they broke into the finals worldwide, repr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryan Watson (dancer)
Bryan Watson (born 18 April 1969) was nine times Professional World Latin Dance Champion and won the International Latin American Championship five times. Watson was born in Durban, South Africa. He became the UK Open Amateur champion with Claudia Leonie in 1991 and the runner-up in the International Latin Professional World Championships with Karen Hardy in 1996. He then won his first International Latin Professional World Championships with Carmen Vincelj in 1999. Watson and Vincelj proceeded to win every major International Latin Professional Championships that they entered until their retirement from competition in 2007. The couple continue to run a dance teaching studio in Wimbledon, London and gave an interesting interview on the subject of retiring from competition. Career World championships Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelj won the World Dance Council's World Professional Latin Championship for nine years running, from 1999–2007. International Latin American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jukka Haapalainen
Jukka Haapalainen is a Finnish professional ballroom dancer.Jukka and Sirpa profile and .net He started dancing at the age of 5 in his hometown . In 1989 he teamed up with and turned to Professional category of ballroom championships. They retired from competitive dance in 2002 and have become the Latin cabaret dance artists. At the peak of their success, during 1997–2001, they w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Ballas
Shirley Annette Ballas (née Rich, formerly Stopford; born 6 September 1960) is an English ballroom dancer, dance teacher, and dance adjudicator. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles which earned her the nickname The Queen of Latin. In 2017, Ballas was appointed head judge on the BBC TV show, ''Strictly Come Dancing'' following the departure of Len Goodman. Life and dancing career Ballas was born and raised in Wallasey, Cheshire (now Merseyside), England, with brother David and mother Audrey. The children's father left the family when Shirley was 2 years old. She began dancing at age 7, and began performing competitively the following years. At 15, Ballas moved to North Yorkshire to partner British Ballroom Champion Nigel Tiffany, which she described as "a difficult time". Two years later, she moved with Tiffany to London, where their partnership ended after dance teacher Nina Hunt convinced her to audition to partner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corky Ballas
Mark Alexander Ballas Sr. (born December 25, 1960), known as Corky Ballas, is an American retired competitive ballroom dancer who holds several Latin dance championship titles. His son, Mark Ballas, is a professional dancer on ''Dancing with the Stars''. His father was George Ballas, who invented the Weed Eater lawn-trimming device. Personal life Ballas was born in Houston, Texas. He is the son of Mexican-American Maria Marulanda and Greek-American George Ballas, the inventor of the Weed Eater lawn-trimming device. His paternal grandparents, Karolos ("Charles") Ballas and Maria Lymnaos were immigrants to the United States from Greece. He has three sisters, Michelle, Maria, and Lillian, and one brother, George. He has one son, Mark Ballas. Corky and Shirley Ballas also raised and trained Julianne Hough and Derek Hough. Corky now teaches dancing in San Antonio via his dancing studio, and his website. His plans for the future include more television performances as well as an on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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