Amy Dowden (born 10 August 1990) is a Welsh professional

ballroom 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 man ...

and

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

dancer from

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wit ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, best known for her appearances on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

television show ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''. Dowden joined the BBC series in 2017, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the seventeenth series with TV presenter

Karim Zeroual Karim Zeroual (born 14 November 1993) is a British television presenter and actor. Early life Zeroual was born in London to parents of Moroccan heritage and was brought up by his mother. He attended theatre school in London. Stage and televisi ...

. Dowden and her partner Ben Jones are former British National Latin Dance Champions. She has the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds (2022).

Early life

Dowden was born in

, Wales and began dancing at the age of eight. Alongside her partner Ben Jones, she became British National Latin Dance Champion in 2017, and the couple were the first all-British pair to win the championships in over thirty years. Other successes include becoming British Dance Federation Champions, English Closed Champions and Welsh Closed and Open Champions. Dowden is also a four-time British National Finalist, and a World Championship semi-finalist, and she remains one of the highest-ranking Ballroom and Latin American professional dancers in the UK.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

Dowden is the first

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

professional to take part in the BBC's ''

.'' Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance

Performances with Brian Conley

In 2017 Dowden appeared as a professional dancer in the fifteenth series, partnered with comedian

Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of ''The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-ye ...

. They made it to week 5 of the competition. * number indicates Brian & Amy were at the bottom of the leaderboard

Performances with Danny John-Jules

Dowden returned for her second series in 2018 where she was partnered with

Danny John-Jules Daniel John-Jules (born 16 September 1960) is a British actor, singer and dancer. He is best known for playing Milton Wordsworth in The Story Makers and ''Red Dwarf'', Barrington which are both children's series. Also he played in ''Maid Maria ...

. The couple were awarded the first 10 score of the series by

Darcey Bussell Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; 27 April 1969) is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest '' Strictly Come Dancing''. Trained at the Arts Educational Sc ...

for their Jive to "

Flip, Flop and Fly "Flip, Flop and Fly" is a song recorded by Big Joe Turner in 1955. Called a "prototypical rocker", it was recorded by several early rock and roll performers. In 1973, a version by the Downchild Blues Band reached the record singles chart in Canad ...

" in week 5. They were eliminated in Week 8 after losing a dance-off to

Graeme Swann Graeme Peter Swann (born 24 March 1979) is an English former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm off-spinner, and also ...

and

Oti Mabuse Otlile "Oti" Mabuse (born 8 August 1990) is a South African talent show judge, presenter, dancer and Latin dance champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being a professional dancer on the British television series ' ...

; their elimination came days after controversial bullying allegations, with tabloids reporting that John-Jules had reduced Dowden to tears. * score awarded by guest judge Alfonso Riberio * number indicates Danny & Amy were at the top of the leaderboard * number indicates Danny & Amy were at the bottom of the leaderboard

Performances with Karim Zeroual

In 2019 Dowden appeared as a professional dancer in the seventeenth series of the show, partnered with CBBC presenter

. The pair received the first perfect 40 of the series for their Jive in Week 11. * score awarded by guest judge Alfonso Riberio * number indicates Karim & Amy were at the top of the leaderboard

Performances with JJ Chalmers

In Series 18, Dowden partnered television presenter

JJ Chalmers John-James Chalmers (born 20 December 1986) is a Scottish television presenter, public speaker and Invictus Games medallist. He was injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2011, while serving as a Royal Marine. Early life Chalmers was born o ...

. They finished in 6th place, reaching musical week. The scores for this series were out of 30. * was awarded by

Anton Du Beke Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (), is a British ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dancer, and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and later a judge on the BBC One cele ...

who filled in for Motsi Mabuse as judge for Week 4 and 5.

Performances with Tom Fletcher

In Series 19, Dowden partnered musician

Tom Fletcher Thomas Michael Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, composer, author and vlogger. He is one of the lead vocalists and rhythm guitarist of English pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder ...

. On 26 September it was announced that both had contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and would miss the following week's show. On 21 November, in week 9 of the competition, they were the eighth couple to be eliminated, after a dance-off against

Rhys Stephenson Rhys Stephenson (born 29 October 1993) is an English television presenter and actor. He has presented on CBBC since 2016. Early life Stephenson was born in Lewisham, London. He began starring in school theatre productions at the age of ten. He ...

and

Nancy Xu Nancy Xu YouJie (; born 30 July 1991) is a Chinese dancer and choreographer. She is best known for being a professional dancer on ''Strictly Come Dancing'' since 2019. Early and personal life Xu was born on 30 July 1991 in Hunan, China. She bega ...

. * was awarded by

Cynthia Erivo Cynthia Erivo (; born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Grammy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Awa ...

who filled in for

Craig Revel Horwood Craig Revel Horwood (born 4 January 1965) is an Australian-British author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen in the United Kingdom. He is also a patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Horwood is best k ...

as judge for Week 9. * number indicates Tom & Amy were at the bottom of the leaderboard

Performances with James Bye

Series 20 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered Set (music), ...

, Dowden partnered

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

actor James Bye. They were eliminated in week 6 of the competition, finishing in 11th place. * number indicates James & Amy were at the bottom of the leaderboard

''Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special''

She danced with

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

presenter George Webster for the 2022 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.

Dance tours and other professional engagements

In 2019, Dowden headlined her own tour, ‘Here Come The Girls’, with fellow professional dancers

Dianne Buswell Dianne Claire Buswell (born 6 May 1989) is an Australian professional dancer. She is best known for her appearances on the British television show ''Strictly Come Dancing''. After competing on ''Dancing with the Stars'' in Australia, she joined ...

and

Chloe Hewitt ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

. Dowden has also taken part in the ''

Strictly Come Dancing Live! ''Strictly Come Dancing Live!'' (also known as ''Strictly Come Dancing: The Live Tour!'') is a nationwide arena tour in the United Kingdom which was first staged in 2008 and has continued every year since. It is directed and co-choreographed by ...

'' tour since 2018. In 2020, she performed with a celebrity partner for the first time on tour, her 2019 partner

. Dowden has announced her appearance with Jones at the 2022 'Dancing With The Stars Weekend' at the

Celtic Manor Resort Celtic Manor Resort is a golf, spa and leisure hotel and resort in the city of Newport, Wales, Newport, South East Wales. Owned by Terry Matthews, Sir Terry Matthews, the resort is located on the south-facing side of Christchurch, Newport, Christ ...

in Newport.

Personal life

Dowden is married to Ben Jones, her professional dance partner, and together they run the Art in Motion dance school in

Cradley Heath Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England approximately north-west of Halesowen, south of Dudley and west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with the ...

, West Midlands. Dowden has suffered from

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...

since she was a child. In May 2019, she spoke out about the effect the condition has had on her career as a professional dancer. In October 2020, the BBC aired a documentary about Dowden's experiences of living with the condition. The documentary won a

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowden, Amy Living people Welsh female dancers British ballroom dancers 21st-century British dancers People from Caerphilly 1990 births People with Crohn's disease