Jason Gilkison is an Australian professional ballroom dance champion and choreographer.

Early life

Gilkison was born in

Perth, Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. He was raised by his single mum, Kay. At age 4, he began dancing at the Perth ballroom dance studio, founded by his grandparents Sam and Ronnie Gilkison, the first of its kind in Australia. Gilkison has lived in Sydney, London, England and

Los Angeles, United States Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. He realised he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

when he was 16 or 17.

Dance career

At the age of 7 Gilkison was first paired with Peta Roby. Gilkison formed a professional partnership with Peta Roby in 1980 and were undefeated Australian Latin champions from 1981 to 1997. At age 23, Gilkison and Roby were the ranked pair in Ten-Dance Competition. In 1990, Gilkison and Roby received the "Young Australian of the Year" Award. In 1991, they became the residing teachers at one of London's most prestigious ballroom schools, where they remained for seven years, training many of the world's leading dancers.

Stage

Gilkison has served as choreographer and director for the ballroom dance stage show '' Burn the Floor'' Gilkison's longtime dance partner Roby served as associate producer of the show. ''Burn the Floor'' began touring in 1999 and reached

Broadway, Manhattan Broadway () is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for through the borough of Manhattan and through the Bronx, exiting north from New York City to run an additional through the Westcheste ...

in 2009. In 2012, Gilkison choreographed ''Dancing with the Stars: Live in Las Vegas'', a live stage show at the

Tropicana Tropicana may refer to: Companies *Tropicana Entertainment, a former casino company that owned several Tropicana-branded casinos *Tropicana Products, a Chicago-based food company known for orange juice Hotels and nightclubs *Tropicana Casino & Re ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

featuring celebrities and dancers from ABC's Dancing with the Stars. The production opened in April 2012 and ran for twelve weeks.

TV and film

In 2008, Gilkison became a contributing choreographer for Australian version of the American reality dance-off series ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

''. Months later he joined the US version. '' Superstars of Dance'', which he co-choreographed with

Nakul Dev Mahajan Nakul Dev Mahajan (born 15 September 1975) is an Indian-American Bollywood dancer and choreographer best known for his choreography on ''So You Think You Can Dance''. He is the founder and artistic director of ''NDM Bollywood Dance Productions an ...

. As of 2014, Gilkison worked as the director of choreography on BBC One's '' Strictly Come Dancing''.

As choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance Australia

As judge

In 2014, Jason Gilkison joined the judging panel on the 4th season of

So You Think You Can Dance Australia ''So You Think You Can Dance Australia'' is an Australian version of the American reality dance competition ''So You Think You Can Dance''. The show is hosted by Carrie Bickmore, with judges Paula Abdul, Shannon Holtzapffel, Jason Gilkison and ...

alongside Aaron Cash, Shannon Holtzapffel and Paula Abdul.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilkison, Jason Australian ballroom dancers Living people Australian choreographers So You Think You Can Dance choreographers LGBT entertainers from Australia Year of birth missing (living people)