Loraine Barry (born 10 December 1964) is a former professional dancer and also known for her role as a judge on the

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

series, ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

.''

Early life

Loraine Barry was born in Cabra in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. By the age of nineteen, Barry began to dance competitively with her partner Andrew Sinkinson. Together Barry and Sinkinson won many Amateur titles such as British Youth Amateur Ballroom Championship. They also won the Amateur British Ballroom Championship three consecutive times in 1987, 1988, & 1989. Barry & Sinkinson traveled around the world competing regularly and winning Grand Slam titles such as: the UK Championship, European Open Championship and World Championship. After winning the Blackpool Open Amateur Competition Loraine and Andrew decided to turn Professional in 1989.

Professional dance career

In 1990 Barry and Sinkinson competed for the first time professionally at the Professional British Open and won the Slow Foxtrot over Marcus & Karen Hilton, and John Wood & Anne Lewis. This was deemed to be an unprecedented result for the couple as it was their first British Open Competition. In 1993 Barry and Sinkinson ended their partnership. In 1993, Barry took up a partnership with Luca Baricchi. Together, they were crowned

World Ballroom Dance Champions This page lists the official World Champions – Professional Ballroom of the World Dance Council (WDC), and its historical predecessors. The championships are authorized and organized under the auspices of the WDC. The designation ''Ballroom'' repl ...

in 1999 and 2001 and British Open Champions three times 1999, 2000, & 2001, among many other accomplishments. Loraine has also been awarded the Prince Mikasa Award, BDF Award, and Carl Alan Award.

Media career

Since January 2017, Barry has been a judge on the Irish version of ''Dancing with the Stars'' for

alongside

Brian Redmond Brian Redmond (born 6 March 1977) is best known for his starring role in the judging hotseat on RTÉ One series, Dancing with the Stars. An integral part of the show's team from the very first episode, Brian was hired to be the "Simon Cowell" cha ...

and

Julian Benson Julian Benson (born 26 February 1971) is a talent agent, choreographer and is also known for his role as a judge on the RTÉ One series, ''Dancing with the Stars.'' Early life Julian Benson was born in Adelaide, Australia where he did his format ...

with Arthur Gourounlian joining the panel in 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Loraine 1964 births Living people Irish female dancers Dancing with the Stars (Irish TV series) Dancers from Dublin (city)