Melanie Hooper is an Australian ballroom and Latin dancer. She was a professional dancer on Australia's ''Dancing with the Stars''. She also toured with dance show ''

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in New York City and the West End of London, West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries w ...

''.

Early life

Melanie Hooper was born in

Townsville, Australia Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

. Hooper began dancing at age 13.

Career

Hooper moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

at age 21 to advance her dance career. She began competing in Sydney and Melbourne. Then, to further her career she moved to

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. Her dancing titles include UK Rising Star Professional Latin Champion, German Professional Rising Star Latin Champion, Australian Open Professional Latin Champion, and Moscow World Professional Latin. In 2008, Hooper joined the dance show ''

''. She was with the production when it moved to Broadway in 2009. Hooper joined Australia's Dancing with the Stars in 2011, In her first season as a professional dancer, she partnered

Damien Leith Damien Leo Leith (born 18 January 1976, in Dublin) is an Irish-Australian singer–songwriter. He was the winner of the Network Ten music contest ''Australian Idol 2006''. Since winning the title, Leith has released nine studio albums, four of wh ...

. They placed third. Her 2012 partner was 80's rocker

Brian Mannix Brian Mannix (born 7 October 1961 in Melbourne) is an Australian rock music singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of 1980s band Uncanny X-Men. Career Early life Mannix won a 'beauty contest' in his childhood after being entered ...

. In spite of low scores, Mannix and Hooper made it to week eight of the competition. The following season she was paired with television performer

Tony Barber Anthony Ferraro Louis Barber (born 28 March 1940) is a British Australian Gold Logie award-winning television game show host, radio announcer singer and media personality, who has been active in the industry since the early 1960s. Biography E ...

. Barber was the second celebrity eliminated. In 2014, her partner was AFL player

David Rodan David Rodan (born 8 October 1983) is an Australian rules football goal umpire and a retired professional footballer who played for the Richmond Tigers, Port Adelaide Power and the Melbourne Demons. Of Tongan heritage, Rodan is the first Fiji ...

. Rodan and Hooper received five perfect scores on their way to winning the competition. Hooper toured the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

with ''

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 ...

'' professional Brendan Cole's tours in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Personal life

In 2013, Hooper was engaged to Jarrod Tranter. Hooper married Tranter in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Melanie Living people Australian female dancers People from Townsville Dancing with the Stars (Australian TV series) winners Year of birth missing (living people)