Pasquale La Rocca (; born 24 June 1989) is an Italian
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
r and
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
. Best known as former Italian Ballroom and Latin Champion, La Rocca joined the second series of the Belgian version of ''
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
La Rocca was born in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. He has been dancing since the age of nine.
Amateur dancing career
La Rocca began his amateur dancing career in 2003 partnered with fellow Italian dancer, Concetta Picascia. Their best result was finish top three in the Italian National 10 Dance Championships.
Between 2005 and 2006, La Rocca partnered Vincenza Napolitano. Together they earned first places in TeamMatch della Danza in San Bendetto and MasterDanzOpen in Pescara.
Between late 2006 and late 2007, La Rocca partnered Marika Fondi. Together they earned many first places, most notably at TeamMatch della Danza at the 2006 San Benedetto Open and Supercoppa in Foligno the following year.
Throughout 2008, La Rocca partnered Veronica D'asti. They had a short but successful partnership, achieving many top five finishes most notably at the 2008 Verona Open.
La Rocca's final amateur partner was Kristina Pfeiffer. Between 2012 and 2013 they had a successful run, winning the Amateur Latin Trophy at the Clapson Dodd Competition Day in 2012.
Professional dancing career
La Rocca joined in 2014 the Broadway production of ''
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 ...
'' touring in London’s
West End and around the world including China, Australia and Japan. During the South African leg of the tour, La Rocca was named as Dance Captain of the company. La Rocca remained with the touring company until 2018.
In 2017, La Rocca joined former ''
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 dancer,
Flavia Cacace
Flavia Cacace-Mistry born 1980 is an Italian British professional dancer. Her professional dance partner is Vincent Simone (they are branded when performing together as 'Vincent and Flavia'), and for ten years both partners appeared on the BBC's ' ...
, on her 'Tango Moderno' tour.
In 2018, La Rocca appeared as a back-up dancer on ''Strictly Come Dancing's'' annual
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
special.
In 2019, La Rocca joined ''Strictly Come Dancing'' 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 joine ...
,
Amy Dowden and
Chloe Hewitt on their 'Here Come the Girls' tour.
''Dancing with the Stars''
Belgium
In September 2019, La Rocca joined the cast of the second series of the second incarnation (seventh overall) of the Belgian version of ''
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 ...
''. He was partnered with influencer, Julie Vermeire. On 10 November 2019, Vermeire and La Rocca won the series.
Performances with Julie Vermeire
Ireland
On 12 November 2019, just two days after he won the Belgian version, it was confirmed that La Rocca would be joining the cast of the fourth series of the
''Irish version'' of the show as a professional dancer. He partnered radio broadcaster,
Lottie Ryan
Lottie Ryan (born 15 October 1985) is an Irish television and radio presenter with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's national radio and television station.
She is a daughter of the broadcaster Gerry Ryan. She studied media and televis ...
. Due to the
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 ...
pandemic the series was cut short by one week. On 15 March 2020, Ryan and La Rocca won the series.
During the
fifth series of the show, La Rocca partnered former jockey,
Nina Carberry
Nina Carberry (born 19 July 1984) is a retired Irish female National Hunt jockey. She hails from a racing family and is the daughter of jockey Tommy Carberry.
Career
Carberry got her first Cheltenham Festival win in 2005 on Dabiroun in the Fred W ...
. On 27 March 2022, Carberry and La Rocca won the series, making this his second consecutive win on the show and third of the worldwide franchise. On 24 November 2022, due to scheduling conflicts resulting from his participation in the Italian series, La Rocca announced that he was not returning for the sixth series in 2023.
Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance
1 This score was awarded during Switch-Up Week.
Performances with
Lottie Ryan
Lottie Ryan (born 15 October 1985) is an Irish television and radio presenter with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's national radio and television station.
She is a daughter of the broadcaster Gerry Ryan. She studied media and televis ...
Performances with
Nina Carberry
Nina Carberry (born 19 July 1984) is a retired Irish female National Hunt jockey. She hails from a racing family and is the daughter of jockey Tommy Carberry.
Career
Carberry got her first Cheltenham Festival win in 2005 on Dabiroun in the Fred W ...
Italy
On 3 September 2022, La Rocca announced via
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
that he would be joining the Italian version of the show, ''
Ballando con le Stelle
''Ballando con le Stelle'' is the Italian version of the ''Strictly Come Dancing'' / ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchises.
It was first broadcast on 8 January 2005 on TV station RAI 1. This show is aired in the prime time, usually of saturday ...
'' for its seventeenth season as a professional dancer. He partnered journalist,
Luisella Costamagna. In the second week of the competition Costamagna suffered an injury to her knee, this negatively effected the couple's performances forcing her to sit and move very little throughout most of them. This caused controversy, with many viewers questioning whether or not Costamagna and La Rocca should have remained in the competition when Costamagna was not physically able to dance. Judge, Selvaggia Lucarelli was particularly vocal with her opinions stating that she felt the couple should have bowed out gracefully and scored them 'zero' three weeks in a row. At the beginning of the sixth live show, Costamagna and La Rocca announced their decision to withdraw from the competition as Costamagna's injury had not healed sufficiently enough to continue. They were the third couple to leave the competition. Costamagna and La Rocca returned in the tenth week of the season to compete in the 'Repechage' - which saw five couples who had the competition return to dance again to win back a place in the following week's grand finale. Costamagna and La Rocca won the public vote and were, therefore, made finalists. On 23 December 2022, Costamagna and La Rocca were voted winners of the series, giving La Rocca his fourth consecutive win in a row - continuing his undefeated streak.
Performances with Luisella Costamagna
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Rocca, Pasquale
1989 births
Living people
Italian ballroom dancers
People from Naples