Bryan Watson | |
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Born | 18 April 1969 53) Durban, South Africa | (age
Occupation | Ballroom dancer |
Bryan Watson (born 18 April 1969) was nine times Professional World Latin Dance Champion and won the International Latin American Championship five times.
Watson was born in Durban, South Africa. He became the UK Open Amateur champion with Claudia Leonie in 1991 and the runner-up in the International Latin Professional World Championships with Karen Hardy in 1996. He then won his first International Latin Professional World Championships with Carmen Vincelj in 1999. Watson and Vincelj proceeded to win every major International Latin Professional Championships that they entered until their retirement from competition in 2007. The couple continue to run a dance teaching studio in Wimbledon, London and gave an interesting interview on the subject of retiring from competition. [1]
Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelj won the World Dance Council's World Professional Latin Championship for nine years running, from 1999–2007.
Watson won the Professional Latin American title at the International Championships at the Albert Hall, London, five times. These are the oldest recognised Latin championships in ballroom dance. [2]
Watson also won the British Open Latin Championship seven times (details not to hand.)
The World Dance Council Ltd (WDC), is a registered limited company, the legal successor to the International Council of Ballroom Dancing, and was established at a meeting organized by Phillip J. S. Richardson on 22 September 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland. From 1996 to 2006 the WDC was known as the World Dance & Dance Sport Council Ltd (WD&DSC). The stated mission of the World Dance Council is to inspire, stimulate and promote excellence in education for the World Dance Council and Amateur League community.
This page lists the official World Champions – Professional Latin of the World Dance Council (WDC). The championships are authorized and organized under the auspices of the WDC, and held annually in the last quarter of each year. The competition comprises five dances: rumba, samba, paso doble, cha-cha-cha and jive, as defined in ballroom dancing terms.
Lilia Andreyevna Kopylova is a Russian professional dancer.
A large variety of dance companies exist in Canada.
Dennis Priestley is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is nicknamed "The Menace", after the cartoon character Dennis the Menace, and reflects this by wearing red and black, and using red and black flights.
Karen Hardy is a British professional ballroom dancer, coach, teacher and adjudicator. In 1998 she won the professional International Latin American Dance Championship with Bryan Watson. She also won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships. She now runs a dance studio at Imperial Wharf, London.
Matthew David Cutler is an English dancer and former World Amateur Latin-American champion. He was a professional dancer on the BBC dancing show Strictly Come Dancing.
Carmen Vincelj is a German professional dancer.
Lacey Mae Schwimmer is an American ballroom dancer and singer. She is best known as a fourth place finalist of the third season of So You Think You Can Dance. She is the daughter of noted dancer Buddy Schwimmer, as well as the cousin of Heidi Groskreutz, who placed fourth on the second season of So You Think You Can Dance and younger sister of Benji Schwimmer, the winner of the show's second season. She participated in the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars as a professional dancer paired with Lance Bass of 'N Sync, in the eighth season of the show paired with Jackass star Steve-O and in the ninth season paired with actor and Iron Chef America host Mark Dacascos. Schwimmer returned to Dancing with the Stars for its eleventh season and she was partnered with Disney Channel star Kyle Massey and in the 12th season, paired with radio host Mike Catherwood. In the thirteenth season, she was paired with transgender activist Chaz Bono. Schwimmer did not return for season 14 of Dancing With The Stars'.
Hazel Catherine Newberry MBE is one of the United Kingdom's leading ballroom dancers and dance teachers. She was three times undefeated World Professional Ballroom champion, dancing with Christopher Hawkins (2002–2004).
Hanna Karttunen is a Finnish professional Latin American and exhibition dancer. She also trained in ballet as a child, having a love of dance from a very early age.
Nicole Cutler is a professional ballroom dancer and former World Amateur Latin-American champion. She was born Nicole Westdyk in Durban, South Africa and after taking up ballet at the age of four, first tried out ballroom and Latin-American dancing at the age of twelve.
Slavik Kryklyvyy is a professional ballroom dancer specializing in International Latin. Born and raised in Ukraine, he is currently residing in New York City.
The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by Dance News special events. The current full title is the Elsa Wells International Dance Championships, and includes all categories in Standard and Latin American ballroom dance.
Jonathan Wilkins is an English ballroom dancer and dance teacher, born in London. He holds many titles in Professional Ballroom Dancing including being ten times Professional Ballroom Champion, 1997–2007. In 2004 they won the World Classic Showdance Championship, which is one of the subsidiary World Dance Council Dance Sport events. Their final result was to win the WDC Open Professional Ballroom title at the USA Open in Orlando, Florida 2007.
Joanna Leunis, is a professional Latin ballroom dancer. With Michael Malitowski, she is a former professional World Latin Dance Champion and the current International Latin American Dance Champion. The couple represented Poland until 2011, choosing to represent England until their retirement in 2015.
Sammy Stopford MBE is a professional ballroom dancer and teacher, and winner of the Professional International Latin American Dance Championship.
Yulia Zagoruychenko is a ten-times undefeated Latin Dance Champion and the current World Latin Dance Champion with her partner/husband, Riccardo Cocchi.
Vadim Garbuzov is a Canadian and Austrian ballroom dancer, showman and choreographer of Ukrainian descent. He was the ten-dance world semi-finalist 2006 in amateurs, the winner of the Austrian TV program Dancing Stars in 2012, 2014 and 2020, and professional world champion in Latin and Standard show dance 2015-2017.
Riccardo Cocchi is a 10-time undefeated Latin Dance Champion, with his partner, Yulia Zagoruychenko. Currently, he resides in and represents the United States of America. When not busy competing, Riccardo is available for coaching.