Jukka Haapalainen is a Finnish professional ballroom dancer. [1] [2] [3]
He started dancing at the age of 5 in his hometown Lapua. In 1989 he teamed up with Sirpa Suutari and turned to Professional category of ballroom championships. They retired from competitive dance in 2002 and have become the Latin cabaret dance artists. [1] At the peak of their success, during 1997–2001, they won a large number of 1st and 2nd places in various international championships. Their highest rating was 1887 (in 2001). [4]
For their performances in Professional Latin they have earned a number of (non-championship) awards, including the World Dance & Dance Sport Council ”Isadora Duncan” Award (2002). [1]
Haapalainen lives in London, England. [5]
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of wheelchair dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair.
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 replaces the previously used Modern or Standard in WDC terminology; it does not include the latin dances.
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.
Paul Killick is a British professional ballroom dancer and an International Latin American Dance Champion. He appeared in the first two series of the television show Strictly Come Dancing. Killick specialises in Latin dance and has won international titles including The World Cup, World Trophy, World Masters, World Series, Universal and British Professional Latin American DanceSport Championships. Killick is also a choreographer, coach, television personality, dance judge, world-class adjudicator and the owner and director of the Arthur Murray International flagship studio in Beverly Hills.
Walter William Laird was a major influence in the development of Latin American dancing in Britain after the Second World War. He was World Professional Latin Dance Champion three times. He coached many successful dancers including Allan Tornsberg, Vibeke Toft, Espen Salberg, Jukka Haapalainen, Sirpa Suutari, Donnie Burns & Ian Waite. Peter Maxwell & Lynn Harman were amongst his first major champions and a couple on which much of his ultimate technique was developed. Laird was a Fellow and Examiner of the IDTA, and until 2000, he was Secretary of the Ballroom Dancers' Federation.
Tony Meredith is a professional ballroom dancer, choreographer and United States Professional Latin Champion.
The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 was the second edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest and was held in Glasgow, Scotland, hosted by the BBC on 6 September. The presenters were, as in the previous edition, Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman. The contest took place at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Kylie Jones is a British professional ballroom dancer. She was the 2000 and 2001 World Ballroom Champion, the 2001 European Ballroom Champion, the 2000 and 2001 Open British Ballroom Champion, and the 2000 and 2001 United Kingdom Ballroom Champion.
The BYU Ballroom Dance Company originates in the Department of Dance of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. It has been a part of BYU for nearly 50 years and competes and performs throughout the world.
Edward Simon is a professional ballroom dance champion and choreographer.
Oxford University Dancesport Club (OUDC) is Oxford University's largest sports club and is the second largest club at the university after the Oxford Union. Founded in 1968 it currently has an annual membership of around 800 members. It runs professionally taught classes in the following dance styles:
Milla Viljamaa is a Finnish musician and composer known for her creative works in various fields ranging from folk, tango and chamber music to theatre, opera, and film productions. She plays for example in the following ensembles: Duo Milla Viljamaa & Johanna Juhola, Las Chicas del Tango, Milla Viljamaa & Co, Johanna Juhola Reaktori and Hereä. She has also worked with larger groups like Australian Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Nordica, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra and Tapiola Sinfonietta. In 2002 Duo Milla Viljamaa & Johanna Juhola won the 1st prize of the International Ástor Piazzolla Competition and in 2008 received the Emma nomination for best ethnic music album. Viljamaa also teaches at the Sibelius-Academy Folk Music Department in Helsinki where she graduated with a master's degree majoring in piano and harmonium in 2007. She has also published new teaching material in form of a learning book and CD called "Folk Music for Pianists" in 2008.
Daniella Brittany Karagach Pashkova is an American dancer. Karagach and dance partner Leonid Juashkovsky are three-time United States junior I and II Latin champions. They were the 2007 junior II 10 dance champions. Abroad, they reached the finals in the Celtic Classic, Moscow Open and Barcelona Open. Karagach and Juashkovsky were the United States representatives to the World Championships in Latvia, Russia and Barcelona. They appeared on seasons 2 and 3 of America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS. She became a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars in 2019.
Cambridge Dancers' Club (CDC) first opened its doors in October 1950 as a student society in the University of Cambridge to promote Ballroom and Latin dancing. It has since broadened the styles taught by their professional teachers to include Salsa and Rock 'n' Roll classes, as well as opening to all adult Cambridge residents. The club runs classes five nights a week during Full Term, including classes open to people with no previous dance experience. Classes also run outside Full Term. Having once had an annual membership of over 2000, the club now has a membership that is still well over 1000 members, making it purportedly one of the largest Ballroom and Latin Dancing Clubs in Europe.
Emma Slater is an English-American professional dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her appearances on Dancing with the Stars.
Sirpa Suutari is a Finnish professional ballroom dancer.
Suutari is a Finnish occupational surname meaning "shoemaker", via German, ultimately from Latin: sutor. Notable people with the surname include:
Joanne Kirsty Clifton is an English professional dancer, presenter, actress, and singer. She won the World Ballroom Showdance Championship in 2014, and won the European Professional Ballroom Championship and World Dancesport Games. She was a professional dancer on the BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing from 2014 to 2016, winning the Christmas Special in 2015 with Harry Judd who was series 9 champion and the fourteenth series in 2016 with Ore Oduba. She also appeared as an expert presenter on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two in 2015 and 2019.
Otlile "Oti" Mabuse is a South African dancer and Latin American champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known as a professional dancer on the British television series, Strictly Come Dancing, and its German equivalent, Let's Dance. She was a judge on The Greatest Dancer and since 2021, she has been a panellist on The Masked Dancer