Karen Hardy

Last updated

Karen Hardy
Born (1970-07-14) 14 July 1970 (age 53)
Weymouth, Dorset, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Ballroom dancer and coach

Karen Hardy (born 14 July 1970) is a British professional ballroom dancer, coach, teacher and adjudicator. In 1998 she won the professional International Latin American Dance Championship with Bryan Watson. [1] She also won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships. She now runs a dance studio at Imperial Wharf, London. [2]

Contents

She is best known for being a professional dancer in Strictly Come Dancing from 2005 to 2009 and as a regular contributor to Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two . She has also filled in for some of the judges on The Strictly Live Tour.

Dancing career

She started dancing aged five in her home town of Bournemouth, and competed in the United States for two years from the age of 18 winning both East and West Coast amateur championship titles. She returned to the UK in 1990 after two years in America where she teamed up with new partner Mark Lunn. It only took 6 months before they broke into the finals worldwide, representing England. [3]

Hardy turned professional in August 1994, after being asked to partner South African dancer Bryan Watson. They were highly successful from 1995 to 1999. In January 1995 they entered the Professional Final of the Pioneer United Kingdom Open Championship finishing fourth. Their progress to the top continued over the coming year going from fourth to first. The couple won the Carl Alan award for services to the dance world, and were named the most outstanding Latin American couple in 1995 by the Ballroom Dancers' Federation. [4] During their 5-year partnership they were World Masters, Osaka World Trophy, United Kingdom Open, International Open, British National, Italian Open, London Open, Yankee Classic Professional Latin American Champions.

Discussing her success, she writes:

To create a step and then see it copied around the world is an indescribable reward. They don't come any more dedicated and focused than Bryan, and that's why we were able to break what had been set in stone for so long. [5]

Hardy retired from competitive dancing in 1999 and moved into coaching. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2002 and 2003 at the Crystal Palace Dance Championships. She is also an adjudicator and now judges all of the Grand Slam events worldwide which she had previously competed in and more. She is a Senior Commentator for EuroSport DanceSport Series. Hardy also co-hosts as the Master of Ceremonies in the International Open to the World Championships held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Hardy participated in the television series Faking It (Series 4) for Channel 4. Along with Paul Harris they mentored a young female kick boxer to become a Latin American Dancer.

Strictly Come Dancing

After seven years retirement from competitions, Hardy appeared in the third series of the BBC's television series Strictly Come Dancing . She appeared with journalist and presenter Bill Turnbull, in the 2005 Christmas show with former World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield, and won the 2006 series with cricketer Mark Ramprakash. She danced in the 2007 series with actor Brian Capron. They were eliminated in the first round.

In June/July 2007 Hardy completed filming the DVD "Strictly Come Dancersize" with Erin Boag. The DVD went on general release on 4 December 2007.

In the 2008 series of Strictly Come Dancing, Hardy partnered Gary Rhodes. They were knocked out in week 3. She has since said that she left as due to Gary Rhodes work commitments he was unable to train much and so each week they would be struggling to do the routines. This caused arguments due to frustration on both sides which she didn't like causing her to "fall out of Love" with it.[ citation needed ] She does however continue to make regular appearances on sister-show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two giving her professional opinion on the couple's training and performances.

In 2011 she appeared on the BBC red button service, giving live commentary on the dancing, a role she continued in 2012. From 2011 until 2017 Hardy had been a regular presenter on the sister show "It Takes Two". Her Tuesday night slot "Choreography Corner" which has essentially become a review of the previous Saturday night show. Initially the focus was on specific pieces of interesting choreography.

Personal life

At the age of eight Hardy was diagnosed with a rare and acute form of ear cancer. Despite successive operations, the cancer returned three times. As a consequence of this, Hardy was advised to take up the art of ballroom dancing to compensate for the loss in her balance. A last-ditch operation when she was 21 cleared the cancer permanently. As a result of the cancer, Hardy lost 70% of the hearing in her left ear and in August 2012 was fitted with a hearing device. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

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 specialize in Latin dance and has won The World Cup, World Trophy, World Masters, World Series, Universal and British Professional Latin American DanceSport Championships.

Lilia Andreyevna Kopylova is a Russian professional dancer.

Bryan Watson was nine times Professional World Latin Dance Champion and won the International Latin American Championship five times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Boag</span> Professional ballroom dancer

Erin Boag is a professional ballroom dancer. She has danced from the age of three, originally starting ballet and later moving into ballroom, Latin and jazz. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, she moved to Australia as a teenager to progress her dancing career, before moving to London in 1996.

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup is a Danish author, life coach, hypnotherapist and former ballroom dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavia Cacace</span> Italian British professional dancer

Flavia Cacace-Mistry is an Italian British professional dancer. Her professional dance partner is Vincent Simone, and between 2006-2012 both partners appeared on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

<i>Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two</i> Companion weeknight show on BBC Two

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two is a British television programme, the companion show to the popular BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. First aired on 25 October 2004, it is broadcast from Monday to Friday during the run of the main show on BBC Two at 6:30 pm.

Paul Harris is an English choreographer, dance teacher and movement director in film, television and theatre.

Helen Richey is a former competitive ballroom and latin dancer and is now a dance coach and judge. She appeared as a judge in the Australian television series Dancing with the Stars from the 1st to the 15th season.

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.

Katya Virshilas is a Lithuanian-Canadian dancer and actress.

Shirley Annette Ballas is an English ballroom dancer, dance teacher, and dance adjudicator. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles which earned her the nickname The Queen of Latin.

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.

Izabela Hannah is a Polish-born British ballroom and Latin American dancer. Born in Szczecin, Poland, Hannah began dancing jazz and ballet at the age of 9, and started ballroom and Latin American dancing as a teenager. During her competitive career she won international titles in Europe and the United States, winning the Polish Amateur Ballroom Championships in 2001 and again in 2002.

Robin Windsor is a British professional Latin and Ballroom dancer, best known for his appearances in the BBC television series Strictly Come Dancing.

Kevin James Clifton is an English professional dancer and actor who was a professional dancer on the BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing, having previously worked as an assistant choreographer. He has also featured on Burn the Floor. He was given the nickname "Kevin from Grimsby" by Sir Bruce Forsyth.

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 talent show judge, presenter, dancer and Latin dance champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being a professional dancer on the British television series Strictly Come Dancing, which she won in 2019 and 2020, and its German equivalent, Let's Dance. She was a Dance Captain on The Greatest Dancer. Since 2021, she has been a panellist on The Masked Dancer and became a judge on Dancing on Ice in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Ekkart</span> Dancer and choreographer

Ellen Ekkart is a Belgian professional dancer, dance teacher, choreographer and coach. She specializes in Latin and ballroom dancing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Dowden</span> Welsh dancer (born 1990)

Amy Dowden is a Welsh professional ballroom and Latin American dancer from Caerphilly, Wales, best known for her appearances on the BBC One television show Strictly Come Dancing. Dowden joined the series in 2017, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the seventeenth series with TV presenter Karim Zeroual. Dowden and her partner Ben Jones are former British National Latin Dance Champions. She has the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds (2022). She has a twin sister and an older brother.

References

  1. ↑ Programme of 2009 57th International Championships gives complete historical lists for all events.
  2. ↑ United Kingdom (28 April 2012). "London Dance School – Karen Hardy Studios – Chelsea / Fulham, London, SW6 2UB". Karen Hardy Studios. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Karen Hardy Dance : Who am I?". Karenhardy.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "Karen Hardy Dance : Who am I?". Karenhardy.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Strictly Come Dancing Official Guide, 2005.
  6. ↑ Strictly's Karen Hardy and her battle with chronic hearing problems | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV | Daily Express. Express.co.uk. Retrieved on 17 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Understanding Hearing Loss | Invisible Hearing Aid. Phonak Lyric. Retrieved on 17 December 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.