The judges
Arlene Phillips
Arlene started her career as a dancer. She created the Seventies dance
troop sensation Hot Gossip and choreographed all their routines.
Arlene is one of the most respected and renowned choreographer in
the business.
She is best known for her work on countless musicals, directing and
choreographing Saturday Night Fever in London and New York and Starlight
Express at the Las Vegas Hilton.
She choreographed Grease in the West End and on tour and directed the
concert tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Michael Flatley's
acclaimed arena production Lord Of The Dance.
Arlene has choreographed films including Annie and Monty Python's Meaning
Of Life and television shows including The Brit Awards and The Royal
Variety Show.
Arlene's music video credits include Duran Duran, Aretha Franklin,
Whitney Houston, Elton John, Queen, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Robbie
Williams.
Arlene has also choreographed over 100 commercials in England, Europe
and the USA including Dr Pepper, Coca Cola, Levi Jeans and American
Express.
Luca Tommassini
Luca has been in the industry for the last 20 years. He was a child
dancer in Italy and went on to dance for Madonna, Michael Jackson and
Whitney Houston.
He had his first break when he choreographed Whitney Houston's Miracle
video. Then he worked with Madonna, performing and choreographing her
Girlie Show World Tour.
In the UK he has worked with Robbie Williams, Geri Halliwell and on
Kylie's World Tour.
Luca was also Madonna's Argentine Tango partner in the film Evita.
Luca is now turning his hand to directing and has worked with both
Pavarotti and Ronan Keating and directed a European Coca Cola commercial.
Luca has received many awards for his choreography such as TOTP Awards
2001 for Kylie's On A Night Like This, Italian Music Awards for Evita,
Star Search Int winner as Best International Dancer and many more.
Stacey Haynes
Stacey has been performing for 15 years in various West End shows
and operas at the Royal Opera House and the London Coliseum.
She performed and was associate choreographer with Cliff Richard on
a number of his UK and European Tours and staged his 40th Anniversary
Concert at The Royal Albert Hall.
Stacey's West End and UK touring credits as resident director/choreographer
include Fame, Five Guys Named Mo, Carmen Jones, Smokey Joe's Caf茅, Rent,
The Rocky Horror Show and The Lion King.
She is now artistic director for Clear Channel Entertainment recruiting
choreographers for a variety of productions and is currently working
on Grease, Cats, Chicago Tour, The Producers, Starlight Express and
the new production of Guys And Dolls.
Jason Gardiner
Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Jason has lived in London for
nine years making it his home.
He has performed all over the world from the USA to the West End.
Jason is best known for his recent appearances as the lifestyle guru
on the UK version of Queer Eye For A Straight Guy.
But he began his showbiz life as a dancer and choreographer. His dance
credits include stints as the head dancer for Kylie Minogue and Ce Ce
Peniston.
He has choreographed for Bjork, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Ultra Nate, Marc
Almond and Gareth Gates.
He has also done his fair share of theatre work - both as a dancer
and as an actor.
He appeared in huge hits like Cats, 42nd Street, West Side Story, My
Fair Lady, Oklahaoma and Chicago.
He even danced for our very own Arlene
Phillips.
Jason has also done a lot of TV and film work - credits include MTV
Europe's Mondo Show, Blue Peter's Gareth Gates Dance Competition 2002,
Merchant Ivory's Surviving Picasso, Cats and MGM's Production of De
Lovely.
He also appeared as a dancer in Kevin Spacey's Beyond The Sea.
The dance coaches
Kevan Allen
Kevan started his career in the early Eighties as a dancer and has
since had over 20 years experience of dance and choreography.
He was one of the original 'wild boys' in Duran Duran's video and has
gone on to work as their choreographer.
He made his choreographic debut at the age of 17 with the first independent
dance company to feature in a ten week television series for Channel
4.
They performed throughout Europe, including a Royal Variety Performance
and a Royal Gala.
Kevan has staged and choreograph for Kylie, Tom Jones, Bryan Ferry,
Olivia Newton John, Duran Duran and Elton John.
He was a featured choreographer on the hit TV series Popstars and also
recently worked on Graham Norton's series in the USA.
Kevan has a traditional training background (ballet, tap, modern and
jazz) and has choreographed in numerous styles including salsa, lindyhop,
merengue and rock 'n' roll.
Vanessa Leagh Hicks
Vanessa trained in all aspects of dance, acting and singing and attended
the Italia Conti Academy from the age of 10 to 18, qualifying as a Teacher
of Dance.
She is trained in ballroom and Latin American dance and was the South
East Latin American dance champion for three years.
Her West End stage credits include: La Cage Aux Folles, Crazy For You,
Cats, Sweet Charity and Chicago.
Vanessa is currently West End dance captain and understudying the role
of Velma Kelly in Chicago, where she has been choreographing and performing
for the past seven years.
She has choreographed for Top of The Pops and CD:UK and successfully
choreographed Emma Bunton's video Maybe, opened the British Style Awards,
choreographed the titles for the 'new look' Top of The Pops and for
Rachel Stevens at the Royal Variety Performance.
Vanessa recently choreographed Children in Need working with the cast
of Coronation Street performing a medley from Oliver Twist and with
the newsreaders performing Wild Boys and Venus.
She has also choreographed for Will Young and Dannii Minogue.
The salsa specialist - Joseph Koniak
Joseph is one of the leading authorities on salsa and lambada dance
in the UK today.
He trained in all aspects of dance at the London Contemporary School
of Dance and brings a unique style to the world of Latin rhythms.
As a professional dancer Joseph has performed and choreographed all
over the world including musical theatre, solo dance productions and
television performances.
Joseph was a winner of the UK Lambada Championships and was the first
officially recognized winner of the UK Salsa Championships in 1999.
He became a world finalist in the same year.
In 2001 Joseph went on to win the official UK Salsa Championships for
the second time.
Currently Joseph is mostly recognized as the face of salsa from the
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The lindyhop specialist - Ryan Francois
Ryan is two-time US Open Lindyhop Champion and US American Lindyhop
Champion.
His partner and wife, Jenni Thomas, was Wayne Sleep's partner for five
years and is the three-time All England Tap Dance Champion.
Ryan is a key figure in the revival of lindyhop and the subsequent
popularity of swing dancing.
He's been dancing lindy for about 21 years but can now turn his hand
to most swing dances.
He began as part of the UK-based Jiving Lindy Hoppers before leaving
and forming his own company, the Zoots and Spangles.
He's even featured on the old Come Dancing series, when he danced the
lindyhop and swing dances over a period of six weeks.
He's one of the swing dancers to have featured on Broadway, when he
danced in his own show called Swing which saw him nominated for six
Tony awards.
He recently choreographed the swing dancing elves in the Tom Hanks
smash hit, The Polar Express.
He also worked on the movie Swing Kids and recently completed the
forthcoming film releases Heavily Feature - a musical movie featuring
Outkast, Macy Gray, Glen Morino and Bob Fosse.