Ian Waite

Ian Waite (born January 29, 1971) is a professional Latin-American dancer.

History

Ian was born in Reading, UK. Ian started dancing at the age of 10. Mary Richardson, a former Latin American champion (and now his stepmother) put him through a rigorous medallist regime. By the age of 14, he had completed all his grades and won almost every competition that he had entered. He went on to the open circuit where he achieved international success by becoming the European Youth Latin American Champion. This started a ten year partnership with Melanie Walker (now Melanie Lane), with whom he competed all over the world, representing England in many world and European championships.

He turned professional in 1997 and partnered up with the former Latin American world champion, Inga Haas. After nine months, they came third in the British Professional Rising Stars .

He decided to further his dance career by moving to Holland to train with the choreographer and dance coach, Ruud Vermay. There, he formed a four year partnership with Natalia Panina, with whom he won the Dutch Championship. They also made the final of both the World Showdance Championship and the European Professional Latin American Championship. He went onto dance with Daisy Croes, from Belgium, who now appears on the Belgian version of Strictly Come Dancing.

After five years in Holland he returned to home. By the summer of 2004, he had started to dance with Camilla Dallerup. Their first competition was the International Championships at the Royal Albert Hall, where they made the semi final and in November of that year, they made the final of the British National Dance Championships.

Waite lives in Woodley in Berkshire, and has expanded his career involving lecturing, demonstration dancing and big spectaculars. He has also made a dance video with Angela Rippon and presented a documentary called 'Inside Out' for BBC South following the progress of a young couple from Bournemouth.

Due to his professional partner, Camilla Dallerup, no longer being a part of Strictly Come Dancing, Ian is dancing with one of the new professionals for Series 7, Natalie Lowe.

Strictly Come Dancing

Waite has taken part in 6 out of 7 series of Strictly Come Dancing. His partners include:
Denise Lewis - with whom he reached second place in the 2004 series 2 final
Zoe Ball - with whom he reached third place in the 2005 series 3 final
Mica Paris - with whom he only reached week 2 of the show in the 2006 series 4 show
Penny Lancaster-Stewart - with whom he reached week 6 of the show in the 2007 series 5
Jodie Kidd - with whom he reached 6th place in the 2008 series 6
Jade Johnson - with whom he is competing in the 2009 series 7

He has also taken part of in both Strictly Come Dancing tours partnering Zoe Ball and Jodie Kidd

• Jade Johnson Series 7.
• Strictly Come Dancing Tour 2010.
• Strictly Come Dancing The Professionals Tour.

External links

• Ian Waite's website