Corky Ballas
Encyclopedia
Mark Alexander "Corky" Ballas, Sr. (born December 25, 1960) is a retired competitive ballroom dancer who holds several Latin dance championship titles.
He has one son, Mark Ballas
, with former wife and partner Shirley Ballas
. Corky and Shirley Ballas also raised and trained Julianne Hough
and Derek Hough
.
His father, George Ballas
, was the inventor of the Weed Eater
lawn-trimming device.
. They retired in 1996.
Ballas judges professional competitions and teaches. He is based in Los Angeles, California and Houston, Texas.
professionals including Karina Smirnoff
, Julianne Hough
, Derek Hough
, Tony Dovolani
, Edyta Sliwinska
, Alec Mazo
, Brian Fortuna
, Jonathan Roberts
, Anna Trebunskaya
, Jessie DeSoto and, his son, Mark Ballas
.
On August 25, 2008, the show's producers announced Corky himself would compete as a pro on season 7
, alongside his son and former pupils. He was partnered with 82-year-old actress Cloris Leachman
.
For Season 11
Ballas was partnered with Florence Henderson
. They were eliminated in Week 5 of the competition.
With celebrity partner: Florence Henderson
He has one son, Mark Ballas
Mark Ballas
Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. is an American dancer.Ballas is a professional ballroom dancer on the ABC program Dancing with the Stars. He began competing on the show in the fall of 2007. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography in 2011...
, with former wife and partner Shirley Ballas
Shirley Ballas
Shirley Ballas is a British ballroom dancer, teacher and adjudicator. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles earning her the nickname, "The Queen of Latin." Shirley was first married to, and competed with, fellow Briton Sammy Stopford. They...
. Corky and Shirley Ballas also raised and trained Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough
Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress. She is most widely known for being a two-time champion of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for choreography...
and Derek Hough
Derek Hough
Derek Hough is an American dancer, choreographer, musician and actor. A world champion in Latin American Dance, Hough has appeared since September 2007 on the hit U.S...
.
His father, George Ballas
George Ballas
George Charles Ballas was an American entrepreneur. He invented the first string trimmer, known as the Weed Eater in 1971...
, was the inventor of the Weed Eater
Weed Eater
Weed Eater was a string trimmer company founded in 1971 in Houston, Texas by George C. Ballas, Sr., the inventor of the device.The idea for the Weed Eater trimmer came to him from the spinning nylon bristles of an automatic car wash...
lawn-trimming device.
Achievements
Corky and Shirley were 1996 Open to the World International Champions, 1995–1996 Open to the World British Champions, twice British National Champions, Star - World Cup - UK - Champions, and seven times undefeated United States International Latin ChampionsU.S. National Dancesport Champions (Professional Latin)
The United States national professional ballroom dance champions are crowned at the United States Dance Championships , as recognized by the National Dance Council of America and the World Dance & DanceSport Council ....
. They retired in 1996.
Ballas judges professional competitions and teaches. He is based in Los Angeles, California and Houston, Texas.
Dancing with the Stars
Ballas has trained many of Dancing with the StarsDancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
professionals including Karina Smirnoff
Karina Smirnoff
Karina Smirnoff is a Ukrainian professional ballroom dancer. She is best known for her appearances on Dancing with the Stars, where she held a runner-up title, a semi-final title, and several quarter-final titles...
, Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough
Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress. She is most widely known for being a two-time champion of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for choreography...
, Derek Hough
Derek Hough
Derek Hough is an American dancer, choreographer, musician and actor. A world champion in Latin American Dance, Hough has appeared since September 2007 on the hit U.S...
, Tony Dovolani
Tony Dovolani
Driton "Tony" Dovolani is an Albanian-American professional ballroom dancer, instructor and judge based in New York City. He is known for his involvement in the American version of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Dovolani also portrayed a Latin bad boy in the hit film Shall We Dance? and spent time...
, Edyta Sliwinska
Edyta Sliwinska
Edyta Śliwińska is a professional ballroom dancer. She is best known for her appearances on the American version of the reality television series Dancing with the Stars. Śliwińska appeared on all of the first ten seasons of the American series, but did not return for the eleventh.- Early life...
, Alec Mazo
Alec Mazo
Alec Mazo is a Russian-born American professional ballroom dancer based in San Francisco. He became known for his participation in the American edition of the reality television series Dancing with the Stars, the first season of which he won with partner Kelly Monaco.-Early life and...
, Brian Fortuna
Brian Fortuna
Brian Fortuna is an American professional ballroom dancer, choreographer and instructor.-Biography:Brian Fortuna is a multi-talented performer who is currently starring in Theatre Production's Limited Over the Rainbow as Danny Cassidy...
, Jonathan Roberts
Jonathan Roberts (dancer)
Jonathan Roberts is an American professional ballroom dancer. He decided to take up dancing after he received a free trial at a local dance studio and enjoyed it...
, Anna Trebunskaya
Anna Trebunskaya
Anna Trebunskaya is a Russian professional ballroom and Latin dancer, known for her appearances on Dancing with the Stars . She now lives in Los Angeles, California and dances in the International Latin style.-Biography:Anna Trebunskaya was born December 28, 1980 in Chelyabinsk, Russia...
, Jessie DeSoto and, his son, Mark Ballas
Mark Ballas
Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. is an American dancer.Ballas is a professional ballroom dancer on the ABC program Dancing with the Stars. He began competing on the show in the fall of 2007. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography in 2011...
.
On August 25, 2008, the show's producers announced Corky himself would compete as a pro on season 7
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7)
The seventh season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on September 22, 2008 as a part of ABC's fall line-up. Instead of 12 couples like previous seasons, this was the first season to showcase a lineup of 13 couples...
, alongside his son and former pupils. He was partnered with 82-year-old actress Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
.
For Season 11
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 11)
Dancing with the Stars returned for an 11th season on September 20, 2010. The cast was announced during the August 30 episode of Bachelor Pad during a live press conference that included a Q&A session with host Tom Bergeron and co-host Brooke Burke and the new cast. There are twelve celebrity cast...
Ballas was partnered with Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
. They were eliminated in Week 5 of the competition.
Performances
With celebrity partner: Cloris LeachmanCloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
| Week # | Dance/Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1, Night 1 | Foxtrot/I Wish I Were in Love Again I Wish I Were in Love Again "I Wish I Were in Love Again" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney performed it in the 1948 film Words and Music... |
6 | 5 | 5 | Safe |
| 1, Night 2 | Mambo Mambo (dance) Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and... /Coconut Woman |
6 | 5 | 5 | Safe |
| 2 | Paso Doble/Bolero Bolero Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music... |
5 | 5 | 5 | Bottom Two |
| 3 | Jive Jive (dance) In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1930s. It was originally presented to the public as 'Jive' in 1934 by Cab Calloway. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance... /The Girl Can't Help It The Girl Can't Help It The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 comedy musical film starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay adapted by Tashlin and Herbert Baker from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin... |
6 | 5 | 5 | Safe |
| 4 | Tango Tango (ballroom) Ballroom Tango is a ballroom dance that branched away from its original Argentine roots by allowing European, American, Hollywood, and competitive influences into the style and execution of the dance.... /The Big Date |
8 | 7 | 7 | Bottom Two |
| 5 | Salsa Salsa (dance) Salsa is a syncretic dance form with origins in Cuba as the meeting point of Spanish and African cultures.Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms such as solo dancing "suelta" and "Rueda de Casino" where multiple couples exchange partners in a circle... /Tres Deseos Tres Deseos "Tres Deseos" is a song by Gloria Estefan, released as a promotional single from her second Spanish album, Abriendo Puertas.-Song history:... |
7 | 7 | 7 | Safe |
| 6 | Cha Cha Cha Cha-cha-cha (dance) The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953... /Come See About Me Come See About Me "Come See About Me" is a 1964 song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label.The song became third of five consecutively released Supremes songs to top the Billboard pop singles chart in the United States... |
5 | 5 | 5 | Eliminated |
With celebrity partner: Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
| Week # | Dance/Song | Judges' score | Result | ||
| Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | |||
| 1 | Cha-Cha-Cha Cha-cha-cha (dance) The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953... /Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me |
6 | 6 | 6 | Safe |
| 2 | Quickstep Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events... /Suddenly I See Suddenly I See "Suddenly I See" is a song by British singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and is featured on her debut album, Eye to the Telescope. It was released on 29 August 2005 as the third single from the album, charting at #12 in the UK Singles Chart . The single was a hit in Australia where it charted at #6 on... |
7 | 6 | 6 | Safe |
| 3 | Waltz Waltz The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim... /Edelweiss Edelweiss (song) "Edelweiss" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. It is named after the edelweiss, a white flower found high in the Alps... |
7 | 6 | 7 | Safe |
| 4 | Rumba Rumba (dance) Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó... /Yesterday Yesterday (song) "Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded... |
6/6 | 6/6 | 5/6 | Safe |
| 5 | Tango Tango (dance) Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after.... /The Brady Bunch Theme |
7 | 7 | 7 | Eliminated |