Hollie Robertson
Encyclopedia
Hollie Victoria Robertson (born 21 March 1985) is an English
dancer who won the second series of the BBC One
dance talent show Strictly Dance Fever
together with partner Darrien Wright
. In the final they beat Darren Bailey and Lana Williams
.
, Shropshire
. Her background is gymnastics
in which she participated from the age of six to thirteen until she slipped a disc
. She achieved third place at the British Championships in the vaulting horse
, later getting into hip hop dance
. Robertson names Levell Smith Junior as her biggest influence.
for a two year course in musical theatre
.
's MTV
show, Shakedown, taking the title of best dancer in Europe. In 2005, she was a backing dancer in the video of the single "Only U
" by Ashanti
. She has also danced for Rachel Stevens
and McFly
.
The show is open to non-professional dancers over the age of 18. Even though Robertson had previously won a similar competition on MTV called Shakedown and had been awarded the title of best dancer in Europe, she was not a professional dancer and therefore was allowed to enter.
Robertson participated in series two, which was broadcast in the spring of 2006. In that series 80,000 participants applied for the auditions. Over a million telephone votes were cast over the course of the series.
Robertson auditioned with her boyfriend Bruno. Eventually he was not selected for the live shows and she was partnered with Darrien Wright
. Robertson and Wright won the final on 3 June 2006 beating Darren Bailey and Lana Williams
.
Robertson and Wright received the top score of ten out of ten of all the judges on both their dances in the final. They performed The Milonga
and a freestyle dance. In an earlier round they had also achieved the highest possible score for one of their dances.
The prize consisted of ₤50,000 for the couple and a contract to dance for one week in the production of Footloose
on the West End
. Robertson said after winning the final: "I want to put the prize money towards a dance studio so I can teach."
stage as background dancers in Footloose
in London
's Novello Theatre
.
David Essex
and Cheryl Baker
also starred in the show.
Robertson's career suffered a minor set-back when she was injured after an attack on holiday in Portugal. Regarding this incident she's quoted as saying: "I've never had anything so painful happen to me in my life before. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. [...] Stuff happens to you in life and you just have to get on with it and as long as I don't stop dancing it's ok...I'll be ok."
Robertson is currently appearing in the UK tour of Fame
alongside dance partner Darrien Wright.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
dancer who won the second series of the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
dance talent show Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever is a British television programme, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday evenings. It was an amateur dance talent competition, hosted by Graham Norton, which ran during Spring 2005 and Spring 2006. It was, in many ways, similar to the BBC's popular Strictly Come Dancing, a celebrity...
together with partner Darrien Wright
Darrien Wright
Darrien Wright partnered Hollie Robertson in the second series of BBC One show Strictly Dance Fever. They won the competition on 3 June 2006, beating Darren Bailey and Lana Williams into second place....
. In the final they beat Darren Bailey and Lana Williams
Lana Williams
Lana Williams partnered Darren Bailey in the second series of BBC One show Strictly Dance Fever. They reached the final which aired on 3 June 2006, and came second behind Hollie Robertson and Darrien Wright, and ahead of Ben Harrold and Stephanie CroxsonLana grew up in Chorley, where she attended...
.
Early life
Robertson grew up in LudlowLudlow
Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Welsh border and in the Welsh Marches. It lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
. Her background is gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
in which she participated from the age of six to thirteen until she slipped a disc
Spinal disc herniation
A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...
. She achieved third place at the British Championships in the vaulting horse
Vault (gymnastics)
The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. Vaulting is also the action of performing a vault. Both male and female gymnasts perform the vault...
, later getting into hip hop dance
Hip hop dance
Hip-hop dance refers to dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s by African Americans and made popular by breaking, locking, and...
. Robertson names Levell Smith Junior as her biggest influence.
Education
Robertson took dance classes at In-Steps in Ludlow, where she still teaches hip hop and commercial jazz. From 2005 she attended the Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama in NottinghamNottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
for a two year course in musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
.
Career before Strictly Dance Fever
In 2004, Robertson won choreographer Wade RobsonWade Robson
Wade Jeremy William Robson is an Australian dance prodigy, director, producer, songwriter, and award-winning choreographer. He began performing as a dancer at the age of five. He has directed music videos and world tours for numerous music artists such as 'N Sync and Britney Spears...
's MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
show, Shakedown, taking the title of best dancer in Europe. In 2005, she was a backing dancer in the video of the single "Only U
Only U
"Only U" a song by American singer-songwriter Ashanti from her third studio album, Concrete Rose . Released in October 2004 as the album's lead single, the track reached number thirteen on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in January, 2005. It peaked at number two in the United Kingdom, being kept off...
" by Ashanti
Ashanti (singer)
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release...
. She has also danced for Rachel Stevens
Rachel Stevens
Rachel Lauren Stevens is an English singer-songwriter, actress, presenter, dancer, television personality and model. She is a former member of the successful pop group S Club, and launched a solo recording career in 2003, releasing seven singles and two albums in the UK between 2003 and 2005...
and McFly
McFly
McFly are an English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher , Danny Jones , Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd . They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records...
.
Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever is an amateur dance competition broadcast on the BBC, consisting of several rounds of auditions followed by weekly live shows in which one couple is voted off each week until three couples are left for the final live show. Voting is done by professional judges and the viewing public, each making up 50% of the total score. The four judges award scores out of ten, while the public phones in to vote for their favourite. During the weeks of the live shows, the couples live together in a Dance Mansion where they receive intensive training.The show is open to non-professional dancers over the age of 18. Even though Robertson had previously won a similar competition on MTV called Shakedown and had been awarded the title of best dancer in Europe, she was not a professional dancer and therefore was allowed to enter.
Robertson participated in series two, which was broadcast in the spring of 2006. In that series 80,000 participants applied for the auditions. Over a million telephone votes were cast over the course of the series.
Robertson auditioned with her boyfriend Bruno. Eventually he was not selected for the live shows and she was partnered with Darrien Wright
Darrien Wright
Darrien Wright partnered Hollie Robertson in the second series of BBC One show Strictly Dance Fever. They won the competition on 3 June 2006, beating Darren Bailey and Lana Williams into second place....
. Robertson and Wright won the final on 3 June 2006 beating Darren Bailey and Lana Williams
Lana Williams
Lana Williams partnered Darren Bailey in the second series of BBC One show Strictly Dance Fever. They reached the final which aired on 3 June 2006, and came second behind Hollie Robertson and Darrien Wright, and ahead of Ben Harrold and Stephanie CroxsonLana grew up in Chorley, where she attended...
.
Robertson and Wright received the top score of ten out of ten of all the judges on both their dances in the final. They performed The Milonga
Milonga
Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced...
and a freestyle dance. In an earlier round they had also achieved the highest possible score for one of their dances.
The prize consisted of ₤50,000 for the couple and a contract to dance for one week in the production of Footloose
Footloose (musical)
Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...
on the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
. Robertson said after winning the final: "I want to put the prize money towards a dance studio so I can teach."
Dances and scores
| Dance | Judges scores | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stacey Haynes | Arlene Phillips Arlene Phillips Arlene Phillips OBE is an English choreographer, theatre director, talent scout, TV presenter, TV judge and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment... |
Wayne Sleep Wayne Sleep Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE is a British dancer, director, choreographer and panelist. He was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.-Early life:... |
Ben Richards Ben Richards Ben Richards is an English actor. He is best known for playing Bruno Milligan in series 4 and 5 of the British TV drama Footballers' Wives and in series 1 and 2 of its spin-off Footballers' Wives: Extra Time... |
Total | ||
| Show 1 | Rock and Roll Rock and Roll (dance) Acrobatic Rock'n'Roll is a very athletic, competitive form of dance that originated from lindy hop. Unlike lindy hop, however, it is a choreographed dance designed for performance. It is danced by both couples and groups, either all-female or 4-8 couples together... |
8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 33 |
| Show 2 | Argentine tango Argentine tango Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of... |
6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| Show 3 | Guapacha | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 32 |
| Show 4 | Jitterbug | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| Show 5 | American Smooth | 8 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 35 |
| Show 6 | Milonga Milonga Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced... |
10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| Lindy Hop Lindy Hop The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based... |
8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 31 | |
| Show 7 | Hustle Hustle (dance) The Hustle is a catchall name for several disco dances which were extremely popular in the 1970s. Today it mostly refers to the unique partner dance done in ballrooms and nightclubs to disco music. It has some features in common with swing dance. Its basic steps are somewhat similar to the... |
n/a | 6 | 9 | 8 | 23 (out of 30) |
| Adagio | n/a | 6 | 6 | 8 | 20 (out of 30) | |
| Final | Milonga Milonga Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced... |
10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| Freestyle | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 | |
Career after Strictly Dance Fever
As part of their prize, Robertson and Wright won a professional dance contract. This culminated early in July 2006 when, for a week, the pair took to the West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stage as background dancers in Footloose
Footloose (musical)
Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Novello Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
.
David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
and Cheryl Baker
Cheryl Baker
Cheryl Baker is an English television presenter and singer. She is most famous for being a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, and has performed for the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, winning it the second time.-Early career:After leaving school and a series of secretarial jobs, Cheryl...
also starred in the show.
Robertson's career suffered a minor set-back when she was injured after an attack on holiday in Portugal. Regarding this incident she's quoted as saying: "I've never had anything so painful happen to me in my life before. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. [...] Stuff happens to you in life and you just have to get on with it and as long as I don't stop dancing it's ok...I'll be ok."
Robertson is currently appearing in the UK tour of Fame
Fame (musical)
A stage musical based on the 1980 musical film Fame has been staged under two titles. The first, 'Fame – The Musical' conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami,...
alongside dance partner Darrien Wright.
External links
- Talent portfolio for Hollie Robertson at the AMCK Management website