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 BallasMark 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 BallasShirley 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 HoughJulianne 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 HoughDerek 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 BallasGeorge 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 EaterWeed 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 ChampionsThe 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 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 SmirnoffKarina 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 HoughJulianne 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 HoughDerek 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 DovolaniDriton "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 SliwinskaEdyta 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 MazoAlec 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 FortunaBrian 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 RobertsJonathan 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 TrebunskayaAnna 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 BallasMark 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 7The 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 LeachmanCloris 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 11Dancing 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 HendersonFlorence 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 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" 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 .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 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 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 ItThe 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 |
TangoBallroom 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 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" 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 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" 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 HendersonFlorence 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 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 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" 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 |
WaltzThe 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" 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 |
RumbaRumba 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" 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 |
TangoTango 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 |
External links