Ian Waite

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Ian Waite is a professional Latin-American dancer. 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 ^[1]

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.^[2] 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. By that time, he had also secured his place in the second series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Waite lives in Lower Earley 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.

He has competed in four series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He was runner-up in 2004 with athlete Denise Lewis, and third in 2005 with presenter Zoe Ball. He departed the competition in the second week in 2006, with his celebrity partner Mica Paris. For Series 5 in 2007, his partner was Rod Stewart's wife Penny Lancaster Stewart They left the competition in week six after dancing the salsa. Waite standing around 6ft 3 inch (190cm) prefers to dance with taller women. Penny Lancaster at 6ft 1 inch stands around 6 ft 4 inch in heels.

In the 2006 Christmas Special, he was reunited with Zoe Ball. They finished runners up behind Colin Jackson and Erin Boag.

[edit] Strictly Performance

Celebrity Partner	Week #	Dance	Judges' score
Celebrity Partner	Week #	Dance	Hoorwood	Phillips	Goodman	Tonioli	Total
Denise Lewis	1	Waltz	7	8	8	8	31
Denise Lewis	2	Rumba	8	8	8	8	32
Denise Lewis	3	Jive	6	6	6	7	25
Denise Lewis	4	Foxtrot	7	7	8	8	30
Denise Lewis	5	Samba	7	8	8	9	32
Denise Lewis	6	Quickstep Cha-Cha-Cha	7 8	9 8	9 8	9 9	34 33
Denise Lewis	7	Tango Paso Doble	8 9	9 9	9 9	9 9	35 36
Denise Lewis	8	Quickstep Samba	9 8	10 8	9 8	10 9	38 33
Zoe Ball	1	Waltz	8	9	9	9	35
Zoe Ball	2	Rumba	7	8	8	9	32
Zoe Ball	3	Jive	7	6	8	8	29
Zoe Ball	4	Foxtrot	9	9	9	9	36
Zoe Ball	5	Samba	8	9	9	9	35
Zoe Ball	6	Quickstep	8	9	9	10	36
Zoe Ball	7	Tango	9	10	9	10	38
Zoe Ball	8	Cha-Cha-Cha American Smooth	8 9	7 9	8 9	9 9	32 36
Zoe Ball	9	Viennese Waltz Paso Doble	9 8	9 8	9 8	9 9	36 33
Zoe Ball	10	Tango Samba	9 9	10 9	9 10	10 10	38 38
Mica Paris	2	Rumba	3	5	6	6	20
Penny Lancaster	2	Quickstep	8	8	8	9	33
Penny Lancaster	3	Jive	5	6	7	7	25
Penny Lancaster	4	Samba	8	7	9	8	32
Penny Lancaster	5	Foxtrot	9	8	9	9	35
Penny Lancaster	6	Salsa	6	6	7	6	25