Loraine Barry
Loraine Barry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Loraine Barry 10 December 1964 |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, Dancing with the Stars judge |
| Spouse(s) | Andrew Sinkinson (1989–1993) Luca Baricchi (1997–2010) |
Loraine Barry (born 10 December 1964) is a former professional dancer and also known for her role as Head judge on the RTÉ One series, Dancing with the Stars.
Early life
[edit]Loraine Barry was born in Cabra in Dublin, Ireland.[citation needed] By the age of nineteen, Barry began to dance competitively with her partner Andrew Sinkinson.
Together Barry and Sinkinson won many Amateur titles such as British Youth Amateur Ballroom Championship. They also won the Amateur British Ballroom Championship three consecutive times in 1987, 1988, & 1989.[1]
Barry & Sinkinson traveled around the world competing regularly and winning Grand Slam titles such as: the UK Championship, European Open Championship and World Championship. After winning the Blackpool Open Amateur Competition Loraine and Andrew decided to turn Professional in 1989.[2]
Professional dance career
[edit]In 1990 Barry and Sinkinson competed for the first time professionally at the Professional British Open and won the Slow Foxtrot over Marcus & Karen Hilton, and John Wood & Anne Lewis. This was deemed to be an unprecedented result for the couple as it was their first British Open Competition. In 1993 Barry and Sinkinson ended their partnership.[3]
In 1993, Barry took up a partnership with Luca Baricchi. Together, they were crowned World Ballroom Dance Champions in 1999 and 2001 and British Open Champions three times 1999, 2000, & 2001, among many other accomplishments.[4]
Loraine has also been awarded the Prince Mikasa Award, BDF Award, and Carl Alan Award.[5][6]
Media career
[edit]Since January 2017, Barry has been Head judge on the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars for RTÉ One alongside Judges Brian Redmond and Julian Benson with Arthur Gourounlian joining the panel in 2022.[7][8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Andrew Sinkinson – Encyclopedia of DanceSport". www.wikidancesport.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "DancesportInfo.net". dancesportinfo.net. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "Loraine Barry – Dance Benefits Group". Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "Former WDC World Champions". www.wdcdance.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "Carl Alan Awards 2009" (PDF). www.idta.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "Dance Beat Magazine – Loraine Barry". dancebeat.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ "Judges announced for RTÉ's Dancing with the Stars". RTÉ News. 18 December 2016.
- ^ Delaney, Caroline (12 November 2021). "Dancing with the Stars is back in January — and who's the new judge?". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 8 October 2022.