Mark Ballas Biography
Summary
"Mark Alexander Corky Ballas, Jr." (born May 24, 1986 in Houston, Texas ) is a performer. His parents are Corky Ballas and Shirley Ballas. At a young age, he moved to London, England, where he began his performing career. He remained in London until 2007, when he moved to the US.
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 is also a singer/songwriter/musician for the group Ballas Hough Band, where he composes the group's music, plays lead guitar and sings lead vocals.
He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA ".
Early life
Mark's grandfather, George Ballas Sr., owned and operated a dance studio - the largest dance studio ever in the world - called Dance City USA. It was situated in Houston and had 125 teachers on payroll. There has never been a studio this large since 1964. Corky's father sold the studio and later went on to invent the Weed Eater.
Mark's grandmother was a famous Flamenco Dancer who appeared in several movies and studied with Carmen Amaya in Spain. Mark's grandparents are of Spanish and Greek descent.
At the age of 4, he was enrolled at the Italia Conti Academy of Dramatic Arts Associate School, where he was trained in singing, dancing and acting.
When he was 10, he became British Juvenile Ballroom and Latin American Dance Champion.
At the age of 11, he earned a full time slot at the Academy, as well as earning a full scholarship to the college. In 2005, he was awarded 'Performer of the Year'. He then moved on to win championships at The British Open to the World, The US Open to the World and The International Open to the World. With his former partner Julianne Hough, he won the Junior Latin American Dance Championship and the gold medal at the Junior Olympics.
As an actor, Ballas played the lead role of Tony in the musical "Copacabana" and was the lead dancer in the UK national tour of the Spanish musical "Maria de Buenos Aires". He was also the understudy for the role of Ritchie Valens in the UK national tour of Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story.
Ballas Hough Band (or BHB)
He began playing the guitar at the age of 4 and at the age of 12 began to write and perform his own music, playing guitar, drums and bass. The Hough siblings and Ballas had their own pop music trio called '2B1G(2 Boys 1 Girl)' as the siblings mentioned on Entertainment Tonight on October 11, 2007. With his best friend Derek Hough, he formed the band Almost Amy, now known as Ballas Hough Band.O ther members of the band are Emily Grace - flute/sax/piano/vocals, Sam Marder - bass and Harry Sullivan - drums. They describe their music as acoustic/pop/rock/soul with catchy melodies and harmonies/funky guitar riffs with a pop/flamenco/jazzy feel good vibe. Their music includes Ride, Model in the Making, Get Through, Millions, Know Better, and more.
'Dancing with the Stars'
On the 5th season of 'Dancing With The Stars,' Ballas was partnered with Cheetah Girls star Sabrina Bryan. In their first week, they scored a 26 out of 30 - at the time the highest score earned on the first week by any contestant. On week 4 of the show, they set another record by scoring 30/30 from the judges for their Paso Doble. This was the earliest a contestant has ever received a perfect score in the show's history. On October 30, 2007, the pair was voted off the show. The announcement was met with shock from the judges and the live audience. An AOL poll voted their elimination '2007's most shocking TV moment.' For the second-to-last week, Bryan and Ballas were invited back to the show to perform - another first for any couple. For the 100th show, their Paso Doble was chosen as number 9 on the top 10 dances of the first five seasons. According to Tonioli, their elimination was the biggest shock of season 5 and this dance was a glimpse of what they could have accomplished. Bryan and Ballas were the only couple in the top 10 that did not make it to the finals.
It was announced that Ballas' partner for Season 6 of Dancing With The Stars would be Olympic Gold Medal-winning figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi. In the first week, Kristi and Mark received a 27 out of 30 for their foxtrot. This was the highest score to be received on the first week in the entire series. Together, they continued to top the leaderboard for 6 weeks straight - a new record on DWTS. However, they came in 2nd in the 7th and 8th weeks of competition, ending their streak. Kristi and Mark were at the top of the leaderboard for 8 of the 10 weeks of competition - a new DWTS record. They also mantained the highest average as of Week 10 with a 28.3 average including a perfect 90/90 score for the finale; these were both DWTS records. Kristi and Mark's lowest score, a 26, was also the highest 'low' score for any contestant throughout the seasons. On May 20, 2008, Ballas and Yamaguchi won the 2008 Season of 'Dancing with the Stars.' According to the judges, they had set the standard for the entire season and were the most consistent couple, not only in Season 6, but in all the seasons of DWTS.
On August 25, 2008, ABC announced the cast of Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) and Mark was paired with reality television star Kim Kardashian. They were the 3rd couple eliminated, finishing in 11th place, on September 30th, 2008.
Mark now maintains the highest average for a pro dancer on DWTS at 26.73.
Performances
With celebrity partner Sabrina Bryan:
With celebrity partner Kristi Yamaguchi:
With celebrity partner Kim Kardashian:
Solo Appearances
Race to Erase MS
Samantha Who?
Roula snd Ryan radio interview
Almost Amy Appearances
Good Day Atlanta
Universal CityWalk - ABC7
McDonald's Family Tribute on Ice - NBC
External links
http://www.learning2dance.com
http://www.almost-amy.com/
(Mark Ballas official Fan Site)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Mark Ballas.
