Helen Richey (born c. 1945) is a former competitive

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

and

latin dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America, though a few styles originated elsewhere. The category of Latin dance ...

r and is now a dance coach and judge. She appeared as a judge in the Australian television series ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' from the 1st to the 15th season.

Biography

Richey was born c.1945 in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She started dancing at a very early age, studying Ballet and Tap. At 15, she won the coveted Lily Ellison Award and two years later she met her future husband Robert, taking up Ballroom and Latin dancing. After winning the Australian Rising Stars Ballroom Championship, they travelled to the United Kingdom to further their dancing careers. Originally planning to visit for six months, they stayed for 27 years. Her competitive career included becoming undefeated All England Latin Champion as well as the South of England Latin Champion and the Imperial Latin Champion. In the major international events, Helen was placed third in the World Professional Latin Championship, equal third in the British Professional Latin Championship, runner-up in the United Kingdom Professional Latin and was twice placed third in the International Professional Latin Championship. For seven consecutive years, Helen was a Grand Finalist in the British Professional Championship, one of the most prestigious events. She was also Australia's official representative in the World Championships in both the Ballroom and Latin Styles for over 10 years and was a regular semi-finalist in the Ballroom Style. After retiring from competitive dancing, Helen has become one of the world's leading coaches and most sought-after adjudicators. She has judged the national dance championships of almost every country in the world. Helen has coached World Champions, British Champions and Australian Champions. Many of the professional dancers in all of the series of Dancing with the Stars have been trained wholly or in part by Helen.

References

External links

dancetraks
Web Site of Robert & Helen Richey 1945 births Australian female dancers People from Bacchus Marsh Living people Australian ballroom dancers 20th-century Australian dancers 20th-century Australian women {{dance-bio-stub