Karen Hardy's Biography

Who is Karen Hardy?

Karen Hardy, who was born in Bournemouth and started dancing at five, has enjoyed a lot of success on the dance floor.

At 18, Karen Hardy spent two years in the U.S.A, furthering her dance career.

In 1994 Karen partnered South African dancer, Bryan Watson. In an interview, Karen Hardy, said:

" ... another memorable moment was my first ever dancing competition with Bryan, going out on that floor feeling the enthusiasm and support oozing from the audience and fans that had built up before we even danced our first competition."

Karen retired from dance competitions in 1999, but by that time she and Bryan Watson were undefeated United Kingdom, International, British National, World Masters, Open Italian, Yankie Classic, London Open and Osaka World Trophy Champions of Latin American dance.

In August 2009 it was revealed that Karen Hardy would no longer be a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing although she was exploring other ways of being connected to the show and continued to appear on Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

In series six of Strictly Come Dancing Karen Hardy danced with Gary Rhodes. They were the third couple voted off the series.

In Strictly Come Dancing series five Karen Hardy partnered Brian Capron. However, they were eliminated in the first round.

It was a far cry from series four of Strictly Come Dancing, when, in 2006 Karen Hardy was paired with Mark Ramprakash and they won!

Karen Hardy partnered, Bill Turnbull in series 3 of Strictly Come Dancing

Karen and Bill did well in Strictly Come Dancing but they were eventually voted out in the seventh week of the series.

She owns Karen Hardy Dance Studios.

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