The beautiful and professional dancer Cheryl Burke is known to millions of fans of the TV show Dancing with the Stars all over the world. No wonder, for Cheryl is the only professional dancer to appear four times in the finals of ABC’s top-rated show and is a two-time back-to-back champion. The famous dancer is also proudly Filipina.
Born May 3, 1984 in Northern California, Cheryl Bautista Burke belongs to a family who loves dancing. Her Filipina mother, Sherri Bautista Burke, and two sisters also love to dance. Her family dances for recreation and has a dance floor at home.
At age four, Cheryl began taking ballet lessons and performing locally. She then began ballroom dancing at the age of 11 and decided to change her focus. She trained in both standard ballroom and Latin dances and began competing at age 13.
Cheryl attended Las Lomitas Elementary School and graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School located in Menlo Park, CA in 2002. In fall of 2007, Cheryl was awarded the key to the city from the mayor of Atherton at her old high school.
Prior to her joining Dancing with the Stars, Cheryl has received many awards and honors in various dancing competitions. She was the 2005 World Cup Professional Rising Star Latin Champion, the 2005 San Francisco Open Latin Champion, the 2005 Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Latin Champion. Cheryl placed 4th in the US in the category “Under 21s”and also received awards in the UK Championships.
Burke won her first championship in Dancing with the Stars with 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey in the second season. She won her second championship with retired football star Emmitt Smith in the third season. Burke returned to the ballroom for Season 4, and partnered with actor Ian Ziering, but were eliminated in the semi-finals on May 15, 2007.
From December 19, 2006 to February 11, 2007, Cheryl Burke participated in a 38-city Dancing with the Stars Tour. She also joined the second summer tour, which visited 24 cities between June 20, 2007 in Austin, Texas and July 24, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada. Her celebrity partner for both tours was Drew Lachey.
Burke competed on Season 5 with partner, Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. They were the third couple eliminated from the competition on October 9, 2007. She again competed on Season 6 and was partnered with actor Cristián de la Fuente. They made it to the finals and on May 20, 2008, Cheryl and Cristián placed 3rd in the Season 6 competition. She then returned to the show for Season 7 with partner Maurice Greene and came in 5th place. For the show’s eighth season, Cheryl and actor Gilles Marini were the runners-up, losing to Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas.
For the ninth season, Cheryl competed with partner Tom DeLay (former US House of Representatives Majority Leader) but they later had to withdraw from the competition because DeLay had stress fractures in both feet. Burke was partnered with Cincinnati Bengals player Chad Ochocinco for the tenth season, but the pair lost in the semi-final round. During the show’s 11th season, Burke was partnered with Retired NBA Small Forward Rick Fox.
Cheryl was a two-time nominee during the Prime Time Emmy 2006: for Outstanding Choreography for Paso Doble and Outstanding Choreography for Freestyle. Burke is the youngest nominee to ever receive nominations in that category. On October 20, 2007, Cheryl won the Role Model Award at the 7th Annual Filipino/American Library Gala. On the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards, she won the Viewer’s Choice award for Favorite T.V. Personality.
Burke had a guest role on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, in the episode Loosely Ballroom along with fellow Dancing professionals Louis van Amstel, Ashly DelGrosso, and Lacey Schwimmer. She portrayed Shannon, a nurse attending to the ensemble cast during a dance contest at the series setting, The Tipton Hotel. In the final round of the competition, Burke’s character volunteers to replace an ill competitor. She and her partner go on to win the competition.
In April 2008, Burke opened the Cheryl Burke Dance studio in San Francisco at the site of the former Metronome Ballroom. The studio teaches a variety of dance styles, everything from ballroom to salsa. In 2009, Burke acquired the dance studio “Starlite Ballroom” (formerly in Sunnyvale, California), reopened as Cheryl Burke Dance Starlite, in Mountain View, California. A third studio also opened in Laguna Niguel, in South Orange County.
In between her hectic schedule as a professional dancer and instructor, Cheryl found time to write a book which will be released on Feb 14. Entitled Dancing Lessons: How I Found Passion And Potential On The Dance Floor And In Life, the book takes readers from Cheryl’s childhood years into the world of competitive ballroom dancing and on to Dancing with the Stars.
In each chapter of Dancing Lessons, Cheryl parallels popular dance steps with her own challenging steps in her life journey. For example, the first chapter is entitled The Freestyle: Finding Myself in the Spotlight, the second one The Cha-cha-cha: My First Steps, the third chapter, The Jive: The Ballroom World and so on.
Some highlights from Dancing Lessons include: behind-the-scenes stories and photos from her life, lessons Cheryl has learned from each of her celebrity partners, from Drew Lachey to Chad Ochocinco, and never-before-discussed revelations concerning Cheryl’s childhood, weight issues, and the media.
One of the surprising revelations in the book describes how Cheryl, at age 6, was molested by a retired mailman. She believed it was wrong but wanted to gain the affection of the person. The molester was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was recently released. This revelation will hopefully raise awareness for child abuse, Sherri Burke, Cheryl’s mother said.
As Dancing Lessons reveals how Cheryl put her talents to work and overcame the challenges of her life, readers will surely be inspired to pursue their own dreams. The book promises to whisk you away to a world full of dancing, entertainment, and life.
In her website, Cheryl said that the favorite things she likes doing when not dancing are: giving back to the community and realizing her dreams and goals in life. With her impressive track record, there’s no doubt the dancing queen will realize her dreams as she waltzes her way through life with her high energy, captivating smile and indomitable spirit.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Feb 2-4, 2011 MDWK pg. 2)
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
