Vincent Simone

Vincent Simone Born 1979 is a professional dancer born in Italy but moved to England when he was 16 and has since lived in Guildford, Surrey. His professional dancing partner is Flavia Cacace who he met when they were both taking lessons from the same teacher; they were both looking for partners so they decided to have a try-out together and are still dancing together today. The two also teach dancing lessons for beginners to competitors in their spare time.

He has appeared on the fourth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing with Louisa Lytton as his celebrity dancing partner for the show. They were knocked out in week 10, scoring 31 out of 40 for their first dance and 28 for the second giving them a total of 59 points which was last position out of the four couples competing. Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett also were in the bottom two with Vincent and Louisa Lytton after the televotes were counted even though that week they were top with the judges. He returned for the fifth series in 2007, partnering actress Stephanie Beacham but the pair were eliminated in the second week, losing to Letitia Dean and Darren Bennett in the dance off. Craig, Bruno and Len voted to save Letitia and Darren, while Arlene voted to save Stephanie and Vincent.

Vincent and Flavia in collaboration with Jagers Dance Centre staged a three-minute performance at the Longfield Suite – Prestwich – Manchester, on the 12 January 2008 [http://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/2009135.strictly_ripoff_dancing_uproar/] . The audience was so incensed, they created a website called * [http://www.strictlyripoff.com/ Strictly Rip-off] .

After their success in the Strictly Live Tour! 2008, Vincent and Louisa Lytton were chosen to take part in the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 [cite web |url=http://www.esckaz.com/edc/2008/|title=Eurovision Dance Contest info page] in September 2008. They were ranked ninth out of fourteen couples by a professional jury, and finished ninth overall when the results of the public vote had been added.

Vincent will take part in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering singer Rachel Stevens

Titles

Career titles he and his partner Flavia Cacace have earned from competitions:

* UK Professional Ten Dance Champions 2002-2006
* UK Professional Showdance Champions 2003-2006
* [http://www.negrachatangoclub.com/ Negracha club] UK Argentine Tango Champions, 2006
* [http://www.ido-online.org/ IDO] World Argentine Tango Finalists, 2005/2006 (3rd place overall - winners, Show Tango section)
* UK Ballroom Champions
* World and European Ten Dance and Showdance finalists 2002 - 2006

References

External links

* [http://www.vincentandflavia.com/ Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace's official website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/ Strictly Come Dancing homepage]