Corky & Shirley Ballas Click the image to visit the Ballas Website

Corky Ballas (Professional Dancer, Teacher, Coach and Adjudicator at the Emerald Ball)
"There's no reason why ice skaters should be in the Olympics and dancers not be. Their entire syllabus is based off of the Imperial Society and a lot of those couples come to Latin coaches like myself to choreograph their routines. So why should they be in the Olympics and us not be? If you take the solo dancers, the stuff that they do in the air, we do on the wood, except our moves are more rigorous. We're more athletic. We're more dedicated. We have friction that they do not have to deal with. We start in the early morning and sometimes don't finish until sometimes two or three in the morning the following day. I think that our sport is definitely a sport and an art combined. You can take any Olympic athlete with a gold medallion around their neck, right now, in their prime and a dancer will floor them!"