Professional Dance Career
Early in his dance career, Killick was invited to join and study at the famous Royal Ballet School in London, but chose instead to enter into the world of competitive Ballroom and Latin American Dancesport. Killick went on to represent Great Britain in DanceSport throughout the world in the divisions of Juvenile, Junior, Youth and Amateur. Killick won the title of World Amateur Latin Champion 1993, dancing with Inga Hass.
In 1994 Killick began dancing professionally with Oksana Forova. He began to dance with Vibeke Toft in 1996, and they became grand finalists in all major competitions. In October 1998 Killick began dancing with Karina Smirnoff, and again became finalists in all major competitions. This partnership ended in July 1999.
Killick then teamed up with Hanna Karttunen. They danced together for five years and were consistently ranked as one of the best couples in the world. Together they won numerous world titles including United Kingdom Open Champion, International Champion, World Series Champion, World Masters Champion, Dutch Open Champion, United States Open Champion, Asian Open Champion, Kremlin Cup Champion and four time British National Champions.
Killick received the Ballroom Dancers’ Federation "Most Outstanding Contribution to Dance" honuor in both 1994 and 2004, and has won The World Cup, World Trophy, World Masters, World Series, Universal and British Professional Latin American DanceSport Championships on six occasions. Killick represented Great Britain throughout his career, and has won European, British, United States, Canadian, German, French, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Austrian, Italian, Dutch, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Polish, Scandinavian, Russian and South African Latin American DanceSport Championships before he retired from competitive Latin dancing in 2004.
Killick also has had the honour of dancing for the Royal Families of Monaco, Japan, Denmark, in addition to the Prime Ministers of Germany, Finland, and Russia.
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Famous quotes containing the words professional, dance and/or career:
“Never be intimidated when you deal with men. Curse, don’t cry.”
—Anonymous, U.S. professional woman. As quoted in Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment, ch. 4, by Mary Niles Maack and Joanne Passet (1994)
“Caring for children is a dance between setting appropriate limits as caretakers and avoiding unnecessary power struggles that result in unhappiness.”
—Charlotte Davis Kasl (20th century)
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)