Cheryl Burke - Professional Dancer

[Burntcrow]

From abc.com

ACHIEVEMENTS:
2005 World Cup Professional Rising Star Latin Champion
UK Championships
4th in U.S. in the "Under 21s"

CELEBRITY PARTNER: Drew Lachey

STATS:
Style: Latin
Nationality: American
Based in: New York
Status: Currently competing

BACKGROUND:
Growing up in San Francisco, California, Cheryl came from a family that loved to dance. At four years old, she began taking ballet lessons and performing throughout the Bay Area. When she was ten, she discovered ballroom and decided to change her focus. She hung up her ballet shoes and began training in both standard dance and Latin. By 13, Cheryl was competing and traveling all over the world.

Currently, Cheryl lives in New York City where she continues to train, compete and teach.

DANCING:
For Cheryl, dancing is a way of life. It provides a medium for her to express her inner feelings and passion all the while maintaining focus and composure during extremely high-pressure situations. It is dancing that has made her such a competitor (both on and off the floor) and made her strive for perfection in anything that she sets out to do.

Cheryl says that her dancing style is unlike anyone else's. She takes pride in being a "rule breaker" and feels that her greatest achievements in dancing are still to come.

[Google]

 

[SnowflakeGirl]

I love this girl. She and Drew have been an amazing team. From the episodes I watched, she emerges as my favorite dancer out of the pros this season. She's just an electrifying performer, and whenever she's onstage, my eye is drawn to her. Watching her dance makes me want to watch more dance competitions.
Heck, watching her dance makes me want to get up and dance myself!

[Krom]

I wasn't half as impressed with her until I saw that cowgirl outfit. Yowch!

[cabernetCally]

I love her too! She does go outside the standard box and she seems very creative. Her facial expressions are awesome too!

Would love to see her do more after this show!

[boxhill]

Originally Posted by SnowflakeGirl

I love this girl. She and Drew have been an amazing team. From the episodes I watched, she emerges as my favorite dancer out of the pros this season. She's just an electrifying performer, and whenever she's onstage, my eye is drawn to her. Watching her dance makes me want to watch more dance competitions.
Heck, watching her dance makes me want to get up and dance myself!

Absolutely. She's electrifying and individual in her choreography, her costumes, and her appearance. She and Drew are an excellent physical match, and her the creativity of her choreography really deserves recognition. I love watching her.

Kudos to you, Cheryl!

[Miss_Griss]

I thought it was really lovely the way Drew repeatedly acknowledged Cheryl, the importance of her contributions, and how important it was to her to win.

I especially liked when he said something about the professionals having to dance down to the level of the celebrities in order to make the celebrities look good (or something like that).

[ness]

She's darn good.

One thing in particular, I noticed.

When they did the pro dancers' exhibitions, oftentimes, she was paired with someone who was obviously taller than Drew. Still, the way she danced, you would've thought she was still dancing with Drew.

I said that to say that for a dancer, to the best of my knowledge, it's got to be hard to adjust yourself to the physical differences of someone other than whoever it is you're used to dancing with on a regular basis.

Cheryl did that, yet made it look as if she danced with each of her partners every day.

Not easy, I'd venture to say.

I hope (if she's not too booked, after all this) ABC has sense enough to sign her up for DWTS3 (if there's going to be one).

My hat's off to her.

[SnowflakeGirl]

Originally Posted by ness

I hope (if she's not too booked, after all this) ABC has sense enough to sign her up for DWTS3 (if there's going to be one).

Hear hear! I agree with you completely. I'd tune in just to see her again.

In fact, I think she should have a whole show of her own! She's not only the most impressive of the pro female dancers (in my eyes), but from what we saw of her personality in clips and interviews, she seems like such a sweetheart by nature.

If you're a Cheryl fan looking for more information, she has an official website: http://www.strictlycheryl.com/

It was interesting learning more about her. I didn't realize she was half Asian (Filipino/Caucasian). I thought she looked as if she might be of mixed ethnicity but I had thought at first she was Latina. There are also super cute candid snapshots of her and Drew on there, with people that I think are her family and friends.

[cabernetCally]

Here is a site with her dance partner Jose.....whew she actually toned down her look for DWTS...not just her style as Drew said.

http://www.dancesportinfo.net/Displa...Coupleid=25083

[SnowflakeGirl]

Thanks for the link. I was shocked to see the long blonde hair! Judging from those photos, I like the short, dark hairstyle she is sporting these days on DWTS a whole lot more, because it really brings out her features much better. And the cut of the new coif looks great moving with her when she dances. In the first set of photos, I could barely tell it was her, for all the hair in her face.