Ellen Ekkart

She graduated as an interior designer, but always had a love for dancing. She danced as an amateur in the Ballroom Formation team Dance Rhapsody, and later in the Latin Formation team Café Latino.

She graduated as a color and style consultant.

• Between 1996 and 2001, she became two times Belgian Champion with Cafe Latino. She married her dance coach from Café Latino, Peter Ekkart, in 2001.
• She started teaching full-time in dance school Ekkart in 2001, and got her degree as a teacher and judge[1] in the following years with the professional organisation Buldo, and the World Dance Council.
• In 2006, she was asked to be a professional dancer in Sterren op de dansvloer,[2] the Belgian version of Dancing with the Stars (US) or Strictly Come Dancing (UK).
• In 2008 she started competitive dancing after working together with her husband on the television show Sterren op de Dansvloer. Two years later, they won all six Belgian Championships in a row, in the ballroom style, from 2010 to 2015.[3]
• They participated in all World and European Championships from 2008, and travelled the world.
• In June 2016, they placed second at the World Professional Ballroom Championships 40+[4] in Cervia, Italy.

Peter & Ellen Ekkart participated in all World and European Championships from 2008, and travelled the world. They danced at the Kremlin [5] in Russia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, and almost all European countries. In June 2015, they were placed third at the World Professional Ballroom Championships 40+, in Cervia, Italy. One year later, they moved to second place, and became the vice-world Professional Ballroom Champions 40+.[6] This was the first time in history that a Belgian couple had gained this title.

After visiting the United States, they started learning American smooth dancing. They introduced this style for the first time in Belgian at the National Professional Belgian Congress in May 2016.

From 2006 to 2011, VTM broadcast the Flemish version of Dancing with the Stars (US) or Strictly Come Dancing (UK). Ekkart participated as a professional dancer in the first three seasons.

• Season 1 with singer Sam Gooris,[2] three episodes
• Season 2 with actor Herbert Flack,[2] four episodes
• Season 3 with cyclist Nico Mattan,[2] three episodes and five dance-offs

In 2006, she danced at the Gouden Schoen, the annual awards for professional soccer players.[7]

She appeared as a candidate in Het Verstand van Vlaanderen, a TV show with Koen Wauters.

in 2007, she had a guest role in the Flemish soap series Wittekerke.[2]

From 2007 to 2009, Ekkart choreographed dancers for a stage performance for the television show Zomerhit.

She provided dancers for national artists like Bart Peeters, Clouseau, and international artists as Sister Sledge, Kim Wilde and Melanie C from the Spice Girls.

in 2008, she was the principal dancer with her partner Peter in the TV1 program Duizend Zonnen en Garnalen.[8]

She married in 2001, and the couple have two sons and a daughter.