| Biography | Kevin Clifton (born 13 October 1982) is an English professional dancer born in Waltham, Lincolnshire. He is a professional dancer on the BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing, having previously worked as an assistant choreographer. He has also featured on Burn the Floor. He is frequently called "Kevin from Grimsby".
Clifton started dancing ballroom and Latin as a child in his home town of Waltham, taught by his parents, former World Champions Keith and Judy Clifton. He competed nationally and internationally as a child initially partnering his sister Joanne. Later, when they both chose to move on to different partners he chose Latin as his primary dance style so as not to directly compete against his sister. He was a Youth World Number 1 and four time British Latin Champion and won International Open titles in Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Japan, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Belgium. At the time of his retirement from competitive dancing in 2007, he was ranked 7th in the world.
In 2010 Clifton made his musical theatre debut in Dirty Dancing The Musical at the Aldwych Theatre in Londons West End, where he partnered BBC1's So You Think You Can Dance winner, Charlie Bruce. From January 2008 to June 2013, Clifton and his wife Karen Hauer were principal dancers of the Burn The Floor Dance Company, performing in the shows record breaking Broadway run as well as starring at the Shaftesbury Theatre in Londons West End. He also performed with the show in Japan, Australia, South Africa and the USA as well as making guest appearances on Dancing with the Stars in USA and So You Think You Can Dance in the Netherlands. They rejoined Burn The Floor as principal dancers for a short tour of Australia and Japan in Spring 2014.
In 2013, Clifton appeared on series 11 of Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with Susanna Reid. He had previously auditioned for the show with his partner Karen Hauer but they had only needed a female dancer at the time, so he was instead employed as a choreographer for the show in 2012. In the 2013 Blackpool performance of the show he was joined in the opening dance by his family. On the same show, Reid and Clifton scored 39/40 for their paso doble, putting them at the top of the leaderboard. He won the 2013 Strictly Come Dancing Pro Challenge becoming the Guinness World Records holder for most Drunken Sailors in 30 seconds The couple's popularity ensured they reached the final, on 21 December, where they finished as runners up with Natalie Gumede behind model Abbey Clancy.
In 2014's series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing Clifton was paired with popstar Frankie Bridge. They were declared the runners-up with Simon Webbe, beaten by Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev. In 2015, Clifton, recently married to co-professional dancer Karen Hauer, returned for the thirteenth series of the show and was partnered up with Eastenders actress Kellie Bright. Bright and Clifton scored a perfect 40 for their Tango and Showdance and eventually finished as joint runners up with Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice.
Clifton has also taken part in the 'Strictly live tour'. For the 2014 tour he continued his partnership with, series 11 partner, Susanna Reid. He was due to dance with Frankie Bridge again for the 2015 tour however she had to pull out, due to her pregnancy, and he instead danced with, series 6 contestant, Rachel Stevens. Clifton and Bridge were however, reunited for the 2016 tour. |