| Flavia Cacace | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 March 1979 Naples, Italy |
| Residence | Surrey |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | professional dancer |
| Known for | With dance partner Vincent Simone: *UK Professional Ten Dance Champions 2002-2006 *UK Professional Showdance Champions 2003-2006 *UK Argentine Tango Champions, 2006 *UK Ballroom Champions |
Flavia Cacace (born 13 March 1979) is an Italian professional dancer. Her professional dance partner is Vincent Simone, and both regularly appear on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Their brand name when performing together is VincentandFlavia
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She was born in Naples, the youngest of six children to a chef father, and came to the UK with her family at the age of four when her father moved for a job. She attended St Peter's School, Guildford and left in 1995.
Her mother insisted that all the children should have an activity, so she and her eldest sister joined the local ballroom dancing class aged 6. After partnerships with two dance partners, Cacace and Simone (who had the same dance teacher in London) were both looking for partners and they decided to try out in 1994—they have been dancing together ever since.[1]
In 2006, she appeared on the fourth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Her celebrity dancing partner for the show was Jimmy Tarbuck. However, the couple withdrew after only one show, due to reasons concerning Jimmy's health.[2]
Flavia was back dancing in the fifth series of the show, partnered by EastEnders star Matt Di Angelo. They got the only perfect score of the main series with their waltz in the semi-final. Flavia had a relationship with Matt that lasted 3 years, although they split in 2010. They reached the final of the show, but were beaten by Alesha Dixon and her professional partner Matthew Cutler. She also took part in the 2007 Xmas special dancing a Rumba with partner Matt, and achieved a score of 39. Cacace and Di Angelo also competed together in the live tour of Strictly Come Dancing in January and February 2008. They won more shows than any other couple, coming first overall sixteen times and second a further ten times (out of a total of forty shows).
Flavia took part in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered by actor Phil Daniels who was eliminated in the first week after a dance-off against Don Warrington despite Gary Rhodes being bottom after the judges' scores.
In late 2008, Flavia decided to take part in a Strictly Come Dancing special for Children in Need 2008 where she partnered the presenter Terry Wogan against Tess Daly, partnered by Anton Du Beke, who ended up as the winners.
Flavia took part in the 2009 SCD Live tour partnering former Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist Gethin Jones. They went on to win 6 shows out of 45 in total, coming second to her professional partner Vincent Simone and Rachel Stevens.
Flavia returned to Strictly Come Dancing for the seventh series in 2009, partnering Coronation Street and Queer as Folk actor, Craig Kelly. Flavia and Craig found themselves in the bottom two in second week against Lilia Kopylova and Richard Dunwoody, and were forced to perform their tango again. They won votes from three of the four judges and consequently made it through to the third week of the competition. They were also in the bottom two in week 4, against Darren Bennett and Lynda Bellingham. Two judges voted to save them and as Len Goodman had the deciding vote they went through to the next week. In week 5 they received their lowest score of the competition so far and were at the bottom of the leaderboard. However, they were saved from the dance-off by the public. They were eliminated in Week 8 of the competition, when the show went to Blackpool, after performing a cha-cha-cha.
Flavia then went on to dance once more with her tour partner of the previous year Gethin Jones in the 2009 Christmas special. They danced an American smooth to 'Baby It's Cold Outside' and achieved a score of 38. She then created choreography for Gethin's Cinderella panto which ran at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in her home town of Guildford and had a small guest appearance in the final show.
Flavia featured in the eighth series of the dancing show, along with professional partner Vincent, where her celebrity partner was Jimi Mistry. In the first week, their dance was given a score of 26 and they went on to make it to week 5 where they were knocked out by Michelle Williams and Brendan Cole, in a result that was widely seen as surprising.
Career titles Flavia Cacace has earned from competitions, with her professional partner Vincent Simone:
| Preceded by Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova |
Strictly Come Dancing runner up (with partner Matt Di Angelo) Series 5 (2007) |
Succeeded by Rachel Stevens and Vincent Simone |
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