Flavia Cacace

Flavia Cacace-Mistry

Flavia Cacace at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards
Born 13 March 1980
Naples, Italy
Residence Surrey, England
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
Height 5'2
Spouse(s) Jimi Mistry (m. 2013– )
Partner(s) Matt Di Angelo (2007–2010)

Flavia Cacace-Mistry (born 13 March 1980) is a British-based Italian professional dancer. Her professional dance partner is Vincent Simone (they are branded when performing together as 'Vincent and Flavia'), and for a number of years both partners appeared on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

Biography

Cacace was born in Naples, the youngest of six children, and came to the United Kingdom with her family at the age of four when her father (a "chef") moved to another job. She attended St. Peter's Catholic School in Guildford, and left in 1995.

Dancing career

Cacace's mother insisted that each of the children have an activity, so she and her eldest sister joined the local ballroom dancing class – when Cacace was 6. After partnerships with two dance partners, Cacace and Simone (who had the same dance teacher in London) were both looking for partners. They decided to try out together in 1994, and they have been dancing together ever since.[1]

Strictly Come Dancing

In 2006, Cacace appeared in the fourth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. Her celebrity dancing partner was Jimmy Tarbuck. However, the couple withdrew after only one show, due to medical reasons.[2]

Cacace was back dancing in the fifth series of the show, partnered with EastEnders star Matt Di Angelo. They got the only perfect score of the main series for their waltz in the final. The couple subsequently had a three-year off-screen romance.[3] 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 Christmas special dancing the 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).

Cacace 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 judge's scores.

In late 2008, she took part in a Strictly Come Dancing special for Children in Need 2008 where she partnered presenter Terry Wogan against Tess Daly, partnered by Anton du Beke, who ended up as the winners.

Cacace also 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.

Cacace returned to Strictly Come Dancing for the seventh series in 2009, partnering Coronation Street and Queer as Folk actor Craig Kelly. The couple were in the bottom two in the 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. They went through to the next week on the casting vote of head judge Len Goodman. In week 5, the couple 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. The couple were eliminated in Week 8 of the competition, when the show went to Blackpool, after performing a cha-cha-cha.

Cacace 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. Cacace 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.

Cacace featured in the eighth series of the show, 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 6 when they finished bottom of the leader board, a result that was widely seen as surprising.

In the ninth series, Cacace's partner was astrologer Russell Grant and they were the seventh couple to be eliminated.

Louis Smith was Cacace's partner in the tenth season of the programme. They won the series on 22 December 2012.[4]

On 1 June 2013, Cacace announced that she and Simone would not be competing in Strictly Come Dancing 2013 so they could work on other shows.[5]

Other appearances

In January 2012, Cacace appeared on the BBC TV series The Magicians.

Cacace and Simone also have an App called 'Dance with Vincent and Flavia'. Dance with Vincent and Flavia is a free dance tutorial App from which the user can learn the fundamental dance steps and advance into a competent dancer with Vincent and Flavia’s help. The App is published by International Celebrity Networks.

Titles

Career titles Cacace has earned from competitions, with her professional partner Simone:[6]

Personal life

Cacace currently resides in Crouch End, north London, with her former Strictly Come Dancing partner, Jimi Mistry.[7][8][9][10] She announced on Twitter on 5 January 2013 that they were engaged, and their marriage took place in London on 28 December 2013.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Jenny Johnston (19 November 2007). "The truth about the raging sexual chemistry behind Strictly Come Dancing – and Flavia's washboard stomach". Associated Newspapers Ltd. DailyMail.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  2. ↑ "Tarbuck pulls out of dance show". BBC NEWS – Entertainment (News.BBC.co.uk). 20 October 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "Strictly Come Dancing's Flavia Cacace splits from Matt Di Angelo", Daily Mail, 12 November 2010. Accessed 29 December 2013
  4. ↑ Fitzmaurice, Sarah (10 September 2012). "Abs-olutely amazing! Kimberley Walsh and Victoria Pendleton show off ... as full line-up of Strictly Come Dancing is revealed". Mail Online. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  5. ↑ | Flavia Cacace reveals she has left Strictly along with Vincent Simone | TwitLonger - @FlaviaCacace | Recovered - 1 June 2013
  6. ↑ "History". Official website. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "Strictly Come Dancing 2010 – Celebrities – Jimi Mistry". BBC. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
  8. ↑ Interview, "This is Lancashire"
  9. ↑ "Jimi Mistry Biography". Movies.yahoo.com. 13 May 2001. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
  10. ↑ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/life/how-flavia-cacace-was-swept-off-her-feet-by-a-dance-date-16041532.html
  11. ↑ Digital Spy, "Coronation Street's Jimi Mistry marries Strictly dancer Flavia Cacace". Accessed 29 December 2013

External links

Preceded by
Harry Judd and Aliona Vilani		 Strictly Come Dancing Champion
(with partner Louis Smith)
Series 10 (2012) 		Succeeded by
Abbey Clancy and Aljaž Skorjanec
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