Charlotte Jørgensen was born in Aalborg, Denmark, on 5 July 1971.

She began dancing before her third birthday, and the stage, the competition floor and eventually the classroom each became a place where she could explore what movement can express. Her story also reveals the work and personal losses behind a career that reached a world championship and an American television audience.

A childhood full of performance

In September 1973, at two years and two months old, Charlotte began at Lilli Nicolaisen’s Dance School in Aalborg. Her sister danced there, and her mother had danced before having children.

Until Charlotte was ten, her own lessons amounted to just one class a week, from September to March. When she was allowed a second class, she chose ballet. Around twelve, she began helping Lilli teach younger children, then added jazz and modern dance and auditioned for Lilli’s show and stage school.

At first Charlotte dreamed of becoming a ballerina. A teacher, impressed by her feet, arranged a private audition with the Royal Danish Ballet. Her mother would not consider a move to Copenhagen, so that path ended. A second dream took its place: performing in the West End or on Broadway. Lilli’s school gave its students an unusually rich education in singing, choir, acting and stage performance. Teachers connected with Alvin Ailey, Broadway and the West End came to Denmark, alongside distinguished Danish ballet and singing teachers. A former student who danced in West End musicals showed Charlotte what might be possible.

Looking through old photographs and memorabilia years later, Charlotte was struck by how much she had done before her ballroom career: musical theatre productions, fashion shows, modelling, variety shows, the Danish leg of the Eurovision Song Contest as a dancer, and work as a backup dancer for musicians. Throughout those years she also learned ballroom and Latin at a social dance school level. There was no Junior Blackpool in her childhood. She recalls her first competition at about thirteen, with a seventeen-year-old partner named Palle. At fifteen she also competed locally in Latin with Mogens and Claus, both older amateur dancers.

At fourteen, while appearing as an amateur in a professional outdoor summer musical, Charlotte’s mother died suddenly. Charlotte performed that same evening. She has explained that she felt both a duty to the production and a need to escape into it. From then on, without fully realising it at the time, dance became a place to work through grief, fear, loneliness and loss, turning private feeling into art shared with an audience.

At sixteen she transferred to a more serious ballroom school in Aalborg and partnered Flemming Nielsen in the Youth category. She had expected to wait another year or two before leaving for stage school in London. By then, however, ballroom dancing had captured her attention.

Jens Werner and the rapid rise to the final

Charlotte met Jens Werner at a Danish training weekend when she was seventeen. He was already a Danish champion and European Ten Dance finalist; she had reached a Danish Youth Ten Dance semifinal but had little international ballroom experience. Jens travelled to Aalborg to ask her father about a partnership. In November 1988, Charlotte moved to Copenhagen to dance with him. Some of Jens’s teachers doubted the decision and initially refused to teach the new couple.

After speaking with Hans Laxholm in April 1989 about training in London, the couple decided to try living there for a year. Charlotte’s father trusted her to pursue her dream. They took extra jobs in Denmark to save money and moved to London in August 1989, the month after she turned eighteen. Their first Blackpool together had placed them among the last 48 couples. At the International Championships that autumn they made the semifinal; in January 1990 they were seventh, and at Blackpool in 1990 they reached the amateur final and placed sixth. The move from 48 to a final took roughly one year.

Anne Laxholm became an especially important mentor. With support from Chrisanne, she helped Charlotte shape her appearance when Charlotte was still finding her own image. Anne could be her toughest critic and also made time to listen. Hans Laxholm challenged Charlotte intellectually and encouraged her to seek knowledge elsewhere, then return and share what she had learned.

Their other teachers included Michael and Vicky Barr, Bill and Bobbie Irvine, Richard and Janet Gleave, and later Anthony Hurley, Kenny and Marion Welsh, and John Wood and Anne Lewis, now Gleave. Charlotte remembers their skill, high standards and ability to lead dancers toward possibilities they could not yet see for themselves.

In those amateur years, the couple also held ordinary jobs. Jens worked for the Royal Danish Embassy in Knightsbridge. Charlotte helped make dance costumes before becoming a personal assistant to a Danish lawyer. Jobs, limited practice evenings and weekends travelling across Europe made for a demanding schedule. Charlotte valued the work for the wider world it opened to her and for the chance to develop an identity beyond being known only as Jens’s partner.

Their results advanced steadily. In 1989 they were Danish Ten Dance champions, second in the Danish Ballroom Championship and fifth in the European Ten Dance Championship. They repeated their Danish Ten Dance title in 1990, when they placed sixth at Blackpool and fifth at the International. In 1991 they won their first Danish Ballroom title and placed fourth at Blackpool. By 1993 they were runners-up at the World Amateur Ballroom Championship, Blackpool and the International, and won the European Amateur Ballroom title. In 1994 they placed second at the UK and European championships and won the World Amateur Ballroom Championship in Denmark.

That world title was the culmination of years together. As professionals later in 1994, they won the Blackpool Professional Rising Star Ballroom Championship and reached the semifinal of the Open Professional Ballroom Championship. They continued to make professional semifinals during the 1994–95 season. Their partnership ended in July 1995, when Jens returned to Denmark and later worked for the Danish Royal Household.

Learning to stand on her own

John Wood then invited Charlotte to perform shows with him. She committed fully to professional dancing so she could travel for performances, despite the uncertainty of earning a living without competing. They worked on show numbers with John Delroy, whose teaching and presence Charlotte remembers with particular warmth. Their engagements included the Japan International Tour and shows elsewhere in Asia and the United States.

Those performances taught her how to carry the right weight within a partnership and how to remain an independent artist while travelling and dancing with someone else.

When John returned to performing with Anne Gleave after the birth of her daughter, Charlotte spent about six months without a partner. She received offers but none felt right. She completed her professional dance examinations in Denmark and continued to work with people who trusted her character and the way she conducted herself.

Finding a shared style with Andrew Sinkinson

Charlotte and Andrew Sinkinson began dancing together in January 1997. Their first months involved learning to work in step with each other. Charlotte admired Andrew so much that she initially placed herself in an inferior position. Gradually she discovered that she could honour the principles he gave her from the start while contributing her own feeling and expression. Together they developed a style that, in her view, showed another side of Andrew’s dancing.

They placed fourth at Blackpool in 1997. At the 1998 UK Championship, Charlotte’s simple black dress and Andrew’s vest instead of a tailcoat caused a stir during the afternoon session.

That year they placed third at Blackpool and won the Japan International Professional Modern Championship. In 1999 they finished second at the UK, Blackpool, European, British and World Professional Ballroom Championships. When she looks back, Charlotte says the dancing has remained in her memory more vividly than the rankings.

After Andrew retired, Charlotte still wanted to compete. She danced for less than a year with Giampiero Giannico after moving to the United States; they made the Blackpool Professional semifinal. She also explored American Smooth with Francesco Flumiani, but that partnership did not continue. She then turned her full attention to teaching.

Teaching, film and television

Charlotte moved to the United States in 2001, living in New York and Los Angeles and later settling in Massachusetts. She developed her teaching through studies of functional anatomy, biomechanics and pedagogy. She is particularly interested in reaching students across differences in gender, culture and upbringing. Film and television work pushed her to communicate beyond specialist dance vocabulary; teaching beginners at the MIT Ballroom Dance Team encouraged a more fact based approach instead of relying only on corrections.

A qualified teacher through the Professional Danish Dancers’ Association, she also earned teaching and adjudicating credentials associated with the World Dance Council. Her international work includes coaching, choreography and adjudicating. In the 2004 film Shall We Dance?, she coached and worked with Richard Gere and appeared as a dancer. She has served on the board and as a spokesperson for Dance 4 Health, which uses ballroom dance and exercise to support children’s health, particularly in relation to obesity and diabetes.

In 2005 Charlotte joined the first season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, partnered with actor and television host John O’Hurley. A schedule that began with two hours of rehearsal twice weekly grew into five to seven hours a day as John became absorbed in dancing. They finished second to Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo in the July finale. After public debate over the result, ABC staged a special dance off in September; Charlotte and John won, and their Waltz earned a perfect score of 30. Charlotte helped bring ballroom dancing into American homes at the beginning of a programme that would greatly expand its audience.

Personal note

I first met Charlotte in person in Denmark in 1999, when we were both lecturing at a congress for Danish dance teachers. She presented the ballroom programme, and I presented Latin. We found time to talk, share perspectives and learn from each other. Charlotte was then at the height of her professional career, runner-up at the major ballroom professional championships, yet what has stayed with me is her warmth and humility. Her knowledge and mastery of movement were extraordinary, as were her respect for others and her love of dancing and people. That meeting remains an unforgettable memory. Charlotte has held a special place in my heart ever since.

A legacy still in motion

Charlotte’s path has taken her from a child drawn to the stage through a painful adolescence, a world amateur title, international professional finals and television, then into the patient work of teaching.

Her husband Nelson Hill witnessed another dimension of that journey in Tokyo in 2010, when she reunited with Andrew Sinkinson for an exhibition. His letter below conveys what their performance meant to him as someone seeing her dance live for the first time.

Land of the Rising Sun

By Nelson Hill, Thursday, 26 August 2010

Ever since my tweens I have had a fascination with Japan and it's culture, and finally, almost 30 years since the dream began I have had the opportunity to experience what had until recently been a shelved dream. I had always anticipated that I would be in Japan as a result of my martial arts interests, but as it turned out...I went there to watch my beautiful wife dance for my very first time.

After having been retired for ten years from competitive ballroom dancing, Charlotte was approached by her former pro partner Andrew Sinkinson, to perform in Japan for a very prestigious exhibition, amongst all the current champions and two other "Legendary" couples, who were to perform to a sold out venue of Ballroom enthusiasts.

I arrived in Japan on Friday the 13th and managed to navigate myself from Narita Airport to the Royal Park Hotel. This was the venue for the ballroom exhibition, and what a venue. A beautiful, luxurious hotel in downtown Tokyo. Charlie was there to greet me upon my arrival, and then I got settled into our room. As you can imagine, I was a little fatigued from the non-stop flight from LAX to Tokyo, but I got showered and changed and went down to see the ballroom taking shape and to meet some of the other people I have heard so much about, for so long. Over the last four years I have met quite a few of the dancers in the ballroom circuit through lessons Charlotte has taught or the competitions she has judged, but had never met the people she competed against in the past or some her favorite people in Japan, and I had yet to see her perform in person....there are plenty of video clips on YouTube.

The couples performed both on Saturday and Sunday evenings, and though Saturday was incredible, and I think the always sharp Gary McDonald said it best with "The crowd didn't have a favorite then..." in his usual tongue and cheek manner, Sunday is when the magic happened.

Clearly, I am not a ballroom expert, but as a layman spectator, I know what I enjoy and what I don't...and in some respects, I and others like me, are the most important viewers the dancers can have. It's easy to please the loyal fans of dancing and the stars that perform them, but not quite as easy to grab the attention of someone who in theory should not recognize good dancing technique from bad and move their Soul. It is with this in mind that I write this note...

All the current competitive pros I have seen dance before, and other than the fact that a lot of them I like as people, most of them, I don't really care one way or the other for how they dance. Standard Ballroom can be quite beautiful, but the all to frequent facial expressions that would challenge the best of my caricature skills, keep me very distracted from the dance or from taking any of it seriously, and the Latin...well, that is a world of it's own. Their concept of what is sexy or seductive is completely lost on me. Love it or hate it, they are all athletes, and deserve the credit and recognition for their commitment to their sport...

I say sport because it is a term the governing bodies are now using to describe this form, but mainly because I find little art left in what is presented on the floor. But as with all realms, be it dance, martial arts, music, painting etc., the minute art becomes competitive...it is no longer an art.

On Sunday the crowd was quite a bit louder than Saturday nights crowd. The familiar term of there being a buzz in the air was very true and I suspect the word had spread about the stellar event on Saturday. The people came ready for something special, and I don't think anyone left disappointed...Regardless of how good the other couples were the people spoke...

When Charlotte and Andrew started their Tango and the signature move was executed, which involved Charlie sprinting and jumping on Andrews back, the house were on their feet cheering!! With every snap of the head, and of course with the fact you couldn't wipe the smile off Charlie's face..the crowd cheered. Evidently this was going to be a lot more than anyone could have anticipated. After that dance, the crowd stayed on their feet chanting and stomping their feet forcing two encores to standing ovations. Charlotte and Andrew were visibly moved and touched by the response.

Luca & Loraine Baricchi, former world champions also had great performances, and a charming Japanese couple were very entertaining, but in the end there was only one memorable performance that evening, and that belonged to Andrew Sinkinson and Charlotte Jorgensen. They performed to Michael Jackson's rendition of "Smile", and it was sublime.

Though Luca and Loraine had yet another performance to dance afterwards to close the event, it was virtually impossible as the crowd kept calling Andrew and Charlotte back. The organizers had them perform 2/3's of the dance again. Everyone had tears flowing down their faces, and joy in their hearts. The show was over...what came after was just mindless entertainment to end the evening.

I think I finally got it...I finally understood what it was that drove Charlotte to pursue, and master the "art" of dancing as she continues to do everyday. As I sat in my chair wiping the unexpected tears from my cheeks, and seeing others who I knew doing the same, I finally understood. These two Souls were dancing amongst a world of competitors, and that allows us the viewers, to be a part of their experience, not just a spectator of other people attempting to impress us with the prowess of dancing. I am now a fan of whatever that was, and I have never been so proud of my wife, nor have I ever wanted to be anyone other than myself before, but Andrew had me green with envy! Quite a chap...

The rest of our visit to the Land of the Rising Sun was filled with wonderful places, flavors and amazing people. Some of them have been a part of Charlie's life since her time spent in Japan all those years ago, and others came along by that lovely anomaly; coincidence. Whether is was the toddler in a push chair making the most incredible eye contact with us during a train ride, or the so generous vintage sword dealer who shared his time, knowledge and confections with us, knowing all too well we were not in the market to buy one at that moment. His swords were truly museum pieces, and very expensive, but his shred time was priceless. Where else can you hold a 450 year old Samurai sword in your hands?! Only in my dreams...

So in returning to LA with my beautiful wife, the trip feels more and more like a dream than ever, specially as we deal with jet lag and the restless nights with our beloved pets wanting all the attention no matter what time it is...but in my heart there will always be Japan, and the night I saw my wife dancing in the light.

You are invited to listen an interview with Charlotte on Spotify - Barbara's Dance Room.