‘Dancing Queens’: Meet the Women Facing off in Bravo Ballroom Competition (PHOTOS)
If you love to dance, there’s another show to add to your watchlist.
Bravo is bringing to television screens six bold and talented women to the dance floor facing off in ballroom competitions across the country in the new docuseries Dancing Queens. It will premiere on Tuesday, May 9 at 9/8c.
This docuseries follows Colette Marotto, Donie Burch, Gaëlle Benchetrit, Leonie Biggs, Pooja Mehta, and Sabrina Strasser as they invest time and money into their all-consuming passion to vie for the top spots, respect, and recognition in the world of Pro-Am dance competitions. Pro-Am combines amateur dancers competing with professional partners. The amateur dancers are highly skilled and spend tens of thousands of dollars on their hair, makeup, outfits, and the expenses for the professional partners to practice, travel, and compete.
Watch the sneak peek below to see what they go through on and off the dance floor, what they’ll do to win, and more.
Dancing Queens is produced by Sharp Entertainment, with Matt Sharp, Dan Adler, Amy Bonezzi, and Danielle Medina serving as executive producers. Regan Watford serves as co-executive producer.
Scroll down to meet the Dancing Queens and read their bios — you’ll find out who had her pro partner leave her to compete with another of the women and who’s in a contentious on-again, off-again relationship with her partner.
Dancing Queens, Series Premiere, Tuesday, May 9, 9/8c, Bravo
Colette Marotto (Scottsdale, AZ)
As a business owner and single mother to a son with special needs, Colette has a lot of stress in her life and dancing allows her to focus on herself and forget her responsibilities. Recently, her pro dance partner left her to compete with Pooja, forcing her to find a new pro, Oleksiy “Alex” Pigotskyy, and start from scratch. Her ballroom breakup created tension between the women and lit a fire within Colette to be even more successful to prove to her former pro that she can win without him.
Donie Burch (New York, NY)
Donie has been dancing her entire life and studied dance performance in college. This top performer and her partner, Iliah Vinikovskiy, are determined to show the judges that she’s one of the best dancers in the country. While she may not have a “typical” dancer’s physique, Donie fears the judges are rating her appearance more than her ability. Currently single, Donnie’s obsession with dance leaves her little room for finding a partner off the floor.
Gaëlle Benchetrit (New York, NY)
Gaëlle was making a name for herself in the ballroom circuit before her recent pregnancy forced her into a hiatus. Now back on the dance floor, she’s eager to prove that she’s better than ever. Sparing no expense, her partner, Nino Langella, is one of the top professional dancers in the world and the envy of the other women.
Leonie Biggs (Haworth, NJ)
Leonie is a perfectionist who doesn’t like to take on anything unless she can be the best at it. With a full plate, she balances life as a wife and mother with her high-powered career in finance. This dance season, Leonie has a new pro partner, Koysta Samarskyi, which adds stress, doubt and additional hours of practicing before she feels ready to compete. Fiercely competitive in nature, she feels the pressure to be a championship ballroom dancer and beat out the other ladies to earn the coveted first place.
Pooja Mehta (Scottsdale, AZ)
A self-described rebel from a family of doctors, Pooja is a makeup artist with a successful beauty business. She and her husband are raising their two children with a mix of Jewish and Hindu traditions. Dancing is a family affair – Pooja and her mother and sister all dance with Colette’s ex-pro partner, Kristijan Burazer. Previously a champion in the rhythm category, she recently switched to Latin to compete alongside her family and prove that she can succeed in their category too.
Sabrina Strasser (Toronto, Canada)
Stay-at-home mom Sabrina finds herself at odds between her dancing and family life. In a contentious on-again, off-again relationship with her pro dancer, Stanislav Kochergin, the two are back together, and Sabrina is ready to claim the top prize. Her drive to win demands her time and energy – sometimes at the expense of her children and husband, who fears that Sabrina’s hobby takes attention away from their life at home.
