Shirley Ballas is a British ballroom dancer, teacher and adjudicator. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles earning her the nickname, "The Queen of Latin." Shirley was first married to, and competed with, fellow Briton Sammy Stopford

Sammy Stopford

Sammy Stopford is a professional ballroom dancer and teacher, and winner of the Professional International Latin American Dance Championship in 1993....

. They came 2nd in the 1982, 1983 & 1985 Professional World Latin Dance Championships. The pair won the 1983 International Latin American Dance Championship, and were the 1984 UK Open Champions in Professional Latin.

Later, she married Corky Ballas

Corky Ballas

Mark Alexander "Corky" Ballas, Sr. is a retired competitive ballroom dancer who holds several Latin dance championship titles.He has one son, Mark Ballas, with former wife and partner Shirley Ballas...

. Together they won the International Latin American Dance Champions

International Latin American Dance Champions

The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by Dance News special events...

hip for 1995, at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 in London. They met at a Latin competition in Montreal, Quebec. The pair moved to Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 to compete in the USA. Their first and only child, Mark Ballas

Mark Ballas

Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. is an American dancer.Ballas is a professional ballroom dancer on the ABC program Dancing with the Stars. He began competing on the show in the fall of 2007. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography in 2011...

, of Dancing With the Stars

Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...

fame, was born in 1986. Before his birth, his parents thought he would be a girl, and picked the name Amy for him. This would later lead to Mark naming his rock band Almost Amy.

Ms Ballas, divorced, is now resident again in the UK.