Famous Dance Diva Once Known As ‘Queen of Latin,’ Is Now Mark's Mom

Well known as "Mark's mom," Shirley Ballas has now been considered as one of the leading dancers and choreographers in the world. Despite her most recent fame in the superlative dancing show "Dancing with the Stars," Shirley was earlier better known as the reigning "Queen of Latin" for her constant success in the dancing field. In a recent conversation, Shirley stated that in the current days she enjoys training young talents to prepare them for various dance shows and titles rather than dancing by herself.

According to Herald Tribune, the currently divorced dancing queen began her dancing career when she was only 7. By the age of 11, she began doing tours by bus and trains by her own self to compete with an amateur partner chosen for her by the highly respected teacher Margaret Redmond. She was such a champion that at the age of 15 only she got the opportunity to perform with British ballroom champion Nigel Tiffany. Later, at 18, she tied the knot of partnership with Sammy Stopford, the magnetic Latin ballroom dancer. During that time, they almost broke all the records in their respective dance genre and took over all the majestic titles.

Later, the successful partnership broke up and she moved to Texas, taking up the profession of dance and ballroom teacher. At the contemporary timeline, she met with Corky Ballas, one of her students at the time, who eventually became her husband in 1985. Mark Ballas, who is now famously known for being associated with the major dancing show, is the child of Shirley and Corky Ballas, as per a report by PR Newswire. Corky and she, after being associated with one another as partners, later won their first title together, within a year of him being the student of Shirley.

The continuously remain the champion for next 8 years. The record made them one of the most successful Latin American dancing champions in U.S. history. Divorced from Corky later, She now considers her life "married" to dance. At present, she contributes most of her time and focuses on training people to be perfect in dancing.