Shirley Ballas

Shirley Ballas is a British ballroom dancer, dance teacher and television personality. She is the head judge on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, one of the most popular programmes on British television. Known as the "Queen of Latin" for her outstanding competitive career in Latin dance, she won numerous world championships before retiring from competition and moving into teaching and television. Behind the Sequins is her memoir, telling the story of her journey from a working-class childhood in Wallasey to the pinnacle of the dance world and a prime-time television career. The book is candid about the sacrifices, personal struggles and determination that lay behind the glamour, including her experiences of domestic abuse and the loss of her brother. Available as both a book and an audiobook, Behind the Sequins offers moving and inspiring listening and reading for Strictly fans and anyone who appreciates stories about resilience, reinvention and the courage to keep dancing through life's hardest moments.