Peter Ekkart

Ekkart was born in Wilrijk (Antwerp), Belgium, the oldest of three brothers. From age 15 to 16, he was a free student at the full-time ballet School in Antwerp, the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet. The intense training over these years at the ballet school gave him the basics he needed for his further career in Latin and ballroom dancing.

His parents started a dancing school the year before he was born. At first it was a small studio, but it grew over the years. In 1978, his father and mother, John and Mar Ekkart, built a big complex with two ballrooms and a studio, which became the biggest school in Belgium. After his father died in 1981, Peter Ekkart took over the business. In 1998, he added a third ballroom and an upstairs studio to the building. The ballrooms were divided by mobile soundproof walls, and could be transformed into one ballroom of more than 11.300 square feet. Dancing school Ekkart is to date still one of the top dance studios in Europe.

He danced in the Belgian Amateur Federation with two different partners, over a period of three years. He turned professional with the official professional organisation Buldo in 1987, and graduated as fast as the system let him, to the highest level. He received the Fellow degree (the highest degree) in the disciplines of ballroom and Latin dancing. Only four people have this degree in Belgium in both styles, and he was the youngest one ever.

He started dancing with his partner and former wife Sabrine Potiau, and soon made it to the top in all disciplines. In total, they won seven Champion titles over their competing years from 1989 to 1991 (Latin, all round, showdance ballroom, and showdance Latin). They made the final in the European Professional All Round Championship in Berlin in 1988, and finished in fifth place with their tango (ninth place over ten dances). In 1991, the couple split up, and also ended their marriage. From then on, Ekkart started focusing on coaching, judging and teaching.

In 2008 he made his competitive comeback with Ellen Saey, now his spouse. They started dancing after working together on the television show Sterren op de Dansvloer, the Belgian equivalent of Dancing with the Stars (US) or Strictly Come Dancing (UK).

Two years later, they won all seven Belgian Championships in a row, in the ballroom style, from 2010 to 2016.

Peter & Ellen Ekkart participated in all World and European Championships from 2008, and travelled the world. They danced at the Kremlinin Russia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, and almost all European countries. In June 2015, they were placed third at the World Professional Ballroom Championships 40+, in Cervia, Italy. One year later, they moved to second place, and became the vice-world Professional Ballroom Champions 40+. This was the first time in history that a Belgian couple had gained this title.

After visiting the United States, they started learning American smooth dancing. They introduced this style for the first time in Belgian at the National Professional Belgian Congress in May 2016.

One of his most important work known to the public, was his involvement with the Flemish version of 'Dancing With The Stars'.

VTM (Flemish Commercial television) bought the rights for this program in Belgium, and started the Flemish version of the show Sterren Op de Dansvloer in 2006. Band leader Steve Willaert and Musical Television Director Jos Van Oosterwyck asked Ekkart to be a musical advisor before the start of the first season, so they could fine-tune the music for the shows. Steve Willaert asked later Ekkart for advice on several other musical projects.

Furthermore he coordinated the marketing campaign for all the dancing schools in Belgium, together with the television company VTM.

And of course he worked together with his wife Ellen, who was a professional participant at the show for 3 seasons. They made the choreographies for the celebreties for the show.

In the period between his two active dancing careers, Ekkart started working on choreography. He founded a formation team named Café Latino. This group consisted of 25 young Latin dancers, and soon became famous in Belgium and abroad with their special style and different approach to the settled establishment of Latin formation dancing. In their competitive career, the team holds three Belgian titles to their name (1992, 1996 and 1998). They also danced in World and European Championships all over the world, and placed 13th at the World Championships in Tchechie at the top of their career.

In 2006, the Belgian equivalent of Dancing with the Stars (USA) or Strictly Come Dancing (UK) started its first season, and his wife Ellen was one of the participants as a professional dancer. Together, they made the different choreographies for the show, and taught them to Sam Gooris (singer-entertainer), Herbert Flack (actor) and Nico Mattan (cyclist).

Also from that period, Ekkart started teaching and coaching a group of young amateur couples, from within his dancing school.

During his professional career, Ekkart spent a lot of his time teaching people to dance. He developed a method, based on the experience his parents had built, of how to efficiently teach difficult dancing steps to groups, couples and individuals, and also how to very quickly analyse the technical shortcomings of dancers in the Latin and ballroom styles. He used this method in his dancing school. It grew to be the biggest dancing school in Belgium, with a high reputation of quality. More than 16.000 people have taken lessons in dansschool Ekkart over the years.

Ekkart is also an official examiner for forming and educating dance teachers in Belgium. He has given lectures and workshops at congresses, for amateurs, professionals teachers and top dancers.

Due to the his vast experience in different dancing styles (ballroom, Latin, formation, and show dance) he is asked all over the world to judge competitions.

He judged the World Professional Showdance Championship in Germany in 1993, and a lot of national championships in Europe.

He is an official WDC (World Dance Council) judge with a license to judge all over the world.

In 2015, he gave a lecture about adjudicating/judging competitions for an audience of professional judges, on how they can master the difficult job of judging objectively.

• From age 14 to 16, he was selected together with 15 children by the Flemish actor Robert Borremans to participate in a project called Robert Borremans and the Santeboetiek Show. The Flemish National Television Station BRT (now called VRT) casted the group for a weekly program for children: The Wir War Show. A lot of experimental techniques were used in those days for the first time in Belgium, like Blue Key animation and hand puppet techniques. After two years of high ratings, the show was not prolonged due to the high costs.
• In 1991, he organized the European 10 dance Championships in Belgium, which were televised by the Belgian National Television Company (TV1). He produced the show, and worked intensely together with all facets of making the program.
• In 1993, Ekkart convinced the National Television Company (TV1) to broadcast the Cinderella Cup. This prestigious event was an international professional competition, the first of this kind held in Belgium. Couples from all over the world danced for a diamond trophy. This was sponsored by the Antwerp Diamond Industry.
• In 2005, the television company Vitaya made a full episode of the series De job van je leven in Ekkart's dancing school. The solicitation process of a new hip hop teacher for the school was televised, together with the preparation, tests, interviews and results.
• July 2005: Ekkart provided dancers for a movie directed by Robert Groslot, in cooperation with Marc Bogaerts.
• 2005: VRT made a television show, Dans Mondial. Ekkart was the professional choreographer for actors Ann Ceurvels and Ronny Daelman.
• From 2006 to 2011, VTM broadcast the Flemish version of Dancing with the Stars (US) or Strictly Come Dancing (UK). Together with his wife Ellen Ekkart, he made the choreography for the partners of Ellen Ekkart: Sam Gooris, Herbert Flack and Nico Mattan.
• From 2007 to 2009, he coordinated dancers for a stage performance for the television show Zomerhit. He and his wife Ellen Ekkart provided dancers for national artists like Bart Peeters, Clouseau, and international artists as Sister Sledge, Kim Wilde and Melanie C from the Spice Girls.
• In 2007, Humo asked Peter Ekkart to form a dance formation for Humo's pop Poll in the Sportpaleis. The whole show was televised on Canvas.
• 2007: Jan Verheyen was looking for dancers for his movie Vermist, and hired dancers from Ekkart’s school.
• 2014: Frank Focketeyn and Karlijn Sileghem took dance lessons in preparation for the television series Tom & Harry.

Dancing in prison

From 2005 to 2007, the Federal Antwerp Prison asked Ekkart to give dance lessons in the prison to the inmates, and to choreograph a show with the inmates.

Walter Van Beirendonck

In July 1997, Walter Van Beirendonck, the famous Belgian fashion designer of the Antwerp Six, asked Ekkart to collaborate with his fashion show for his 1998 summer collection in Paris. He needed 70 dancers, dressed in futuric evening costumes, and green gas masks and long green rubber gloves, to dance the final show number for an audience of 3.000 fashion people and reporters. Peter Ekkart did the choreography, coordinated the act, and also participated as a dancer.

Wim Vandekeybus

For an audition for his show in 2015, Wim Vandekeybus had to choose from 600 dancers coming from all parts of the world. He hired Peter and Ellen Ekkart to give a session in ballroom dancing, so he could see how quickly dancers picked up this style. The fusion of contemporary dance, ballet and ballroom gave a special mix, which Vandekeybus can use in the near future.

Ekkart has a big interest in dance music.

Because of the many poor quality albums delivered on the ballroom dancing market, he started to look for musicians and artists to create a better dancing experience.

Danny Wuyts

From 1996 to 1998, Ekkart worked together with Danny Wuyts (artist name Bodane). This versatile artist had all the capacities to make a good balance between cost and quality. Ekkart and Wuyts worked together to find the perfect songs, brought in top musicians to play the lead instruments, using Danny's wide voice range for the lead and backing vocals for all the songs, and recorded their first CD. In search of a music distributor, Ekkart found that the company Dancelife was looking for new talent, and was interested in selling a CD especially made for ballroom dancing schools. The CD was an instant hit with the Belgium and Dutch dancing public, and soon also in the international field of dancing. Following this success, three CDs in total were made, the first and second in cooperation with Peter Ekkart, and the third produced only by Danny Wuyts. Today, the music from the albums is still used in major dance competitions worldwide.

After the sell-out of the three CDs, Dancelife put the catalogue on iTunes, where the music is still bought today.

Gery's Big Band

Ekkart understood the extra dimension that live music gave to dancers during their performance, so he looked further to provide live music during big organizations in Belgium. He found an existing band called Gery's Big Band, built around the musician Gery Liekens. His band gave the perfect base to try out lots of tracks and music, suitable to support ballroom dancing competitions. After rehearsals and tryouts, Gery's Big Band was ready to play at the official All Round Ballroom Dancing Championships in the early 1990s. Twenty years later, they made contact again, and started working again on a whole new and more defined playlist for competitions. Gery's Big Band now has an impressive playlist off almost 100 songs, perfectly suitable for high ranked competitions. They were asked for several competitions again from 2013, and played in 2015 at the Benelux championships.

Dancing With The Stars

VTM (Flemish Commercial television) bought the rights for this program in Belgium, and started the Flemish version of the show Sterren Op de Dansvloer in 2006. Band leader Steve Willaert and Musical Television Director Jos Van Oosterwyck asked Ekkart to be a musical advisor before the start of the first season, so they could fine-tune the music for the shows. Steve Willaert asked later Ekkart for advice on several other musical projects.

The Ballroom Orchestra

Wim Jansegers had the idea of touring the Flemish cultural centers with authentic ballroom music. He looked for professional musicians and singers, and for an advisor in the ballroom dancing world. That contact was soon found, and Peter Ekkart was attracted as a musical advisor, and as the show couple with his wife and partner Ellen Ekkart.

They named the band The Ballroom Orchestra. One of the band members, Peter van Woensel, also participated in the making of the dance music CDs, and Ekkart asked him to join the band.

The show included the participation of the public, where musicians, dancers and public interact with each other. The show toured for two years in 2013 and 2014, and played in all major cities in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. The highlight was three concerts in the authentic hall The Romain Antwerp.

Peter Ekkart was married to Sabrine Potiau from 1982 to 1991; they divorced. They had two children, Joyce and Mike.

He married his partner Ellen Ekkart-Saey in 2001. Together they have a son named Idriz.