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Carmen Vincelj was born in 1972 in Stuttgart, Germany and began dancing at the late age of 17 attending the Weib Schwarz in Pforzheim. In 1991 at the age of 19, Carmen partnered with Carsen Krause in Amateur Latin representing Germany, winning the German National Championships. The dancing duo split in January 1993.
In January 1994 Carmen partnered with Sandro Cavallini where the couple placed second at the German Open Championships in Mannheim in August 1994, achieving the same result the following year. Carmen and Sandro reached second place at the UK Open in 1996 as well as becoming runners up at the Goldstadtpokal IDSF International Latin Championships in Pforzheim, Germany. The couple then decided to part ways which led to Carmen taking the next step by turning Professional.
Carmen started dancing with Allan Tornsberg in March 1996, studying under Donnie Burns and together won the German Open Championships the following year in 1997, also winning the WDC World Professional South American Showdance in Sveningene, Netherlands. In 1999 Carmen and Allan competed in their final competition together at the UK Open Championships placing 3rd, then ending their 3 year partnership. |
In March of 1999 Carmen started her successful dancing partnership with world-renowned dancer Bryan Watson, representing Germany.
We met at a later stage in our dancing career, we were both finalists but Bryan was ahead of me results-wise. We were both established dancers and had the same dance teachers but our dancing journeys were very different. We needed to find some sort of common ground that we could hook onto and to start with, it was very difficult.'
Our success really depended a lot on our intellect at that moment in time, for example when we started dancing there were a lot of issues with connection, so we decided we would partner side by side. We did the whole choreography side by side for the first Blackpool and it was a nightmare! We came third. Hazel Fletcher wrote “this couple did way too much side to side” and we were like yes we know, because we can’t do anything together yet lol! We did progress and we spent more time discussing connections and altered the choreography as we went along. We even took some time out of competitions and shows as we felt we needed more inspiration. Our intellect was needed at different moments and phases in our dancing career, which really helped us to be where we are today and have the success that we did. The advice our teachers gave us at the right times also played a huge part.’ - Bryan
When we got together we knew each other very well but it wasn’t the case of he is the best dancer for you, I generally liked Bryan as a person. There was a personal and mental connection that was so much more than “he is the right physique for you”. - Carmen
‘And you can’t teach personal connection’ - Bryan
Bryan and Carmen’s first competition was in 1999 at the British Open Championships and their greatest achievement was winning the Professional Latin at the Blackpool Dance Festival in 2007, for the seventh time. From 1999 to 2007 Bryan and Carmen were the champions in all tournaments and competitions becoming nine times Professional Latin World Champions.
At the peak of their career, Bryan and Carmen mutually decided to retire in the Spring of 2007, putting their focus and energy into non-competitive dancing. Their last competition together was at the Blackpool Dance Festival.
To this day Carmen focuses on workshops and lectures and works with the Blackpool Congress. In 2010 Carmen was the choreographer for the first episode of So You Think You Can Dance.
Bryan and Carmen continue to live in Wimbledon and teach in Croydon at Mattico Dance Studios. They give regular Latin masterclasses and tutorials online SOULM8S along with Allan Tornsberg & Vibeke Toft, Hans Galke & Bianka Schreiber.