Strictly’s longest-serving dancer, Karen Hauer, quits show after 14 years

Strictly Come Dancing’s longest-serving female professional dancer, Karen Hauer, has quit the show after 14 years.In a video posted on Instagram, Hauer said it was “the right time to close this chapter and take on new projects in other areas I’m passionate about”.She continued: “Strictly completely changed my life, not only as a performer and a teacher but as a human being. I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many incredible people and brilliant celebrity partners who have become close friends and people I admire so much.”Hauer said she would “even miss standing in front of the judges. Can you believe that? Smiling politely while sometimes secretly disagreeing. It’s been an honour to share the ballroom with them”.Thanking her fans, she said: “I’m so grateful you watched me grow over the years and witnessed all of my different hair styles.”The Venezuelan-born dancer, who moved to New York City at the age of eight, became tearful as she said: “Who would have thought that a young girl from The Bronx would end up becoming the longest-serving female professional dancer on a British TV institution.“Strictly, will always be in my heart. I love you all.”Hauer first hit TV screens when she auditioned for the US reality show So You Think You Can Dance in 2009. She came to the UK in 2010, with the Latin stage show Burn the Floor, and made her first appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, where she met its former host Bruce Forsyth and the Strictly judge Len Goodman, whom she called “incredible legends”.She was first paired with the Westlife singer Nicky Byrne and they reached the quarter-finals. Two years later, she made it to the finals with The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright and, in 2019, she came second in the competition with Jamie Laing, who gained fame after appearing in Made in Chelsea.Hauer won a scholarship to the Martha Graham school of contemporary dance at nine years old, where she studied for 10 years. In an interview with the Guardian, she said dancing became an escape, especially when her mother was working and Hauer did not want to be home alone.“It was hard, as a kid, to know what I was feeling. Dancing gave me a way to express myself and release energy. I didn’t want to let my mom down so I always tried to be the good girl, but I could be emotional through my dancing.”