Karen Hardy is a British professional ballroom dancer, coach, teacher and adjudicator. In 1998 she won the professional International Latin American Dance Championship with Bryan Watson. She also won the United Kingdom Open, British National, European and World Masters championships. She now runs a dance studio at Imperial Wharf, London.
She is best known for being a professional dancer Strictly Come Dancing from 2005 to 2009 and as a regular contributor to It Takes Two she has filled in for some of the judges on The Strictly Live Tour.
She started dancing aged five in her home town of Bournemouth, and competed in the United States for two years from the age of 18 winning both East and West Coast amateur championship titles. She returned to the UK in 1990 after two years in America where she teamed up with new partner Mark Lunn. It only took 6 months before they broke into the finals worldwide, representing England.