Johannes Radebe

Johannes Radebe is a South African dancer and choreographer, best known for his starring role in the primetime BBC series, Strictly Come Dancing. Having been a passionate dancer since the age of 11, Johannes has gained many opportunities throughout his career to showcase his abilities and has become highly respected within the entertainment industry. Openly identifying as gay, he often raises awareness of homophobia and many other issues that the LGBT community face, and the importance of eliminating hate and discrimination within society.

Having attended dance lessons with his sister from a young age, Johannes was quickly offered dance training in Gauteng province to develop his natural ability. Showcasing his ability, he began competing in dance completions and before long, became the Professional South African Latin Championship winner twice and the Amateur Latin South African Champions three times. With years of training behind him, Johannes was able to take his dancing dream professional and gained the opportunity to appear on South Africa’s version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2014. After gaining great success from the show, he was able to gain more experience performing live on television on Dancing with the Stars in 2018, before being announced as a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing later that year.

After not being assigned a partner in his first year on the show, Johannes took to the stage with his partner Catherine Tyldesley in series 17 and finished in 11^th place with an average score of 25.5. During his third year on the show, Johannes broke partnership stereotypes and was placed in the first male same-sex partnership on the show with John Whaite. Having finished in second place behind Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice, they took a stand against stereotyping on national television, and he is greatly respected throughout the LGBT community for being open about his sexuality on the show.

When Johannes is not dancing himself, he is found sharing his talents and industry knowledge as a Choreographer. As a renowned dancer, he was provided with the opportunity to choreograph the West-End themed ‘Rusical’ on RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK Vs the World. As a talented performer, Jahannes Radebe has become highly sought after as both a dance act and a diversity and inclusion speaker. Having been victim to vast amounts of homophobia and inequality throughout his lifetime, he is now looking to ensure he can educate a wider audience on the importance of a change being implemented to ensure the LGBT community can work and live comfortably within society without having to fight stereotyping.