Bio
Eksteen Traut is a South African dancer specialising in Latin best known for partnering Judith Sephuma on the fifth season of the SABC2 reality dance competition Strictly Come Dancing, in 2008.
Eksteen started dancing at the age of 9 and became a South African champion in Freestyle (slow dance, hustle, couples, hip-hop and rock & roll) and Latin American dancing.
He attended the Beverley Hammond and Dave Campbell Dance Schools and also trained with Lillian Phororo and Tyrone Watkins. He was honoured to represent South Africa in the world Latin championships in Singapore.
At the age of 18 Eksteen moved to the UK and later Australia to further his competitive career. He achieved excellent results in the Blackpool Latin Competition (highest placed South African in the youth under 21 section).
Eksteen recently returned to South Africa and danced in One night Only for Harold van Buuren. He was delighted to be part of the Saturday Night Fever production that ended its run at the beginning of June.
Strictly Come Dancing
Eksteen was the professional dance coach and partner to Afro-Jazz singer Judith Sephuma in the fifth season of SABC2's Strictly Come Dancing reality competition, in 2008.
The first two weeks of the competition were non-elimination rounds, with the judges scoring dances by the male celebrities in Week 1 and the female celebrities in Week 2.
In Episode 3 - the first elimination episode - Eksteen and Judith performed the Rumba, scoring 20/40 from the judges, which placed them in a tie for second-last place with Lebo "Shugasmakx" Mothibe and his partner Seipati Nthoesane.
After the round of viewer voting they were placed in the bottom two and had to perform in a dance-off with Shugasmakx and Seipati. The judges voted unanimously to save Judith, and Shugasmakx and Seipati were sent home.
In Episode 4 Judith and Eksteen performed a James Bond-inspired Tango but were criticised for poor timing, scoring 23/40, which tied them in last place with Gugu Zulu and Hayley Bennett.
After viewer voting the same two couples ended up in the dance-off.
The judges were split in their decision as to which celebrity to save - Salome Sechele voted to keep Judith on the show, but she was outnumbered by Tyrone Watkins, Dave Campbell and Lilian Phororo, who all voted to keep Gugu in the competition.
Eksteen and Judith thus became the second couple to be eliminated from the show, on Thursday 23 October 2008.
STRICTLY COME DANCING 5 GALLERY
