Helene Spilling (born 17 April 1996) is a Norwegian professional dancer and television personality. As a competitive dancer, she won the Norwegian dance championship 17 times, including the NM (Norwegian Championship) in the Latin and 10-dance categories, and represented Norway in the European and World Championships. She is best known for being a professional dancer in Skal vi danse, the Norwegian edition of Dancing with the Stars, since 2020.^[1]

Early life

Helene Spilling^[2] was born on 17 April 1996^[3] in Gjerdrum,^[4] to Anne Stenseth Spilling and business developer Pieter Spilling.^[5] Her eyes were opened to dance when, at a young age, she would watch Skal vi danse at home.^[6] Spilling began to dance at the age of 12, progressing quickly as she showcased her potential. ^[7] Before deciding to pursue a career in dance, she also had an interest in gymnastics and excelled in many other sports.^[8]

Competitive dance career and time in Lithuania

In 2011, Spilling danced competitively for the first time with Christian Skibsrud, whom she initially had to persuade to start dancing. They won the NM in Latin and 10-dance. The following year, they competed in the U19 category and won a gold medal in ballroom dancing. Between 2013 and 2017, Spilling won twelve NM titles in the U19, U21 and adult classes with Jonas Pettersen.^{[9] [10]} In total, she would go on to secure 17 gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals from the NM. She also won the Kongepokal.^[11] In 2017, Spilling moved to Lithuania alone to venture further with a new dance partner, Dominykas Granskas, who hailed from the country. Representing Norway, she competed in both European and world tournaments, and in 2018 became the Northern European Champion in standard dance. In addition to this, Spilling also contested in the Latin and 10-dance categories, and made it to the quarter-finals in Grand Slam competitions. ^[12] Spilling and Granskas were honoured at the 2019 "Dance Awards" in Norway, hosted by the country's dance association, Norges Danseforbund. They received the "Duo of the Year" prize, after competing for the Lillestrøm-based dance school LSKdans. ^[13] After two and a half years in Lithuania, she returned to Norway. Spilling has since candidly spoken about her personal struggles while abroad, revealing she battled with depression and eating disorders. She recalled, "It was scary to leave all my family and friends to go to a place where I didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language. There weren't many people there who spoke English either, so it was demanding." She added that while she did have her dance partner at the time, they had many disputes and found it difficult to agree on what a partnership should be. "There was a two-year period where I wasn't doing well, but I chose to ignore it and thought, 'I'm going to make this happen. It will get better.' But it never did. It just affected my own mental health." She suppressed her emotions, unaware of the implications of doing so. In spite of this, Spilling was determined to continue achieving adequate results in dance. Slowly, she began to eat less, developing an eating disorder in the process. "I noticed that I was able to do that, and it gave me a sense of mastery. It wasn't until later that I understood what I was dealing with was an eating disorder," she admitted. Spilling returned to Gjerdrum for a brief visit in late 2019, and simultaneously opened up about what she was going through. Her family insisted that moving back home would be the best option, which was something Spilling was reluctant to do. "For me, who was so invested in dance and wanted to be the best, it was much more difficult to realise that it was the best choice."^[14][15][16]

Skal vi danse

In 2020, Spilling received an offer to be one of the professional dancers in the forthcoming season of Skal vi danse. In her debut season, she partnered television personality Nate Kahungu. Halfway through the season, there was some controversy as the pair lost in a dance duel against Michael Andreassen and Ewa Trela and were forced to return home, but viewers contacted the broadcaster TV 2 saying that they were no longer able to vote. TV 2 investigated the problem and found that there had been a system overload which caused many votes to not be submitted. Thus, Spilling and Kahungu were allowed to return and continued to impress the judges.^[17] They made it to the final, but missed out to physicist Andreas Wahl and Mai Mentzoni.^[18][19][20]

In her second season, she and sports journalist Simon Nitsche impressed throughout their Skal vi danse campaign, and would go on to earn themselves a place in the final. They would receive a perfect score for all three of their dances in the final and were later crowned the 2021 winners, defeating skier Magnus Moan and Ewa Trela.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

In the 2022 Skal vi danse: All Stars season, Spilling was paired with former swimmer Aleksander Hetland, who had won the 2019 edition of the competition.^[26] Skal vi danse: All Stars only featured participants and professional dancers who had all taken part in Skal vi danse at some point, with many of them having previously made it far in the competition. ^[27] Spilling and Hetland were considered favourites before the season was underway, but had to settle for third place after a dance duel against fitness influencer Jørgine Massa Vasstrand and Santino Mirenna.^[28][29][30]

In the 2023 season of Skal vi danse, Spilling was partnered with stylist Harlem Alexander. ^[31] The pair impressed the judges and viewers alike, but would have to contest in a dance duel against heavy favourites Alexandra Joner and Ole Thomas Hansen in the quarter-final and were subsequently eliminated from the competition after the viewers' votes were added up.^[32][33] Many viewers believed it shouldn't have been possible for these pairs to be involved in a dance duel against each other so early in the competition, and the decision was met with a lot of criticism. ^[34]

Other television appearances

Current projects

Spilling currently runs her own dance studio in Oslo called The Zone Dance Studio. In 2021, she was given a temporary lease to run the studio that was used by Skal vi danse participants in the previous season. However, the building was set to be demolished, so the search for a new and permanent premises began. Spilling decided on an office building located in Torshov, and with the assistance of the Skal vi danse production it was converted into a spacious and functional dance studio.^[54] It has since also served as the place for Skal vi danse participants to train and practice.^[55][56]

She is also the founder of the dancewear brand DAVAY. The inspiration for the name comes from her stay in Lithuania, where it was a commonly used Russian phrase in dance training.^[57]

Personal life

Spilling is currently in a relationship with the Norwegian footballer Martin Ødegaard.^{[58] [59]} She is close friends with Paralympic athlete Birgit Skarstein, with the pair having met on Skal vi danse in 2020.^[60][61]

Spilling has one older sister.^[62] She is the granddaughter of the late Internet pioneer Pål Spilling.^[63]

References