Strictly stars ready to Burn the Floor at New Theatre Oxford

Burn the Floor sees the Strictly champion in action with fellow professionals, Italian heart-throb Graziano Di Prima and South African mover Johannes Radebe.

Having been on Strictly for six years, Kevin has reached the final an impressive five times, finally scooping the coveted glitter-ball trophy last year with his celebrity partner, Stacey Dooley.

Just a couple of months after playing the venue with musical Rock of Ages, the dancer is back at the New theatre tomorrow (Friday) with Burn the Floor – a riot of romantic waltz, futuristic foxtrot, passionate tango, sensuous samba and irresistible rumba, featuring a cast of 20 – 14 dancers, two vocalists, and four musicians.

“Burn the Floor is the show that ignited a spark in me and changed me forever as a performer,” says. Kevin, who credits the long-running show with igniting his passion for ballroom.

“In the Ballroom world I grew up watching Jason Gilkison and Peta Roby who created Burn the Floor,” he says. “I was also very inspired by performers I saw on TV such as Michael Jackson, Fred Astaire, and Robbie Williams who is my all time idol. Later in life I almost gave up dancing, but was then re-inspired again after watching Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands.”

So why has he been drawn back to the show?

“I think you never really leave BTF. It becomes a way of life. It’s a relentless show that is really hard work, but also gives you a feeling, when you are completely in the zone of a flat out BTF performance, that I’ve never found elsewhere. I’m addicted to it and I feel it has had more influence on my dancing than anything else I’ve ever been involved in.”

Graziano agrees: “Burn the Floor is where everything begins!” he says. “It is where I grow from a dancer to a performer! My second family.”

And, they say, the show is influential and inspirational.

“It pushes the boundaries of what we can achieve with Ballroom dancing,” Kevin says. “It’s so much more than wearing sparkly shirts and dancing the competition style. It’s years ahead of most ballroom dancing I see and is constantly seeking to improve and explore where we can take our style.”

He adds: “The show feels like home to me. It’s where I feel safest to express myself and explore new things in my dancing. It’s a family that I belong to and a very special place where the most interesting ballroom dancers in the world live.

"Dance is the original art form. Before speech or anything else we express ourselves through movement in our body language. It has the capacity to express things which words cannot."

Graziano concurs: “In Burn the Floor you are free to express the joy of dancing, in the competition you are judged based on a technical skill. In Burn the Floor you become an artist in all it’s aspects. It is the biggest Ballroom company, very inspirational to all ballroom dancers and a reference to all new ballroom companies.

“It means I can express myself in a very high quality dance standard.”

“I’m looking forward to being pushed to my limits again and connecting with a new cast of characters and learning from them,” says Kevin.

Graziano nods. “For me there are three things essentially that I’m looking for,” he says. “First enjoying sharing the stage with the other dancers, second having good feelings with my dance partners, and third giving and receiving a positive feedback from the audience.

"Dance for me is everything.

"Is not just a job, I enjoy every minute of it!"

Burn the Floor is at the New Theatre Oxford tonight. atgtickets.com