Following on from the national televised final of Strictly Come Dancing streamed on the BBC in December, Craig Revel Horwood directed and produced Strictly Come Dancing Live. The show consisted of a number of performances and dances from the stars of the show such as the overall winner Stacey Dooley who performed with Aljaž Škorjanec.
Series 16 of Strictly Come Dancing began in September of 2018 and ran until the week before Christmas where in the final show they crowned the winner. Originally starting with fifteen couples each week a couple would depart leaving the four top couples in the final; Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev, Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice, Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell and Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton.
Ashley, Faye, Joe and Stacey all performed on the tour as well as other stars of the show; Graeme Swann, Lauren Steadman and Dr Ranj Singh. Not all professional partners were able to accompany them such as Oti Mabuse who held the role as a judge on the BBC show ‘The Greatest Dancer’ and Kevin Clifton who was touring in Rock of Ages. However the couple’s were also accompanied by seven professional dancers such as Amy Dowden and Graziano Di Prima.
Beginning in Birmingham in January they completed 29 tour dates ultimately finishing in the O2 Arena London in February. Hosted by the 2016 winner - Ore Oduba - the audience were in for an enjoyable ride of a night (with the added excitement of being taught dance by the infamous four judges). For readers who have not watched the national competition the four judges consist of; Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli. Throughout the production each judge had their showcase moment where they could fuel the audience with their talent such as Craig dancing on a table and Bruno Tonioli singing ‘Americano’.
The show began with a group dance with all cast members and each couple performed two dances with an interval between their first and second dances. After the first half , each couple had performed once and the live vote was opened up for each audience member to vote on their phone for their favourite to win the night’s performance. Once all of the shows had finished, the Director - Craig Revel Horwood - gave the winner of the tour the renowned glitter ball trophy - this was Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell who achieved 28 out of 29 tour wins.
However, not everything on tour went smoothly for example although Joe Sugg won nearly every show they suffered a mishap on one evening when he accidentally dropped Diane whilst undertaking a lift to their showdance number ‘I bet you look good on the dancefloor’. Nevertheless, being professionals they quickly ignored this and carried on dancing pretending that nothing had happened. Darcey Bussell stated that they “recovered incredibly well” and still had “brilliant neat footwork” and a “clean top line”, Bruno agreed saying that they “rocked the number” and “rocked the O2”. Both the judges ultimately gave the couple scores of 9 out of 10.
The show ended with a finale with all four judges and celebrities dancing on stage with a mashup of dancing themed songs such as ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Boogie Wonderland’.
The Telegraph described the evening as “a night of tantalising extras and just a little drama”, as well as Manchester Evening News stating that the tour was “a stunning visual spectacle” consisting of “beautiful dancing to stunning costumes”. A member of the audience who I interviewed named Miranda agreed with this view, describing the show as an “unforgettable series of performances” which “were a joy to watch”. She exclaims that she “cannot wait to go again next year” as it was an “amazing feel good show for a strictly fan”.
