A ‘Strictly’ Amazing Experience
Text – Lindy Sinclair
It was a Tuesday. Morning break at work. As I checked my emails my eye was caught by the address of a sender – Woman & Home Magazine. I was intrigued.
Two years previously, Vicki and Fredric – our Dancerite Principals – had been contacted by the magazine and asked if they had any female dance students that fitted a very specific profile.
Over 50, danced with their partner or husband, been dancing for around 4 years and were totally in love with dance.
As the only Dancerite student that fitted that profile at the time, Vicki and Fredric asked if I’d like to do a phone interview with the magazine. That morphed into a photo shoot and interview which culminated in an article in which Carl and I appeared, with a few other dancers, in the November 2013 issue. A feature story which linked directly to the start of the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ season.
I opened this latest email swiftly to discover that Carl and I were being invited back to the Rivoli Ballroom in London for a photo and video shoot.
The difference this time was that it was just to be myself and Carl and that we would be joined by two ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professionals – Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec.
We were told that we’d be dancing a Waltz with Janette and Aljaz and that there would also be a dance ‘lesson’, both of which would be filmed and available on-line to Woman & Home readers.
Our levels of excitement, and nerves, increased and we booked an extra dance lesson with Vicki and Fredric just to ensure that we were able to produce our best Waltz on the day!
During the train journey to London we checked and rechecked that we’d packed our ballroom dance shoes and reread the ‘meet and greet’ instructions we’d been given.
At Waterloo we found a cab with our name on it and were whisked off to the amazing Rivoli Ballroom – a must to visit if you’ve not already been. It’s the only intact 1950’s ballroom in London, famed for its original décor and interior fittings and is so beautiful to dance in.
After meeting the camera and video crew we were hurried into ‘hair and make-up’ to be ‘re-styled’ by Charlie and Chase.
Janette and Aljaz arrived about midday and were both really friendly, keen to know which dance school we belonged to and what kind of steps we knew.
Faye, the Woman & Home wardrobe mistress, had chosen a selection of DSI and Chrisanne practice and competition wear for us all and Janette and I had a lovely time looking at each ballroom dress in turn to find the ones we preferred.
Aljaz, Lindy, Carl and Jeanette at W&H photo shoot
Janette was really delighted to find that her favourite dress from last season’s ‘Strictly’ was there, just waiting for her to discover. A great start!
Carl’s clothes for the shoot were equally gorgeous – he settled on a beautiful ‘tails’ suit for the main video shoot and looked every inch the part.
After a buffet lunch we began our ‘lesson’ with Janette and Aljaz. This was filmed and would be edited and packaged as a short, online ‘Learn to Dance’ video, available to Woman & Home readers on the W & H website. Janette and Aljaz showed us some funky ‘non-syllabus’ steps which we’d watched them use on ‘Strictly’, so it was pure fun having the chance to try them out.
Then it was time for a fast wardrobe change for us all, with hair and make-up restyles for Janette and myself to ensure that we were ready for the main video shoot.
“Great” we thought. “The extra Waltz lesson we’d had with Vicki and Fredric would help us to sail through this part of the day”.
Imagine our faces as the first notes of the specially sourced music began and we realised that it was going to be a VIENNESE Waltz rather than the expected more traditional Waltz! We were so thankful that, even though we’d never danced the Viennese in a competition, Vicki and Fredric had had the forethought to teach it during our group dance sessions from time to time. Whew!
The ‘story’, we were told, for the video was that, initially, Janette and Carl would dance as a couple and I would dance with Aljaz. Halfway through the dance Carl would tap Aljaz on the shoulder – as in a ‘gentleman’s excuse me’ – and replace him as my partner. Aljaz would then dance with Janette. All went perfectly. Well almost!
Our pre-record practice session highlighted that a few tweaks were needed: In order to better match Janette’s stride length, the long strides that had become second nature to Carl when dancing with either Vicki or myself had to be reduced by half, as Janette is so slightly built. I found that I really did need to stretch out of my body to cope with Aljaz’s extensive ‘top line’.
We received lots of encouragement, advice and coaching from both Aljaz and Janette whilst we practiced though and this really helped our confidence.
Disaster struck as we were shooting the video for real! The bottom of Carl’s trousers, which had been shortened by about 30cm (12 “) using a temporary adjustment especially for the shoot, began to fall down. It meant that he was in danger of skating across the floor as the bottom of his trouser legs became trapped under his shoes. He had two key thoughts: “I must keep my top line” and “the show must go on”!
I was having my own problems as Aljaz and I went into a fleckerl – “was it ‘one step in front and two behind or the other way around”?
Thankfully, Janette kindly re-pinned Carl’s trouser bottoms so that they were once again the correct length whilst Aljaz refreshed my memory regarding fleckerls. How we laughed!
By this time it was early evening and, shoot completed, we decided that a nearby pub would make an excellent venue for completing the interviews.
Carl and I were interviewed separately and asked for our impressions of the day and our thoughts regarding Janette and Aljaz. We then said huge and heartfelt thanks and goodbyes to everyone involved in making it such a special and memorable experience, climbed into the back of a limousine and headed for a lovely little Italian bistro just off Covent Garden where we ate, drank and chuckled as we reminisced about our fabulous day.
None of this could have happened without the amazing patience and professional expertise of our wonderful dance teachers – Vicki & Fredric Frennessen. We couldn’t dance a step before we met them and we owe all of our dance expertise to them.
If you’re wondering whether learning to dance is really for you then stop wondering and start dancing!
To take a peek at the two videos made on the day:
‘How to Dance – Aljaz and Janette’s Expert Tips’ and ‘Lindy & Carl take to the floor with ‘Strictly’s’ Aljaz and Janette’ – go to womanandhome.com/strictly
