Lockdown has been alright. We have each other and we can dance
STRICTLY COME DANCING COUPLE ALJAŽ AND JANETTE TELL MARION MCMULLEN HOW THEY ARE ROLLING OUT A GLOBAL RED CARPET
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How have you been coping during lockdown?
Janette Manrara: We have been doing online classes. It’s been really nice for us to be able to teach and dance – (laughs) even if it is in our very small living room.
You kind of get the sense of community because people want to keep moving and keep fit and we need to keep motivated and have little things to look forward to.
I can’t tell you how happy it makes us to see everybody’s faces when they join in the dancing.
Lockdown has been alright. I think we have been lucky in the sense that we were able to do Strictly, we have got each other and we’ve not lost any of our close family or friends to the virus. I think there are many people who have faced worst case scenarios, but we count our blessings. We have each other, we have our home and we can dance.
What have you missed most?
Aljaž Škorjanec: Socialising, seeing friends, seeing family. My family are an hour and a half away in Slovenia and through a normal year we go and see them as much as we can. Whenever we have a weekend off we fly to Slovenia, but I haven’t seen them now in over a year.
We just got our new little niece, Tisa, the new addition to the family. That was lovely but it made it even harder because you want to be there and you want to be a part of it, but because of the virus we can’t so that has been the hardest thing.
Janette: My family are even further away in the States, but I speak to them every day on the phone. We definitely want to go to Slovenia when we can.
Our oldest niece Zala is two years old now and is growing up so fast and normally we would be seeing a lot more of them. Now Tisa, our second niece, has been born I think the desperation to go to Slovenia is bigger than ever so hopefully, with this new rollback, we will have some dates, and we can do that.
Did doing Strictly help, despite having to be in a bubble with your celebrity partners?
Aljaž: Tremendously. Obviously it was different. Seeing so many people sacrifice so much to be a part of the show and every single aspect of it was so thought out.
I mean the lengths they had to go to get the production up and running. It must have so hard. It was special, but hopefully it was just this once and never again. Nonetheless it was a very special season of Strictly and made us realise how much we love what we do. Janette: I was the one who moved out because I told Aljaž it would be too difficult to stay at home on my own and see all of our photos and memories together. I think being away made it easier for me.
It was difficult being apart, but when we are on Strictly we are so busy, there is so much going on, the only days we see each other is in the studio on Friday and Saturday.
Normally I would want to hug him and vice versa, but we couldn’t do that. Hrvy was the dream partner to have on Strictly, so talented and so much fun to be with in rehearsals. I couldn’t be prouder of him.
Your dance special Remembering The Oscars is going to be streamed worldwide. How much work was involved in filming the one hour special?
Aljaž: It took months and months of preparation of making sure every single thing was right. The filming of the actual rehearsals was very quick because of Covid and we were keeping everything in line with the regulations and getting tested regularly.
We had to be very quick with the rehearsal period and the actual recording of it, but the whole project took months of preparation.
Janette: It was a lot of hard labour and a lot of hours, but we got there in the end. We also had a lovely sitdown conversation with Good Morning Britain’s Richard Arnold.
You can get additional extras as part of the streaming and there are behind the scenes footage of how it was all made and Richard asking us loads of questions about the show and our careers.
Aljaž: The camera guys kindly showed us what they were filming and we were both gobsmacked really at the quality of the recording of it.
Who would play you in a film?
Aljaž: (Laughs) I have to think about that one. Someone to portray me that is happy, cheerful, smiley and that can move a bit. I don’t know.
Robert De Niro would be great, a young Robert De Niro, people say we have the same smile. I have that smile were you can’t see the eyes, they disappear, so let’s say Robert De Niro. That would be perfect. Janette: I think for me maybe Natalie Portman because she’s small, she’s brunette and actually in the live show, when we go on tour next year, we do a section on Black Swan; the film that won her the Oscar.
I really like her. She’s smart and talented and I think she looks like me a little bit.
A young Robert De Niro, people say we have the same smile Aljaž on who would play him in a film
Aljaž & Janette star in Remembering the Oscars streaming for a limited three-week season from March 27 to April 17. Go to rememberingtheoscars.com for ticket details.