Everyone can dance if they put their heart and soul into it
And the Oscar goes to... MARION McMULLEN talks to Strictly Come Dancing’s Janette Manrara about rolling out the red carpet with husband Aljaž Škorjanec
Your new tour is called Remembering The Oscars. What are your own memories of the Academy Awards?
I DANCED at the 2010 Academy Awards when Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were the hosts and I came down on a big chandelier.
It was quite an experience. Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman and Sandra Bullock were there, but we were not allowed to take any photos.
The Oscars are the red carpet event of the year and that’s what we want to celebrate on our tour. After all, everyone knows about the Oscars. It’s watched all over the world.
You began the year with the Strictly Come Dancing Tour. How have you managed to fit everything in?
IT’S a pretty busy schedule, but I’m so excited. I’ve done the live tour and now it’s straight into rehearsals for Remembering The Oscars.
I partnered Strictly winner Kelvin Fletcher on tour. He’s such a nice guy and an amazing dancer and I also did the Christmas show with Mark Wright.
You make friends with your dance partner, you create a bond. I’m friends with Mark and am in touch with my last dance partner Will (British Paralympic table tennis champion Will Bayley).
Will is such an inspirational guy. To have gone through everything that he has gone through and then to also do Strictly, well, it was quite a privilege to partner him.
He really inspires people.
Can anyone learn to dance?
I THINK everyone can dance if they really put their heart and soul into it.
Everyone is completely different and everyone is certainly different when it comes to learning dance steps. You just have to find the best way to teach them.
How did your love of dance begin growing up in Florida?
I DID musical theatre when I was 12 and by the time I was 18 I was doing dance too.
One of the teachers said ‘you’re quite good, you should do this professionally’ and here I am. I was studying finance and, if dancing had not come along, I would have gone into banking. Now it’s all dancing.
What have been some of your career highlights?
BEING on Strictly Come Dancing is a big career highlight for me as was dancing with Will last year. It’s a great platform for dancing because so many people watch Strictly.
When Will and I performed our contemporary routine it was such a huge highlight for me, as was dancing at the BBC Proms with Aljaž in front of a 75-piece orchestra.
I love dancing with my husband and that was amazing.
Do you see much of each other when you are both working on Strictly Come Dancing?
NOT really. We wake up in the morning, have coffee, and then it’s back to it.
We don’t really spend a lot of time together during the week and at the weekend we are running around with our celebrities and fitting in hair and make-up and wardrobe fittings. We don’t get to dance with each other a lot of the time on the show so it’s nice when we can go on tour and dance.
I do jazz and contemporary and Aljaž does ballroom.
(Laughs) Obviously there are height restrictions and he can’t always do ballroom with me, but it’s nice to dance with my husband.
Has it been difficult choosing the Oscar songs for the tour?
THERE are hundreds and hundreds, so many great Oscar-winning songs. We’ve had lots and lots on our lists.
We want to have the best songs in the show and we are still choosing.
I’m a huge Disney fan and last year we didn’t do a Disney film on tour so I would really like to do a Disney section.
(Laughs) I’m going to push for that this year and there’s going to be a lot of glamour.
How would you describe the show?
I CAN tell you right now that Remembering The Oscars will be our biggest and most ambitious production to date.
We have handpicked an incredible cast, we have some great material to work with, and we have quite a few surprises.
The Oscar-winning movies, songs and actors that have inspired us will take this tour to another level and it is one that we know our audiences are going to love. To say Aljaž and I are excited about this tour is a HUGE understatement.
What audiences come to see the show?
IT’S a family show and we have children, grandparents, husbands and wives and lots of teenagers as well. There really is something for everyone in our show.
We are both really close to our families and so providing family entertainment that people can enjoy is important to us. We want to bring a bit of sparkle to everyone.
How do you plan to relax after the tour?
(LAUGHS) I’m going to stay home on my couch. There’s been a lot of touring and it will be nice to just stay at home for a while.
■ The 36-date Remembering The Oscars tour runs from March
22. Go to rememberingthe oscars.com for tour dates and ticket details.