‘It’s helped me get through a difficult period’
◆ As the heartwarming Dare To Dance returns, Amy Dowden tells Abi Jackson how she carried on filming during cancer treatment – with a little help from friends
Amy Dowden says she is “truly grateful” she was able to carry on with TV work while going through cancer, as it gave her “something to get up for” every day. The Welsh Strictly Come Dancing pro, 33, had begun making Series Two of Dare To Dance – in which she coaches non-dancers in a routine to surprise family and friends – when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer last May.
“We started filming just before my cancer diagnosis. So I’m like fully meeting the contributors, I’d taught them their first lesson and first steps, and then, unfortunately, I got the diagnosis. But we continued to film right until my mastectomy [last June],” says Dowden. “And then two weeks after my mastectomy, I was back – I couldn’t dance myself, but I could still instruct – and we got the series done before I started chemo. So I was very much involved, far more than I thought, and it really, really helped.”
Caerphilly-born Dowden, who joined Strictly in 2017, found a lump in her breast just before going on honeymoon with her husband, fellow pro dancer Ben Jones, last April. Being able to carry on working kept her connected to a sense of “normality”, she says.
“I’m just truly grateful, and it’s been the tonic that I needed. You know, my normality – I think had I had all that taken away from me, I would have really struggled.
“And Dare To Dance is full of what I love most – teaching, dancing, choreographing. It took me away from my reality, I guess, and I’m just super grateful. And I hope that I can represent to anyone else going through any health battles that you can continue, you don’t have to have your identity completely stripped away from you.”
Following the same format as the first series, which aired in January 2023, it features people from across Wales who all have their own important reasons for wanting to dance. These include two friends preparing to dance at a Windrush Day celebration, a young woman who stopped dancing when her confidence plummeted due to sight-loss, and a couple who brought their wedding forward due to their own cancer diagnosis.
In a surprise twist this time, when Dowden needed a break from filming due to treatment, her Strictly colleagues stepped in to help.
“We called upon the help of my brilliant Strictly friends – Diane Buswell, Carlos Gu, Graziano Di Prima, Oti Mabuse – so the contributors didn’t miss out. And actually, I think it really added to the show because they got to pick up tips from them and build their confidence up from them,” explains Dowden.
“It just shows what a family we truly all are. I called them up and Diane, who I think finished one job the night before, got straight in the car down to help me – all of them did. We spoke on Facetime during the sessions. They were a massive help, and it was a lovely surprise as well for the contributors.”
Dowden adds: “Obviously I’d just started this wonderful series, I would have been gutted if it couldn’t have continued – and not for myself but for the contributors, because I’ve just turned up at their house and surprised them and told them they’re going to get this amazing experience. I would have hated to have had to take that away from them or postpone it. Imagine rocking up for Debbie and Chris [the couple going through cancer] and surprising them when they’re having their prewedding photoshoot, telling them I’m going to teach you to dance for your wedding day and then actually saying: ‘Oh, I can’t now.’ I’d have been heartbroken and gutted for them, because they couldn’t postpone their wedding because of me. So I’m just so grateful we were able to continue and give them all those magical moments.”
Dowden “learned so much from the contributors” too – and while the purpose of the show was for her to help them, they ended up helping her: “We become really close, like a family. When you’re doing something as intensive this, it’s important for the team to create that special bond. And honestly, it’s what helped me get through such a difficult period in my life.”
Dowden, who also lives with the lifelong inflammatory bowel condition Crohn’s disease, faced further health complications as 2023 went on, including life-threating side-effects from the cancer treatment, blood clots and sepsis.
The dancer, who shares regular updates about her health on Instagram, uses her experiences to raise awareness. People regularly stop to speak with her while she’s out and about and tell her what a difference it has made to them. “It’s been really overwhelming, just so lovely,” says Dowden. “I often get people say, ‘we just want to give you a hug’ or wish you well, or very often it’s [sharing] their journey or somebody they love, because I think everybody knows somebody affected by cancer. It’s just been really heartwarming.
“I’ve even had people come up and say: ‘Because of you Amy, I check my chest now’ – and that was the whole reason for me going public, because I never thought at 32 I would get diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ve even had people messaging me online to say, because of me, they found a lump and went to their GP and unfortunately have been diagnosed, but they still thank me because if it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t have known, and dread to think what the outcome could have been.”