OK for J & A

the opposite. I’d go to see him an hour before we went on and I’d be, like: “Jake, wake up!” He was so relaxed he’d be sleeping. He has the most phenomenal memory – so many actors can learn steps in minutes. And actors love to do homework, they’ll do research on a dance. Jake would ask for names of male dancers he could watch on YouTube. Helen George [the Call the Midwife actress with whom Aljaz was partnered last year] was the same. She would always ask for homework.’

Aljaz and Janette met seven years ago when they starred in the dance act Burn the Floor, which toured worldwide. It was several years before Aljaz asked Janette out. ‘I thought he was amazing from the moment I saw him because I fell in love with the way he danced,’ says Janette. ‘Our first date was in a Mexican restaurant in Malibu. We have lived together since. We have never had a single row.’

Their backgrounds could not be more different. Aljaz comes from a tight-knit family in rural Slovenia. His father Srecko built their house himself. Aljaz grew up with his younger sister Lara (now a dance teacher), eating food that his mother Natasa grew on their small allotment. Aljaz talks about home a lot and on his phone has photos of his mother’s garden and of him and Janette with his family. ‘If I have a few days off, I’ll often fly home to see them, to sleep in my bedroom, eat tomatoes,’ he says.

Aged five, he enrolled in dance class. ‘The boys went to play football, the girls went to dance – I followed the girls,’ he says. By the age of six, he was competing and joined the best dance school in the country – the dance studio Fredidance – which was two hours away by train. ‘Three times a week I would leave school at 2pm and practise from 4pm to 9.30pm. Then we would do a public performance and I’d get home at 1am. For the first FAVOURITE BRITISH CUSTOM J Tea. I have a cup before bed. A Reading the news. PREFERRED JUDGE? J I have a soft spot for Craig Revel Horwood. He is cruel but always right. A They all work perfectly together but Len Goodman is the iconic judge. HOW DO YOU RELAX? J Massages and cleaning the house. Give me a bottle of Windolene and I’m happy. A I watch boxsets such as or with pistachios and fruit. TELL US A SECRET J Between us we speak Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Spanish. A On I only fake tan from my waist upwards. YOUR MOTTO? J ‘To err is human, to forgive divine.’ A ‘The shortcut is the longest way’: I have it tattooed on my arm. BEST STRICTLY MOMENT? J We had just got engaged and I wore a white dress to dance with Aljaz as Andrea Bocelli sang. It was a perfect moment. A The same for me. Better than winning the glitterball. TIPS FOR DANCERS? J Sandpaper your dance shoes so you don’t slip. A For men, wear a lot of cologne and remember to clean your teeth. four years, my mum and dad came with me; by the age of ten I was doing this on my own.’

At school, he was bullied for being ‘gay’ because he danced. ‘I didn’t really make friends,’ he says. ‘Kids just say what they think to your face. I don’t blame them for it. What I was doing wasn’t exactly normal.’

But however tough school was, the competitive dance world was riven by petty jealousies and in-fighting. Aljaz won the Slovenian championship 19 times, but hated the bitchy atmosphere. ‘The good thing was I got to travel to so many countries. I always loved England. I decided to leave the competition world and try dancing for a living.’ At 19, he joined Burn the Floor. ‘I loved it, but I missed my home so much,’ he says. ‘I used to cry because I missed my sister and my parents. But I loved to dance and everything changed for me.’

Janette started dancing professionally when she was 24. Her parents Luis and Maritza are Cuban and fled to the US when Fidel Castro came to power. Janette is the eldest of three and focused on doing well for her family. She studied finance and, by the time she was 24, was the Aljaz and Janette perform for an audience of fans assistant manager of the Northern Trust’s national loan division.

‘I had a great job and a nice boyfriend, but I wasn’t happy,’ she says. ‘I’d danced as a kid and I took lessons in the evenings and on my days off. Dancing was my outlet. I told a friend I wanted to meet a tall, dark, handsome man from Europe who could dance.

‘I’d learn the competition dances but I was too old to compete. My teacher told me to follow my heart and dance. I had never taken a risk in my life, but my parents fully supported me and my boss told me they would hold my job open if I changed my mind. I flew to Los Angeles and auditioned for TV dance shows and pop tours. It was really scary. My savings ran out pretty quickly. I got a lot of rejections and I knew no one there. Then I was given a chance on So You Think You Can Dance [in 2008] and my life changed.’

Janette and Aljaz are aware of the precarious nature of their profession and are thinking about the future. They would love to present a children’s dance show. Do they want children of their own?

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