Dance with Strictly’s Karen Hauer!
Strictly star Karen Hauer chats about her new dance and fitness classes, the power of friendship and hopes for a Strictly tour
When Strictly 2020 came to a close in December, professional dancer Karen Hauer admits she felt a bit lost. She’d had an incredible four months on the show and waltzed into the final with her dance partner, Jamie Laing.
“After Strictly finished there was two weeks where Christmas was coming and there was the excitement of that but then everything stopped. I had a few days where I was really down, I was a bit lost and I didn’t know whether to rest or work out. My body and brain were confused! I knew I had a lot of energy but my mind was occupied all the time and suddenly there was nothing,” says Karen.
But she was soon back up and dancing again. She’s recently launched two free exercise classes every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays on her Instagram Live account and through January ran a boot camp every Saturday morning over Zoom video call, where the dancer gave personal advice while exercising with participants.
“It’s about helping people, whether we are in lockdown or not, and trying to keep everyone active,” she explains.
Karen definitely practises what she preaches when it comes to her own exercise regime. As well as her classes she does three 20-minute Hiit (High-Intensity Interval Training) workouts, combining short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise, every day. She has also just bought an exercise bike and tries to avoid eating too much meat, sticking to healthy Mediterranean and fish dishes instead. “I can’t sustain a diet,
I just need to make sure I am eating enough to fuel my workouts!” On a personal note Karen (38) reveals she has split from her partner, opera singer David Webb. They got together in 2018 but they ‘quietly parted ways’ last September.
As the jovial and likeable professional readily admits, it’s the first time she has been on her own for more than five years. Prior to dating David, she was married to former Strictly dancer Kevin Clifton for three years before they went their separate ways in 2018.
Today, Karen says she is pleased to have some space. “I have always been in a relationship,” she confides. “I love
‘Rehearsals for the Strictly tour are due to start in April but we have no idea what the next couple of months are going to be like. All we can do is focus on right now’
that but it is quite nice to take some time to evaluate life and find how to care for myself.
“On a practical note I didn’t realise how much stuff I had at home! I was a hoarder before. I have emptied everything out now and got rid of a lot of things.” She credits fellow Strictly star, Oti Mabuse and her celebrity dance partner, Jamie Laing, for being there
for her over the past few months. “They are my two closest friends,” she explains. “And Jamie is like my brother. We are very protective of each other. He is someone who is really special, who has a really kind heart and who is a true, true friend.”
Karen is hopeful the Strictly professionals will still be able to tour later this year. “So far, we haven’t heard it’s not going on. Our rehearsals start in April and it’s going to be very difficult for us if it doesn’t happen. But we have no idea what the next couple of months are going to be like and all we can do is focus on right now.”
Karen says she also can’t wait to be able to fly back to New York, where her family live, when it’s safe again, though she has no plans to move back.
“It was my mum’s 70th recently and I video called her and my sister,” she says. “It was hard as I miss my family terribly. But I don’t want to move back to New York. I love London and I feel like this is where I started a new chapter in my life.”
■ Karen’s free exercises classes run every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays on her Instagram Live account at 10am; anyone with internet access can join.
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