When we dance together things happen that feel really amazing
Real-life Strictly couple Nadiya Bychkova and Kai Widdrington tell MARION McMULLEN about their sparkling partnership and new UK tour
You fell in love working on Strictly Come Dancing and are now touring together in your own show Once Upon a Time. What makes the perfect dance partner?
Kai: It’s one of those things you can’t really describe. You just know. Nadiya: You feel it and it can be incredible. We have very different backgrounds, different dance schools but, if you look at it from a technical perspective, we complement each other really well. I think it’s a beautiful thing – English style mixed with international style. We just connect really well. The feeling is there, the chemistry is there.
Kai: When we dance together things happen that feel really, really amazing. We had the idea that maybe we could take this on the road and then on Strictly we danced for [Welsh Hollywood star] Luke Evans when he was singing and it got a lot of reaction and people were saying ‘Oh, my gosh, you two would be great in a show together’.
From that moment, it felt like we should probably go for it.
Has Strictly Come Dancing changed your lives?
Kai: Absolutely. Strictly is the pinnacle. Both of us have won world titles – Nadiya has won two – but Strictly gives us the platform to go on tour and for people to want and come to see you. It’s a double whammy because we get to do what we want to do at this stage and people get the chance to see us in the flesh and not just on the TV.
We are very lucky and very privileged to be in that position but, at the same time, we have worked our socks off to get to were we are. Nadiya: I think people will get to know us a little bit more if they come and see the live shows. I’ve been on Strictly for six years and it looks beautiful and glamorous and easy doing what we love with an amazing production behind us. People need to know that if you dream deep then dreams do come true... but you do need to work really hard and you do need to want it. Each year I am on Strictly I understand more how big the show is and how loved it is.
It brings families together and every year I fall in love with the show more and feel more grateful to be on it.
Kai: I did the Strictly tour, performing before 9,000 and 10,000 people a night, and you think ‘Gosh, these are the people who pick up the phone and vote’. You can’t really prepare yourself for that level of recognition.
What does the Once Upon A Time tour mean for you?
Nadiya: It’s my dream come true. It’s something’s I’ve always personally wanted to do. It’s the next big step for any performer to have their own show and we are very lucky to do it together.
It is a lot of pressure, but also very exciting because we get to put so much of ourselves into it. It is our first tour, but we want it to be the
best possible, the best we can do. There’s pressure, but we work best under pressure.
Kai: (Laughs) We are going to be dancing as if we are Fred [Astaire} and Ginger [Rogers]. We have a lot of musical influences in our life that have helped us.
We have a few musical numbers in the show like your Elvis Presleys, your Michael Jacksons, and big power ballads as well like Celine Dion and there are a few oldies in there as well that we want to do for the vintage ballroom dances as well. There’s a big variety and quite literally something for everyone in the show.
What was it like for you Kai appearing on Britain’s Got Talent in 2012?
Kai: I started dancing when I was seven and when I did Britain’s Got Talent I had just won a world championship six months before so I was at the height of my focus on dance. Britain’s Got Talent was, in my head, a little something on the side that might help.
Obviously now, in hindsight, opportunities came with that. I really started focusing on dance when I was 12. I had a professional football contract offered to me from Southampton and I had the championship of the world dance and I had to do one or the other and I knew it would be my career. Something inside of me, a little Billy Elliot moment, was saying ‘I think I need to be a dancer’. I loved it a little bit more than I loved football. That’s when it clicked for me.
How do you find the energy to do everything?
Kai (Laughs): Lots of coffee. No, the fuel comes from the passion of doing what we love to do. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it’s true. Not many people get so excited to get up and go to work in the morning.
What’s the first thing you pack for such a big tour?
Nadiya: Dresses. There’s going to be a lot of suitcases on tour.
Kai: Comfy clothes. That’s what I’ll be wearing. There is a lot of travelling, and an iPad will be packed as well to watch on the journeys.
Nadiya & Kai: Once Upon A Time is at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, on April 4. See nadiyaandkai.com