It’s a kind of MAGIC
MARION McMULLEN CHATS TO REAL LIFE STRICTLY COME DANCING COUPLE NADIYA BYCHKOVA AND KAI WIDDRINGTON ABOUT THEIR NEW TOUR
What was it like dancing with Angela Rippon on the last series of Strictly Come Dancing?
Kai: They don’t make them like her anymore. She’s one of kind. We got on like a house on fire. She’s just such a lovely person to be around with that infectious energy.
You can get a lot of partners and sometimes it can feel a little flat, but I never ever felt that from her. It was always like ‘Morning’ and she was ready to dance, ready to rehearse and she was just a joy to be around.
She is a bit of a legend but I didn’t really know that when I first danced with her. She’s also get three letters after her name, but I think it needs to be Angela Rippon CBE “The Leg”.
She’s the oldest competitor who has ever been on Strictly by a country mile. She’s going to be 80 in October, and you saw what she could do. There was no potion that made her dance like that. She looks after herself, she has a healthy lifestyle and she doesn’t binge eat, she doesn’t drink coffee just water and tea.
She’s excited to come and see our tour and see us dance.
How would you describe your new tour Nadiya & Kai: Behind The Magic?
Nadiya: We want to lift the curtain and let the audience in to see what’s happening on a movie set or a TV show, to catch a rare insider’s glimpse into how all ‘the magic’ comes together. It can be more exciting than the things you see on stage.
It’s a challenging thing to do, but being a very creative person I love the challenge.
We are hoping it is going to be an amazing show. I loved every number on our first tour Once Upon A Time last year but being Marilyn Monroe was very special. I got to sing a little bit and it was another challenge. She was very special and a very talented artist. She was a person who changed so many things in the industry.
I’m going to be living some of my childhood dreams in the new tour as well. Kai: The reason I started dancing was because of Mr Michael Jackson. We did Elvis last year and that was a childhood dream come true – childhood, teenage and adult dream come true – and I didn’t need much persuasion to do Michael Jackson this time either. I would say 99.9 % of dancers have seen Michael Jackson, listened to his music and gone ‘Oh, my gawd’. He was revolutionary. They say in the music industry there are two times – before Thriller and after Thriller.
This is not going to be a tribute to Michael Jackson but it’s going to be very carefully done and seamlessly put in throughout the show. Nadiya: (Laughs) Don’t give it away. It’s more fun than you can imagine putting it together. It started last year after we finished the first tour. I gave myself a couple of weeks and then we sat down and started writing ideas. I’m thinking about the dresses now, the colours.
It takes a lot, but it motivates me, excites me and gives me energy. It’s so special. Even when I’m having a sauna, I am thinking about which dress would work for a number. My brain does not stop working, but that is what I love to do.
What do you enjoy most about touring?
Kai: You can get tours made for you where you are not part of the creative process even though you’re very much the star of the show, but the creative process is the part that we love.
When we go out and put the finished product out it’s, well, the best analogy is you can order a takeaway which tastes lovely and is beautiful or you can spend time cooking a meal and putting in the spices and herbs and everything and you’ve created it.
You’ve made it your own from zero and that makes it that more special.
Nadiya: It was amazing the reaction from the audience last time and we absolutely loved doing it. It was a dream for us creating our first tour together. It was wonderful and we had an incredible team with us as well.
We wanted to tell a story and the feedback was amazing and now (laughs) here we go again.
Kai: “It’s that feeling when you walk on stage and everything falls into place.
You learn a lot and you learn how to chat to an audience. I remember Anton (Du Beke) telling me one time ‘You’re only as funny as your last joke.’ It’s very important to get that bit just right.
There are a lot of elements. We are not just dancing. We are talking, we are maybe singing, maybe playing an instrument so there are lots of different dynamics there. Everyone learned a lot last year and we’ll be taking that experience into this tour.
■ Nadiya & Kai: Behind The Magic tours from June 1. Visit nadiyaandkai.com for tour dates and ticket information