Strictly Prom BBC Proms

Come in, this is going to be so exciting. Tonight, for the first

time, Strictly Come Dancing is coming to the Proms.

I have so many amazing memories of Strictly but until I started

rehearsing a few weeks ago, I had not done stay step since the show

finished last December. We will have glitter and glamour in abundance

tonight, and lots of amazing music, as we showcase the jewels of the

dance music repertoire. OK, it's time for me to get dressed. I'll see

you on the other side! Ladies and gentlemen,

our fantastic dancers and the spectacular BBC

Concert Orchestra with their With a fabulous foxtrot and all

the razzmatazz of Jules Styne's And welcome, everyone,

to the Royal Albert Hall for our very special Strictly Prom,

where everything's definitely From passionate paso dobles

to wonderful waltzes, tonight we're going to explore

how dance has inspired composers to create some

extraordinary orchestral music. Frankly, the Proms has never seen

anything like this. The glitter ball is here.

APPLAUSE And perhaps a few moves

from our audience here And I hope those of you listening

and watching at home won't be Because, as some of you might know,

last year I made it to the finals I know, I still can't really

believe it happened either. There was joy, there was pain,

there was? Anton. There was joy, there was pain,

there was... But since then all those sequin-y

dresses have been gathering dust in the wardrobe - I have to tell

you, they didn't really So I'm pretty sure I'm

the luckiest person in the room. Because tonight I'm

going to get another go. is devastated he can't

make it tonight. It's nothing I said -

but it is his birthday! And happily the amazing

Aljaz Skorjanec has bravely volunteered to be my Proms

dancing partner instead. Right now, let's hear

from our brilliant orchestra again, as they take us on a musical merry

go round, with Richard Rogers' That was Erik Satie's

oh-so-graceful Gymnopedie no.1, I bet you're still floating

somewhere up in the roof. But down here on the ground with me

are two of the dancers who we just saw performing that exquisite slow

waltz - my lovely friends Giovanni Pernice and his

partner Joanne Clifton. Hi, beautiful. And this is why we

loved Giovanni. He was a dancing here? An amazing feeling. Especially

for us, love dancing. When you dance in an amazing theatre like this, it

is fantastic, really fantastic. And Jo, I know this is not the first

time you have danced at the Royal Albert Hall but slightly different

circumstances. Every year they hold a ballroom competition in here,

which I competed in for many years and it has always been a favourite

place of mind to dance, because it is just so magical, but being on

this stage tonight in front of all you guys, and this wonderful

orchestra, it is just taking it to a whole new level. And we are

delighted that you are here. Thank you both.

A chance for the orchestra to take centre stage again now

to play our next piece, Georges Bizet's 'Farandole'

In it, Bizet brilliantly captures all the exuberant energy

and whirling excitement of a community knees-up.

This is dance music that takes you by the hand and says,

Time to stick on our spats now, let our hair down and head off

A dance craze named after a town in South Carolina, is sweeping

It's been banned from some cities for being just Too Darn Hot.

But the flappers and their young beaus don't give a fig!

It's high tempo, high energy, high jinx - toes in,

After excitement in New York, what about a waltz in Vienna?

The Viennese took the classic English slow waltz, turned up

the speed and added some extra helpings of glamour.

Chandeliers, elegant ball gowns - my younger daughter

calls the Viennese Waltz the 'Enchanted' dance.

I just loved performing it on Strictly, and it was the dance

that took Anton and me to the top of the leader board for one

Bruno Tonioli, I was, "spinning around like a Catherine Wheel

of fire!" And I have to tell you, I hung on to Anton for dear life.

That's because our dance ended with some of those swirling,

We finished our routine with a dizzying 13 of them,

which was incredible, and a bit of a surprise,

I had that voice in my ear saying, don't stop until I tell you to stop.

Keep going. But before Aljaz helps me

to relive the moment, let's hear a piece by Johann Strauss

the second, a man known in his own lifetime

as 'The Waltz King'. And with over 500 of them

under his belt, he'd Here is the BBC Concert Orchestra

to play his beautiful That was Richard Rodney Bennett's

sumptuous music to 'Murder We heard the overture

and then that lavish waltz, gradually gathering its own head

of steam, as the train pulls away. And before that, I danced

the Viennese Waltz with Which is a bit of luck, because we

have some music next. 'Malambo', one of his four

dances from 'Estancia', The malambo is usually

a combative men-only dance, originally performed by rival

Argentinian cattle ranchers. And you can just hear the posturing

in Ginastera's music, all fuelled They're also going to add

in a little Spanish flavour as they perform a paso doble -

a proud dance, inspired by the marches and spectacle

of the bullring, full of flamenco So get ready for a musical

stand-off, a dramatic dance off and a great

send-off to our first half. To play 'Malambo', please

welcome again the brilliant BBC Concert Orchestra

with their conductor, Before we carry on with park two of

the concert, we are going to find out what it's like to be onstage

creating the music. Here is Gavin Sutherland and cut the lean back

some of the -- and some of the orchestra to tell us more. I am

Gavin Sutherland and I have the best job in the world. Ultimately, you

were waving a piece of wood around, and yet 75 people make sound as a

result of that. And how fast or slow you move it dictates how fast or

slow the orchestra play. This concert combines two my great love

this, music and dance. Being a conductor, my mind is doing hundreds

of thousands of calculations all the time. For a dance piece, it is doing

twice the amount. My eyes will always be on the stage. Or, in the

case of the Royal Albert Hall, behind me because the dancers are in

front of the orchestra. As a result, I am to be my neck muscles going all

night. Meanwhile, all the time I am keeping the bat ongoing and keeping

the orchestra in check. -- the baton going. We are all in this together.

Gavin is the link between the orchestra and the dancers. The most

important thing he has to provide us with is the upbeat. It is literally

an upward move followed by the downbeat, because it lets us know

the speed that the piece is going to go flat. My eyes have to be with the

dancers. I have to be able to read their bodies. Some have very fast

feet, some have beautiful, fluid arms, and some have great dramatic

sense. And I have to be able to make sure that the music will be

supportive of them. In a normal concert performance, the conductor

can really live for the moment and if they wanted to take off at some

point, they can do that knowing that the orchestra will come with them

and it will be terrifically exciting or it will fall flat on its face.

With dance, you don't have that levity. We have to be incredibly

disciplined. The pressure is making sure we get it right, making sure

that we give the dancers what they need. If you consider that normally

in orchestral music the percussion section comes in from time to time,

punctuating the high moments and the quiet, subtle moments, in this prom

we are generally the engine room, providing that rhythmic energy which

is so essential to the dancers. Who could resist dancing to that? I will

personally be trying to bring a little bit of Brazil back into the

Royal Alberto Lora with me for the prom. -- Royal Albert Hall. What has

been developed over the last two months is the most fantastically

exciting exploration of the relationship between music and

dance. What is not to like?! Welcome back to the second half

of our very special Strictly Prom! That was the Mazurka and Waltz

from Khachaturian's rambunctious And before that, opening the second

half, I danced a quick step - - with Aljaz to Harry Warren's

Broadway bonanza hit, '42nd Street'. Gavin, I heard you were spotted

having a little dance yourself Why do I suddenly feel like Craig is

in the room? I wonder how many extra hours

rehearsal you'll get Well, to help the orchestra patch

things up, perhaps we should shift into a more amorous mode,

with a dance of love - the rumba! To perform the rumba,

as I discovered, you've got to try and leave your inhibitions

at the door as you step Here are Aljaz and Janette to show

us how it is done. This is John Barry's poignant theme

to the film 'Somewhere in Time'. Ladies and gentlemen...

Not a dry eye in the house, guys. That was just exquisite, it really

was. Before we go any further, thank you for being my partner tonight.

Thank you. I think Katie was absolutely brilliant tonight. I

don't mind stepping in Anton's shoes. I think I will do it more

often. Be afraid. Be very afraid! It is quite a change of pace, doing the

quickstep and then the Rumba. It is, but as you said, the Rumba is a

dance of love, and to do it with someone you are in love with is very

special. APPLAUSE

Too sweet! Also, this is one of the most special places to dance, and

with this incredible orchestra, it's just amazing. And thank you to

everyone for clapping. Janette, does it make a difference dancing this

kind of slow, intimate dance in front of an orchestra like this? It

is passionate and romantic, and it feels like it is just the two of you

in a room. To dance it in this hall with the orchestra gives Rumba a

completely different light, and we really enjoyed it. Honestly, they

are incredible, and tonight is incredible. Thank you also much for

coming. We loved dancing that. -- thank you, all, so much. Aljaz and

Janette, thank you so much. It is too much, isn't it? Too much.

Let's turn the temperature up a few notches now

to sizzling for a fiery dance, full of drama.

Let's turn the temperature up a few notches now

to sizzling for a fiery dance, full of drama.

Performed with those famous bent knees, head flicks and staccato

movements, the tango's got to be gutsy, it's got to be red hot.

As Len says, it's got to snap, crackle and pop.

It's 'Libertango' by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.

A fusion of two words, 'libertad' - Spanish

And that's what Piazzolla was all about.

He fused the tango tradition that was in his blood with classical

and jazz influences to create new orchestral colours and set

So is the dance, performed for us tonight by Giovanni and Joanne,

as the BBC Concert Orchestra play Piazzolla's 'Libertango'.

You are probably lucky you didn't see it.

No wonder that song, Aquarelo do Brasil by Ary Barroso,

And before that, we heard the magical Grand Pas de Deux

Beside me here are the dazzling Kevin and Karen Clifton.

APPLAUSE Getting their breath

back here on stage, Anton said to me at the start of

Strictly, we are going to swerve that one. You and me, doing a samba?

No good will come of that! I think he was probably right. What is the

secret, Karen? The secret is not to have a dress malfunction. I was

like, what is that hitting me? Most of the time it is about smiling and

moving your feet really quickly. If you do both at the same time, people

get confused and don't know where to look. And that is the samba! Ladies

and gentlemen, don't believe a word of that!

Kevin, this is such a special night for me.

Is it special for you to dance here, at the Proms?

It is. We were sat at home last year watching the Proms, and we said to

each other, we must go some year. The atmosphere looks incredible.

APPLAUSE We had this incredible opportunity,

all of a sudden, to be right in the middle of it amongst all of you guys

and to dance with this orchestra. It is just a dream come true for us. It

is all about dreams the night. Thank you very much, Kevin and Karen

Clifton! Here's a question:

Why do we dance? To exorcise the ghost of dead

husband who's haunting you? That's what one poor,

tormented widow is up to in our next This is her electrifying

Ritual Fire Dance. Being out here with my glad rags

and heels on, getting to dance alongside these - well,

to me they're other-worldly I hope you've had fun too

and enjoyed seeing how some composers have been inspired

by ballroom and Latin dance. Let's be honest, we've only just

dipped our well-pointed toes in the water, really - but do keep

on exploring all this And I hope you'll dabble in some

dancing as well as the orchestra send us on our way tonight

with an upbeat, uplifting, When you're ready, let's face

the music and dance! Everyone, please thank our

incredible dancers - And Aljaz Skorjanec

and Janette Manara! and sensational musicians,

the BBC Concert Orchestra and their Thank you all so much for coming,

and remember, keep dancing!