Strictly Come Dancing stars Janette Manrara and Aljaž Škorjanec have announced a 46-date UK tour of their theatre show Remembering Fred.

I spoke to Aljaž ahead of their show at the Watford Colosseum on May 19…

Watford Observer:

(Photgrapher Fiona White)

As professional dancers, what does Fred Astaire mean to you?

Fred Astaire has always been my inspiration. He was a pure perfectionist, and to think that it was 80 to 90 years ago is incredible.

It doesn’t really matter what level of dancing you are at, he’s always inspirational. He was the first star who brought dancing to mainstream film, so all of us who are working as dancers today should really be thankful to him.

In a funny way, without Fred Astaire Strictly Coming Dancing probably wouldn’t exist.

What were your personal highlights to the success of the debut Remembering Fred tour?

My highlight was seeing so much of this beautiful country and sharing the stage with Janette, dancing our hearts out night after night. The response we received from the audiences was incredible every single night. We played some incredible theatres, but the London Palladium was definitely one of the highlights as our families were in the audience. It was the first tour we did after four years of being on Strictly, so doing it again means we will have those beautiful moments to look forward to again. In addition, we are going to add to the production, so I think it’s going to be another great tour.

Did your parents make sacrifices in order for you to dance and get dance lessons?

Absolutely. I have been extremely thankful to my parents from the day I started dancing.

They have been so supportive of me. I definitely wouldn’t be doing Strictly Come Dancing or Remembering Fred - or any tours - if it wasn’t for them believing in me. Nothing comes without the support of people that you love. It was so important to have that throughout my childhood, especially coming from a little country like Slovenia.

Never in a million years did I imagine dancing was going to take me where I am today.

Fred Astaire’s last dance partner Barrie Chase came to your show in Blackpool. What was it like having her there?

I can’t actually describe the emotion. We were very excited and nervous for the first night. We wanted to do a great job. We knew we’d put together a great show, so to have Barrie there made it even more special. It tied the whole thing together, bringing the past into the present.

She was very supportive and very emotional about the whole show. It was incredible meeting her after the show, and she said lovely things about it. I won’t lie, having someone there who I’ve looked up to throughout my whole dance career did add a little bit of extra pressure, but it was one hell of a bonus!

Looking ahead, what can you say about the new 2018. Remembering Fred show? How will it compare to the first production you toured in 2017?

The production last year was above and beyond - but we don’t want to go back on tour with exactly the same show, so we are definitely adding more to the new production. There is a huge LED screen, so we can tell stories not only through voices but through moving pictures this time.

With technology you can do pretty much whatever crosses your mind, so I can’t wait to get into the creative process of using the screen to set up the stories. It’s extremely exciting for Janette, too.

It’s going to be an epic show to choreograph with the screens behind us.

We are still putting our heads together about the costumes.

Do you get the adrenaline rush every night on the tour that you get with doing the live Strictly shows on Saturdays?

Yes, a huge adrenaline rush. On Strictly Come Dancing there are around 700 or 800 people in the audience, maybe more, but I never think about the people watching at home.

I think about the filming in front of the audience who are sitting there live right in front of us. Obviously, you’re aware there are 11 million people watching at home, though.

Congratulations on getting married last summer. What did you do for a first dance?

We danced to a song by Michael Bublé called ‘You And I’. Janette’s Dad actually recorded himself singing it, so we danced to that, but we didn’t do any choreography together.

It was just the two of us having a lovely dance. We didn’t feel under pressure - it was a wedding, not a gig. It was a lovely, intimate moment more than anything.

Watford Colosseum, Rickmansworth Road, Watford, WD17 3JN, May 19. Details: 01923 571 102