FROM the heights of winning Strictly Come Dancing for the first time with partner Stacey Dooley, to seeing plans for his stunning stage show Burn the Floor in ruins this year, Kevin Clifton’s recent career has seen more drama than his Pasadoble.
But heeding the words of Strictly legend Bruce Forsyth to ‘keeeeeep dancing!,’ Clifton is taking to the stage again alongside sister Joanne to present an intimate evening of ‘song, dance and memories’.
On their tour created for a socially-distanced audience, with new dates in Coventry, Kevin and Jo will share stories of their dancing lives, and perform their favourite Ballroom and Latin dances with professional partners.
The siblings were originally due to tour together for the first time earlier this year in their Ballroom show, ‘Burn the Floor,’ but as the coronavirus pandemic closed theatres, the tour was unable to go ahead.
Kevin has pledged to move Burn the Floor to 2021, but faces headlining it without his sister, as Joanne’s prior commitments mean she is no longer available.
Both dancers have won ballroom and latin dance accolades between them, including UK, European and world championships.
Joanne and Kevin have also won the highly sought after Glitterball trophy on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing – Kevin in 2018 with journalist Stacey Dooley, and Joanne in 2016 with sports presenter Ore Oduba.
Kevin told the Observer about his excitement for the tour: “I cant wait – I’ve done nothing since March, we were in Burn the Floor rehearsals and were all set to go on tour then obviously the pandemic happened.
“It was difficult for me and my sister. We had been wanting to do a show for years, and our big production of Burn the Floor was supposed to be it.
“Our producers said rather than get rid of it entirely, let’s see what we are allowed to do inside, which has to be socially distanced. So we decided we could sing songs from the show, Jo and I can dance and we can do more intimate feel of a show.
“We will do some dancing, talk about our careers and the audience can enjoy an evening with Kevin and Jo.
“It’s a small cast, we will dance a little bit together and have one partner each. So rather than a big production that everyone is watching, we can have more connection with the audience.”
Kevin says despite the challenges, the time is right for audiences to venture back to theatres. Both he and Joanne have led West End productions, but he admits there was trepidation about being one of the first dancers to announce a tour.
“We didn’t know whether people were going to feel comfortable coming back to theatres. It’s a really positive moment as we are one of the first indoor theatre tours to get out there. So to see the response from people buying tickets makes me so excited.”
Though neither of the Clifton siblings will be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing this year, Kevin says he is just as excited to see the family telly staple return to screens.
“I’m like an excited fan again, seeing all the announcements on social media. I’m always in touch with friends at Strictly so I don’t even ask for details on contestants, but I’m as excited as everyone else wondering who will be partnered with who.
“The country needs it, to have Strictly back – the team has worked really hard, it must have been a concern that it might not go ahead, but the pro’s have gone into a quarantine together while they are recording the group numbers. If I know Strictly I know the creative team will have some great ideas. Once that first show comes that will be a great moment.”
The new tour is the first opportunity Kevin and Joanne have taken to tour together – and he says he is looking forward to hitting the road with his sister.
“As soon as it became a possibility, we wanted the tour to go ahead. We are really close me and Jo, but I am very much the boss – when we are putting a show together I tend to boss her about.
“She won Strictly before I did, and she never let me forget it! It’s all she ever talked about, so when I finally won I was able to give it back to her. Now I’ve won the Christmas Special and the Children in Need special, so I don’t let her forget that I have more Glitterballs than her!”
Kevin and Joanne Clifton bring their show to the Albany Theatre in Coventry on November 22, call 024 7699 8964 for tickets or visit albanytheatre.co.uk.
