Strictly Come Dancing’s Kym Marsh has broken her silence after it emerged she has previous dance training.
The Celeb Report exclusively revealed earlier this week that Kym, 46, had professional dance experience while starring in Saturday Night Fever in London’s West End back in 2004.
Kym is ready to strut her stuff on the Strictly dancefloor
Kym appeared on stage in Saturday Night Fever
In the role of Annette, she was seen strutting her stuff on stage every night after receiving dance training from top choreographer and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips.
Now Kym – who previously said she was just “faffing about” on stage while in pop band Hear’Say – has spoken out about her dance experience, insisting she doesn’t have an advantage in the competition.
She said: “I did a bit [of dancing] when I was young but that was your typical ballet and tap stuff as a kid. I also went to a stage school for a year but I only did the basics really.
Kym continued: “Then during my time with Hear’Say, I found the
dance element really hard, we did a tour and doing all the dance routines for that was tricky! The choreographer used to laugh at me because I would always say ‘I can’t do it’.”
As for her stage turn, she added: “I was in Saturday Night Fever for six months in the West End, but I had a part that required little
dancing, and that was kind of on purpose.
“So not loads of experience, a little bit, but not enough to
count myself as a dancer.”
Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood added fuel to the row over dance experience earlier this week after claiming that Kym had danced previously.
Craig, 57, tipped her to do well in this year’s Strictly because she already knows her way round a dance floor.
In an interview with Best magazine, he gave his opinions on this year’s celebrity contestants, saying: “Kym Marsh has danced before and I think she’ll fit in well.”
Another source close to Kym, however, downplayed the level of dance training she has had.
They insisted: “Arlene directed the show but she and Kym had a separate choreographer to teach the dance routines. Kym’s character only had a couple of small choreographed dance routines, and this was also 18 years ago, so it’s not going to give Kym any kind of unfair advantage.”
Other Strictly contenders this year, such as Loose Women’s Kaye Adams, 59, and actor Will Mellor, 46, have no professional history on the dance floor and no dance experience.
Kym, who starred as Coronation Street’s Michelle Connor from 2006 to 2019, also admitted last month that she began dance lessons at the age of four.
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She told Cheshire Life magazine: “I loved performing from a really young age. I was at dance school from the age of four but my parents didn’t realise I could sing until I was ten years old.
Kym also confessed that producers of the reality television series Popstars had specifically asked that auditionees had to be able to “sing and dance.”
Kym with Simon Gregson in Corrie
Kym (left) was part of 90s band Hear’Say
