Ballroom blitz

Professional ballroom dancers Aucklander Erin Boag, 33, and her partner Briton Anton Du Beke who both starred in the successful UK television talent show Strictly Come Dancing, have just completed a documentary for Sky One, Ballroom High, in which they teach inner-city kids to dance. The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Frater talked to the duo as they prepared for their current show, Cheek to Cheek, which features the pair dancing together to music from a 30-piece orchestra, as well as performances by salsa dancers Chris Marques and Jaclyn Spencer, and singer Richard Shelton. Cheek to Cheek runs at the London Coliseum from April 22-26. Boag spoke of her beginnings in dance: “My parents had been amateur ballroom dancers in New Zealand, and I’d gone to classes as a child. But it was only when I saw a competition in Australia when I was 15 that I knew I wanted to do it.” An estimated 13 million viewers tuned into the 2008 Strictly Come Dancing finale. Boag was a former Candy Lane student.