Strictly Come Dancing is just around the corner now with the star-studded cast confirmed to be appearing on the show. Among this year’s contestant is Anneka Rice, footballer Alex Scott, rower James Cracknell and Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley, to name but a handful. But what is the secret to success on Strictly Come Dancing and the key to win the BBC series?
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, singer and songwriter Lance Ellington shared his thoughts on how to win the competition.
The performer, who is the son of singer and drummer Ray Ellington, has been working on Strictly for 14 years now, joining not long after the show started and will be very much part it as it enters its 17th year.
Perhaps one of his most memorable moments on Strictly was singing rapper Psy’s viral classic Gangnam Style as Ed Balls and Katya Jones performed a Salsa routine in 2016. Ellington had to sing in Korean no less, having never spoken the language before.
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“I remember getting the song sent to me on a Tuesday night all in Korean,” he explained.
“I replied back with an email saying, ‘You do realise I don’t speak Korean.’ So, in the end we managed to do everything phonetically and get it as close to the original as possible.”
However, his rendition was a hit along with the former Chancellor of the Exchequer’s footwork and impressive lifts with the video racking up over a million views on YouTube.
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“That was great to do because it came out with the song and the dance. It was just one of those highlight moments that really stands out. I think for me, that’s what I love about the show as well as getting numbers like that to do.”
Ellington said he found a lot of the Latin musical numbers “testing” but relished the challenge.
“They’re quite testing and hard to do when you don’t speak the language and you don’t have a lot of time to learn it in the week with the other songs that you’re doing. Sometimes that’s quite tricky. But challenging and it’s nice to have a challenge.”
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Along with performing for Ed Balls, Ellington also sang during Anne Widdecombe’s flying number, which saw the politician hoisted across Elstree Studios before joining partner Anton Du Beke on the dancefloor for a Tango in 2010.
He also witnessed her memorable Rumba to the Titanic’s theme My Heart Will Go On, which sadly received the lowest score from the judges that week.
Does he ever get side-tracked by the celebrities’ performances? “I remember the first time Anne Widdecombe flew over the top of my head… that was slightly distracting.”
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However, Ellington said that he and his fellow singers generally kept their “eyes down” on their music during the live to ensure they didn’t make any mistakes.
“It’s for their sake as well,” saying the celebrities would be nervous and the singers needed to get the song as close to the original as possible to make sure the contestants felt comfortable while performing.
Ellington said he usually watches the show properly afterwards to catch up with all the action.
Reflecting on the secret to a winning performance, Ellington said the genre could “really” influence how well a couple could fare in the competition
“You know the ones that always come together, where it’s the dance and the music and everything works together are the ones that really always stand out. It’s not always necessarily the traditional songs that work best.
“But I think if they’re doing a Paso or something like that then I think they use traditional music for that. I think it does really work. It really is sometime the whole thing that makes something very special. The good and the bad.”
Although he said it was hard to name the perfect song to get the perfect score, Ellington said the music would have to really complement the dance along with the staging.
“And there have been a few of those over the years, actually a lot of the time to a beautiful ballad. Something slow, something that’s very glamorous looking for the celebrities, the girls are in a flowing dress.
“Those are usually the numbers that have a sort of magic about them. I think they’re the ones, for me, that really get voted up.”
Ellington is now ramping up for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing with the singers set to be learning up to 14 songs each week for the live shows.
Strictly Come Dancing 2019 will be launching on BBC One this September