Twelfth year of Strictly Northampton launches with biggest line-up yet and £10,000 raised so far

Strictly Northampton has returned for its twelfth year with its biggest line up to date and dancers have already raised over £10,000 ahead of starting their lessons.

The annual dance competition was founded by professional dancer Andrzej Mialkowski in 2010 to raise money for BBC’s Children In Need. He wanted to continue organising and producing Strictly Northampton for years to come and the contest has collectively raised over £2 million for local charities so far.

Andrzej promises that Strictly Northampton 2023 will be the “biggest and best show yet” with a record-breaking line-up of 36 couples.

He told the Chronicle & Echo: “A lot of people are really excited to do the show; a lot of people talk about it. It’s all about meeting new people and making friends and raising money for charities that are close to the hearts of people in Northampton. It is great to bring people’s spirits up towards Christmas, they get to lose a bit of weight so they can drink and be merry for Christmas!”

Andrzej, from Poland, danced from the age of 10 in competitions across Europe before setting up his hugely successful dancing school ‘Step by Step’ in England in 2005. He also launched a project called Dancing Schools UK, which teaches dance to primary school students and enables them to enter contests judged by Strictly stars, including AJ Pritchard.

It is the Step by Step dance school that is giving eight weeks of Latin and Ballroom lessons to this year’s Strictly Northampton contestants in the run up to the big show at the Royal & Derngate theatre on November 25.

Talking about the show, Andrzej said: “It is a great atmosphere because it is a family show, it is always a sell out with over 1,000 people coming to watch. They come and support their friends and family and the atmosphere is crazy. Everyone in the audience is loud, screaming - people wore shirts with pictures and voting numbers to support dancers - there’s a text vote thing during the night. Everyone works very hard for eight weeks to make sure the show is as professional as possible.”

Each novice dancer has to raise £1,000 for Strictly Northampton’s chosen charity, the Cynthia Spencer Hospice, which provides specialist palliative care for people diagnosed with life-limiting conditions and their families across Northamptonshire.

Andrzej added: “It is just one night when Northampton becomes the capital of dance because it is just brilliant. I am hoping that we will raise over £50,000 this year.”

In Strictly Northampton’s first ever show in 2010, our very own editor David Summers got his dancing shoes on and – sporting a silky pink shirt – took to the floor to the tune of Holiday Inn by Radisson.

The judging panel for this year’s show will be revealed closer to November’s show.

Find out more about Strictly Northampton 2023 and donate to their fundraiser at: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/strictlynorthampton23.