Lilia Kopylova Interview

A woman who never fails to set the dance floor alight, Strictly Come Dancing professional, Lilia Kopylova, is set to star in her own West End stage show alongside her husband - fellow Strictly dancer - Darren Bennett. Ranked the number one Latin American dance couple in Britain, I caught up with Lilia to ask her all about the show, as well as the other things that have made her diary so jam-packed at the moment.

You’re quite a busy lady aren’t you? Let’s start with Latin Fever – your first West End show. How did that all come about?

It was an idea we had for a long time actually. We originally did a show where we had to choreograph five couples. We thought, 'this is brilliant, we should actually make a whole show with other couples involved', because we do lots of shows with just us but we really liked the idea of having other people with us as well and choreographing as a group. So we’ve had this idea for a couple of years, but it just never came to life.

We just happened to do Strictly Gershwin in summer at the Royal Albert Hall and we absolutely loved it. We got to know a couple of people and Raymond Gubbay who is the promoter. We just started talking to him and that’s how we made it work. We had a couple of meetings and, within a week, the shows were out there and the dates were in the diary. It was just so exciting for us.

And how are the preparations going?

At the moment, we’ve got loads going on with the production side of things and the music alone is taking ages to sort out. There’s also auditioning dancers and singers, sorting out the choreography, costumes as well – that’s a big chunk, because I always like to design my own stuff. I don’t go, ‘design me ten dresses, I don’t care what they look like’. I’m always hands on with everything. We start rehearsals on 20 April so, until then, it’s production stuff. From the twentieth onwards, it will be dancing, dancing, dancing!

So what can we expect to see from the show?

The idea of the show is a journey around the world of Latin American dance so you will sort of visit every country and the origin of every dance.  There’s samba, there’s rhumba, tango, pasa doble, jives, swings, salsa – there’s every single Latin American dance, so everything will be there. That’s basically the show.

Another project you’ve been working on is the Essentially Dance initiative – bringing ballroom dancing into schools...

That’s really exciting as well, it’s all sort of happened in one year at the same time. It’s a project to try and get kids dancing and give them the opportunity more than anything really, because what happened after Strictly; it’s taken the whole nation, and everyone is saying ‘I love dancing – where can we take our children? Where can we learn to dance like you do on tv?'

There are dance schools obviously out there, there’s millions of them, but not every parent has the opportunity to take their kids, maybe they can’t afford it. So together with Rod Aldridge, we put this idea together, the three of us – Darren, myself, and Rod. We thought, how can we get kids dancing, and why not bring it to schools and give it to them as an opportunity, rather than anything else. We’re not trying to take away football or anything like that; it’s just to give them choice really.

You’ve carried out several pilot schemes so far. How have they been received?

Really well. We’ve visited several schools and, the kids are so enthusiastic. It’s proving to go really well so far, fingers crossed! We’re really happy with it.

So lets talk more about Strictly. When you first signed up for the show, did you expect it to become as big as it has done?

No, absolutely not. We were asked to do the very first series but we couldn’t do it because we were already working away, we didn’t take that one on. But we obviously watched that and knew the dancers that were on it so we watched it and followed it, so it was brilliant. Then they asked us to do the second one, and we were like, ‘I don’t think we can do it’ because we were competing in the world finals.

It was a big chunk of time to take out of competing. But then our families got together and they said to us ‘you will do it, take this opportunity’, so we said, ‘ok, we’ll try one series’, and we loved it so much. It’s just a really enjoyable thing to do. It’s really hard, you work pretty much 24/7 but, we enjoyed it so much, so we’re still doing it.

You’ve done so well on there as well haven’t you – winning with Darren Gough and coming second with Matt Dawson. Sportsmen definitely seem to be naturals at dancing don’t they?

I think what it is with sportsmen, it’s not that they’re naturals, I think they’ve got the stamina. They’ve got the mental stamina, they’ve got the physical stamina, and it’s very important, especially now the series is so long. Last year, we started 1 August and finished at Christmas, so it’s a long time to be dancing, and for somebody to be doing any physical exercise if you’ve never done it before.

So I think this is where the sportsmen always come on top, they understand how to work long hours every single day. Also mentally, they are used to being criticised, they’re used to being taught, whereas some of the celebrities on the show, whether they’re singers or actors, they’re not used to being criticised. That’s not within their job.

You mentioned the long hours. How long do you train each day?

It can be anything up to 8 hours. It depends on your partner, how they are and how long they can keep going. It also depends on their job. If your partner has got a job, it’s really hard. I remember when I danced with Dominic Littlewood, he was full-time. He was doing The One Show, and that was really hard. We had to train really early in the morning or really late at night so it was difficult. If you have a partner that is like that, it’s not ideal to be honest.

Your husband Darren has done equally as well, winning with Jill Halfpenny in Series 2.

Yes, we’ve got an equal amount of trophies!

Do you two get very competitive with each other?

No, only for fun really. We say ‘you’ve got two trophies, I’ve got three’ or whatever. It’s a very hard show. We help one another.

I suppose it’s great been married to someone in the same profession because you’ve both got a great understanding of what each other does for a living?

Yeh, it’s great. It’s got its pluses and its minuses. We’re always together so I guess not everyone can always put up with someone all the time! In fact, when we do Strictly, that’s the most time we spend apart because we go off and train other people, whereas, outside that, we always work together.

So I take it we’ll see you competing in the next Strictly?

Actually, none of us know yet. I’m hoping so because I love it so much but we don’t have a year-round contract. The contract comes later on in the year and they say ‘would you like to do it again’, so I’m hoping, yes.

Have you got any ideal partners in mind?

It’s a hard one. For me, it’s very important that they have personality because we spend so many hours together. You have to get on. They’d have to be intelligent as well because there’s a lot of information to be taken in daily. If you can’t take in so much information, then you can’t improve quickly. And you are expected to do a new dance every week, sometimes two, so it’s hard.

Somebody maybe a little younger this year would be nice. But I’m very open with things like that. I don’t want a ready-made partner. I enjoy the process of training and seeing people improve when they start with nothing and they end up doing a whole dance. It’s so wonderful to see how they come along.

What are your views on John Sergeant’s unexpected exit last series? Were the judges too harsh on him?

I don’t think so. That’s just what the papers said. John is a tough cookie, he has been in the journalism business for many years. I don’t think that harsh comments would mean anything to him. There have been so many celebrities in the past who have been told things far worse – Fiona Phillips, Quentin Wilson. In every series there is somebody that they pick on if you don’t do a great job. Knowing John, and having worked with him, I don’t think that’s something that would have phased him.

You took part in the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour earlier this year with new partner, Julian Clary. What was he like to work with?

He is amazing. I always say Darren Gough is my favourite because I won with him, but I have to say Julian is my second favourite. He was incredible. He wasn’t even my partner on Strictly. I just loved it because it can get very heavy and intense. We spend longs hour teaching – it can get tiring and boring. But with him, we always have fun and I always found him very energizing. Every day, we’d go out there, he actually brought the house down. He was so funny, and I just loved him.

Dancing is obviously a great way of keeping in shape. When you’re not performing on Strictly, how long do you exercise each day?

It depends because our life involves a lot of travelling. Sometimes it can take 3 or 4 hours to get to a show. But we do go to the gym whenever we have a spare couple of hours, we also have a power plate at home which is a brilliant piece of machinery. It can do massage, relaxation, toning, it’s brilliant. When we start rehearsing for our Latin Fever show, we will be dancing 9 to 5 every day. So because we do so many different things, it always varies.

Ok so, having made it as a successful dancer. Are there any other goals you’d like to achieve?

From being a very little girl, I’ve always wanted to be a performer. I did some ice-skating when I was little, and then obviously dancing. I always took it seriously because I always knew that would be my career. I’m happy and I feel really lucky that I’ve achieved what I have in my life because not everybody gets to do things like that.

I never thought I’d be doing tv work. Now I’ve been very successful on Strictly which is a totally different thing, you can’t compare the two. But it’s an amazing thing that I’ve done. Who knows what is going to happen in the future because, five years ago, I didn’t think I’d be here doing this. At the moment, I’m just happy with the way things are.

Latin Fever takes place at London's Peacock Theatre from 27 May - 28 June.

FemaleFirst: Fiona Haran

A woman who never fails to set the dance floor alight, Strictly Come Dancing professional, Lilia Kopylova, is set to star in her own West End stage show alongside her husband - fellow Strictly dancer - Darren Bennett. Ranked the number one Latin American dance couple in Britain, I caught up with Lilia to ask her all about the show, as well as the other things that have made her diary so jam-packed at the moment.

You’re quite a busy lady aren’t you? Let’s start with Latin Fever – your first West End show. How did that all come about?

It was an idea we had for a long time actually. We originally did a show where we had to choreograph five couples. We thought, 'this is brilliant, we should actually make a whole show with other couples involved', because we do lots of shows with just us but we really liked the idea of having other people with us as well and choreographing as a group. So we’ve had this idea for a couple of years, but it just never came to life.

We just happened to do Strictly Gershwin in summer at the Royal Albert Hall and we absolutely loved it. We got to know a couple of people and Raymond Gubbay who is the promoter. We just started talking to him and that’s how we made it work. We had a couple of meetings and, within a week, the shows were out there and the dates were in the diary. It was just so exciting for us.

And how are the preparations going?

At the moment, we’ve got loads going on with the production side of things and the music alone is taking ages to sort out. There’s also auditioning dancers and singers, sorting out the choreography, costumes as well – that’s a big chunk, because I always like to design my own stuff. I don’t go, ‘design me ten dresses, I don’t care what they look like’. I’m always hands on with everything. We start rehearsals on 20 April so, until then, it’s production stuff. From the twentieth onwards, it will be dancing, dancing, dancing!

So what can we expect to see from the show?

The idea of the show is a journey around the world of Latin American dance so you will sort of visit every country and the origin of every dance.  There’s samba, there’s rhumba, tango, pasa doble, jives, swings, salsa – there’s every single Latin American dance, so everything will be there. That’s basically the show.

Another project you’ve been working on is the Essentially Dance initiative – bringing ballroom dancing into schools...

That’s really exciting as well, it’s all sort of happened in one year at the same time. It’s a project to try and get kids dancing and give them the opportunity more than anything really, because what happened after Strictly; it’s taken the whole nation, and everyone is saying ‘I love dancing – where can we take our children? Where can we learn to dance like you do on tv?'

There are dance schools obviously out there, there’s millions of them, but not every parent has the opportunity to take their kids, maybe they can’t afford it. So together with Rod Aldridge, we put this idea together, the three of us – Darren, myself, and Rod. We thought, how can we get kids dancing, and why not bring it to schools and give it to them as an opportunity, rather than anything else. We’re not trying to take away football or anything like that; it’s just to give them choice really.

You’ve carried out several pilot schemes so far. How have they been received?

Really well. We’ve visited several schools and, the kids are so enthusiastic. It’s proving to go really well so far, fingers crossed! We’re really happy with it.

So lets talk more about Strictly. When you first signed up for the show, did you expect it to become as big as it has done?

No, absolutely not. We were asked to do the very first series but we couldn’t do it because we were already working away, we didn’t take that one on. But we obviously watched that and knew the dancers that were on it so we watched it and followed it, so it was brilliant. Then they asked us to do the second one, and we were like, ‘I don’t think we can do it’ because we were competing in the world finals.

It was a big chunk of time to take out of competing. But then our families got together and they said to us ‘you will do it, take this opportunity’, so we said, ‘ok, we’ll try one series’, and we loved it so much. It’s just a really enjoyable thing to do. It’s really hard, you work pretty much 24/7 but, we enjoyed it so much, so we’re still doing it.

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