BBC Strictly Come Dancing duo never aspired to stardom

Jul 6 2009 by Haydon Wood, Liverpool Daily Post

Dawn Collinson meets Flavia Cacace, a household name thanks to the popular BBC series Strictly Come Dancing

STRICTLY speaking, Flavia Cacace never intended to become famous. She and Vincent Simone were inseparable on and off the dance floor, a competing couple and romantic partners, but they had no starry aspirations.

When BBC’s reality dance contest came calling five years ago, it was their skills as choreographers they wanted.

“So we choreographed an Argentine tango but didn’t compete with the celebrities,” explains Flavia.

But programme makers were swept off their feet by the passionate pair and it wasn’t long before they found themselves invited in front of the cameras.

“We said yes but honestly didn’t have any idea how much exposure we’d get,” she admits. “Obviously we knew it was televised but looking back I think at the time we didn’t know how many people were watching and just how big it was going to get.

“To suddenly be noticed in the street was a shock, we didn’t expect it and it wasn’t what we went on the programme for. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I have to say we’re very grateful that we’re part of it.”

Certainly Strictly Come Dancing has changed Flavia and Vincent’s lives. As one of the show’s most popular couples they have become stars in their own right, and now headline dance events around the world.

One of the highlights of their diary for 2009, says Flavia, will be Liverpool’s grand Summer Ball at St George’s Hall this weekend.

With the RLPO conducted by Vasily Petrenko, the couple will take to the floor with three new routines.

“Although we’ve danced in Liverpool before we’ve never been to St George’s Hall and I’ve heard it’s beautiful so it should be a very special event,” says Flavia.

It’s a measure of their supreme professionalism that they won’t actually rehearse in situ before their performance.

“We don’t need to,” explains Flavia. “We’re pretty used to adapting our routines quickly so really we just need to have a look at the floor space beforehand.”

The routines, she adds, take anything from three hours to a week to create. It actually takes longer to edit the music they dance to.

“Often we’ll hear a piece of music on the radio and we’ll think, let’s use that,” she says. “But some songs that we want to use are four or five minutes long which is a bit too much for one number. So we have to spend some time editing the track before we can even start on the choreography.

“From then on, every routine is different depending on whether we’re doing lefts or things like that. It’s not so much that you’re trying to learn things, it’s more that you’re experimenting with ideas.”

Flavia confesses that although she and Vincent have been dancing together for 15 years, with a CV full of UK and world titles, they are not immune to the odd moment of tension in the rehearsal studio.

“Oh it can still be frustrating, of course, if you’re coming up with new things and they don’t work,” she smiles. “But I guess we’ve been doing it for so long that you turn that frustration into adrenaline.

“We’ve been together so long now we know how to deal with each other’s moods, although when we’re choreographing it’s Vincent who is probably the calmer one. I’m more likely to lose my rag. But we tend to be quite good because we know when to leave it, have a break and come back. That’s the secret really, knowing when to walk away because often you come back and everything’s fine.”

Flavia and Vincent met as teenagers at dance school in Guildford. Although her family are Italian, they moved to Britain when she was very young and, keen to encourage her to take part in out-of-school activities, enrolled her in the nearest dance class.

“Vincent was still living in Italy but coming over with his Italian partner for lessons,” recalls Flavia. “He split with her but carried on coming over and it just so happened that I split with my English partner around the same time and was looking for someone new to do competitions with.

“We had what they call a try-out, where you meet up for half an hour, they play some music and you do some basic steps together. You see if you get on and whether it’s going to work. As well as personality, one of the most important things is height. Ideally the guy should be a little bit taller than the girl because that tends to look and work best on the dance floor.”

FLAVIA and Vincent clearly fitted perfectly. They began competing together with considerable success and, away from the spotlight, fell in love.

It was their chemistry on the floor which helped to woo millions of Strictly fans. Their first series saw Flavia paired with Jimmy Tarbuck, who had to pull out amid health concerns, but it was the second series which attracted most media attention.