A marvellous evening of lively music, beautiful dance and endless laughter is guaranteed at Anton Du Beke's nationwide tour.
On Sunday, November 10, 'the king of the ballroom' Anton Du Beke visited The Anvil as part of his tour of 'An evening with Anton Du Beke'.
Supported by a fantastic live band, group of talented dancers and featuring the wonderful Lance Ellington, the Strictly Come Dancing judge charmed his audience with an array of beautiful dances, musical numbers and sharing behind the scenes stories of Strictly - including a hilarious anecdote of his time dancing with Anne Widdecombe in 2010.
His dance partner Rosie Ward joined him in several stunning routines, including a dramatic Argentine tango and Viennese Waltz, which Anton speedily broke down into steps rather effortlessly and comedically to the audience, making it seem as though it was perfectly straightforward.
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Singing alongside Lance, a number of familiar favourites feature in the show, from 'Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat' by Stubby Kaye, 'Rhythm of Life' from Sweet Charity and concluding with the wonderful 'New York, New York' by Frank Sinatra - one of my favourites.
I must reiterate how wonderful the orchestra were - I'm a huge fan of live music and they were incredibly lively and passionate in backing the song and dance on stage, and it is always great to see them on stage rather than in an the pit.
At a few points in the show, Anton answered questions from the audience which could be submitted via text - a poster with details was put on stage at the beginning to let us send in our burning questions.
Discussions ranged from whether he would go on I'm a Celebrity or Love Island, and how does he manage his time management skills - having featured on the Wheel and Strictly Come Dancing in one night.
"The magic of telly", he said.
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With the show being on a Sunday, Anton made several references to having to get back to the Strictly Come Dancing result show in London the same night - as most fans know it is filmed on the Saturday and is not in fact live as it comes across so this was particularly well received by the audience.
I was absolutely delighted to meet with Anton at the end and chat to him about his visit to Basingstoke (as well as guiltily confessing that I had not been able to watch Strictly the night before, which I can promise I now have!)
"It was superb. It's a beautiful venue to come in when you do what I do", Anton said, making reference to his love of dancing on the Anvil's wooden floor.
He continued: "The audience was great, it was just a lovely show - I have been coming here for years and it's always just a fantastic night."
If I had to rate this dazzling show, I'd hold up my score paddle and say 'it's a ten!'
Anton's tour continues across the UK, to get tickets, click here.
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