Strictly Come Dancing choreographer explains evolution of same-sex dancing from ‘old-fashioned’ rules

Strictly Come Dancing fans have been loving the same-sex pairing of John Whaite and Johannes Radebe on this year’s show, but the show has been incorporating elements of same-sex dancing since 2018. 

Director of choreography Jason Gilkison revealed on Wednesday’s It Takes Two that all-male and all-female partnerships have existed in the ballroom world long before they appeared on Strictly. 

Strictly had first featured same-sex dancing during a professional routine in 2018 in which AJ Pritchard had partnered up with Gorka Marquez, before the camera panned out to show all of the professionals in same-sex pairings for an intense tango to Believer by Imagine Dragons. 

Jason explained: ‘This next number is actually the first time we showed same-sex pairings in a group number. 

‘The narrative was about how we generally put people’s different, separate, relationships into boxes. That sort of dissolves halfway through and all of a sudden we’re out of those boxes and actually dancing dancing with same-sex partners. 

‘AJ and Gorka were the first couple and then as we pull back from AJ and Gorka we realise that everybody is actually doing same-sex dancing.

John Whaite and Johannes Radebe are smashing it in the competition this year (Picture: BBC / Guy Levy)

‘In our ballroom dancing world, when you’re growing up as a kid you often have a partner of the same sex because there’s not enough of the other sex to go round. 

‘I think what we wanted to show people was lead and follow is something that is a little bit old-fashioned. It’s more action and reaction.’

John and Johannes have kept viewers captivated as the first all-male pairing to compete on the show, being tipped for the final since their first dance.

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The first all-female pairing had taken place a year earlier when Katya Jones and Nicola Adams were paired together, and while they had been tipped to do well in the competition, their time on the show was cut short when they contracted coronavirus and had to pull out. 

Strictly Come Dancing It Takes Two airs weeknights from 6.30pm on BBC Two. 

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