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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Eve Rowlands

Strictly Come Dancing: First dances and songs revealed

It's set to be a sparkling Saturday night as the first episode of Strictly Come Dancing 2022 airs on BBC One. And as the Strictly pros and celebrities put on their dancing shoes and get ready to dazzle on the dancefloor in the hope of wowing the four judges on the panel – Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, and former Strictly professional Anton Du Beke – BBC's Strictly socials have revealed a hint of what is to come.

Posting a reel to the programme's Instagram Strictly Come Dancing released the pairs' – who were unveiled last night on the launch show (read more on that here) – first dances and the songs to which they will be shimming and swaying to.

Read more: Strictly fans in disbelief over Kym Marsh's number of grandchildren

Hosted by Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, the show – now in its 20th series – sees 15 celebrities tackle technical dances from the rumba and Argentinian tango to the qaltz and foxtrot as taught and guided by their professional ballroom dance partners in a bid to become Strictly champion and lift the glorious glitterball trophy.

Read on to find out who is dancing what and to what song to kick of Strictly's latest season.

  • Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds and her partner Nikita Kuzmin will cha-cha to DNCE's song Dance.
  • Tyler West and Dianne Buswell will take on the American smooth dancing to Harry Styles' Falling.
  • Actress and singer Kym Marsh and her partner Graziano Di Prima are jiving to Yes by Merry Clayton.
  • Actor Will Mellor is Livin' La Vida Loca (by Ricky Martin) with his dance partner Nancy Xu as they, too, take on the jive.
  • Helen Skelton and Gorka Márquez will also be doing the American smooth to Aretha Franklin's You Send Me.
  • James Bye and Welsh Strictly pro Amy Dowden will also tackle the jive – this time to What I Like About You by The Romantics.
  • Singer and former X Factor star Fleur East will be taking on the cha-cha with her partner Vito Coppola. They will be dancing to Jennifer Lopez's Let's Get Loud.
  • Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystal are dancing the foxtrot to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' classic Islands in the Stream.
  • Matt Goss and Nadiya Bychkova will be hoping to wow the judges with their Quickstep to Sir Duke by The Chris Walden Big Band.
  • Comedian and actress Ellie Taylor is partnered with Johannes Radebe and they will also be performing the quickstep to Klaus Hallen Tanzorchester's I Am What I Am.
  • Molly Rainford and new professional Carlos Gu are spicing things up with the samba soundtracked by Anne-Marie and Little Mix's Kiss My (Uh Oh).
  • One of Strictly's two same-sex couples this year (a history-making momeent), Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice, are doing the cha-cha to Wham's classic I'm Your Man.
  • The second-same sex couple, Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer, are going to be samba-ing to Christina Aguilera's raunchy number Dirrty.
  • English football manager Tony Adams and partner Katya Jones are tango-ing to Village People's Go West.
  • Scottish television presenter and journalist Kaye Adams has teamed up with Kai Widdrington, with whom she will be dancing the Tango to Abba's hit song Voulez-Vous.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One at 6.45pm on Saturday, September 24.

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