Strictly Come Dancing professional Robin Windsor talks ahead of All Fun Farewell Tour coming to Lichfield
Robin Windsor has been on the road for 20 years. That’s 20 years of crumbly hotels, 20 years of sleeping out of a suitcase, 20 years of grinding Tarmac roads and 20 years of missing home comforts.
Little wonder Strictly Come Dancing’s all-time favourite professional has decided to hang up his dancing shoes. After a long and successful career and he plans to go out with a bang – by hitting the road one last time.
Robin’s on the road (again) for The All Fun Farewell Tour. And once it’s over, he promises not to go on the road again. Probably.
Robin, who was part of the hit TV show for five years, and whose celebrity partners included Patsy Kensit, Anita Dobson, Lisa Riley, and Deborah Meaden, has created a show that is action-packed and energetic to match his personality.
He is no stranger to local theatres, having been involved in many shows over the years including Burn the Floor, on Broadway and the West End, Puttin’ on the Ritz, Keep Dancing, and most recently Dance to the Music, with former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kristina Rihanoff.
However, Robin feels that now is the right time to concentrate on other things. One of which is visiting dance schools around the country, teaching people to dance because he says: “Dancing is what makes people happy. My aim is to get the entire country up and dancing.”
Sparkles
The All Fun Farewell Tour features 29 shows over five weeks, with a headline at Lichfield’s Garrick Theatre on Wednesday and Redditch’s Palace Theatre on November 8.
The dancers says the show will be full of fun, cheeky chat, plenty of sparkles and superb dancing.
Robin says: “I’ve been on the road for 20 years and I want to stop touring. I go and work at a place called The Body Holiday in the Caribbean when I’m not dancing and they offered me a permanent job out there. I move to the Caribbean in February and now I’m going to hang up my dance shoes permanently to go into fitness and well being.
“I decided to put the farewell tour on to draw a line under it. It will be the story of my life and it’ll be camp, fun and entertaining. There’ll be a few tears along the way. There’ll be stuff from Strictly. It’ll be a real greatest hits.”
Robin started dancing at the age of three and he moved to London when he was 15 to pursue his career as a dancer. He studied both Ballroom and Latin dance, eventually competing in those disciplines at the highest levels. His skills eventually led him to represent England, amassing numerous World Championships, both on the domestic and international level. Robin competed successfully in the juvenile and junior ballroom dancer categories. He represented England in the World Championships.
He lived with his former partner Davide Cini for some time before starting a relationship with X Factor runner-up Marcus Collins. Robin became a gay pin-up, appearing on the cover of Gay Times and again in 2014 with Marcus Collins before splitting up.
He made his debut on Strictly in 2010, striking up a partnership with Kristina Rihanoff. The duo took their partnership off the Strictly dance floor, with them both headlining Burn the Floor in London’s West End in 2013.
But now Robin’s decided to step down and lead a different sort of life.
“I’ll be 40 next year and I want a big change of scenery.”
Robin has only affection for his time on Strictly and says the show was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
However, his new life will be keeping people fit and in shape – as well as teaching them to dance.
“I’ll be heading up a team doing entertainment during the evening and fitness in the day. I’ll be doing dance classes. It’ll be different working for someone else. I’m going there permanently and I hope it all works out. I don’t see myself returning to the UK in the foreseeable future.”
Andy Richardson