Ellie Simmonds has opened up about how her Strictly Come Dancing training is going, ahead of her first live performance this weekend.
The Paralympic swimmer is one of 15 celebrities currently in rehearsals for the new series of the BBC dance show, which returns for its landmark 20th series on Friday night.
While Ellie has had to remain tight-lipped about who her professional partner is until his identity is revealed during the pre-recorded launch show, she has spoken to BBC Breakfast about how she’s found learning to dance so far.
“My partner is tall and I am small and I’ve never danced before and they’ve never danced with an individual with dwarfism before so it’s going to be different,” she explained.
“We’re not going to hold each other in the same postures as everyone else does. And it’s figuring it all out. And for me, it’s like the leg movements, my width in my legs is a lot shorter than an average height person.
“It’s all different, it’s out of my comfort zone and if I can do it in a different way people watching can realise they can dance and it’s not a traditional way, it’s different.”
During the same interview, Ellie revealed she’d had some advice from reality star Terra Jolé, best known for her appearance in the show Little Women: LA, who competed in Strictly’s US counterpart Dancing With The Stars back in 2016.
“Terra Jolie is an individual with dwarfism who did the American version of Dancing With The Stars,” she said. “And actually I got in contact with her saying ‘Any tips? How is it going to be? What am I going to do? How are we going to adapt? How are we going to change?’.
“But I knew seeing her do it that I could do it because I had never seen anyone with dwarfism dance before.”
Ellie added that Terra had advised her to overextend her legs, pointing out: “With dwarfism you get bowing of the legs and with some of the movements you have to keep your legs straight.”
“Normally when I’m swimming I’m not thinking about smiling, not thinking about the facial expressions,” the five-time gold medallist added. “[When I’m dancing] I’ve got to think about legs, arms, body position, shoulders back, smiling, showing the emotion – it’s so much to think about.”
Before filming this year’s pre-recorded launch, Ellie spoke to HuffPost UK about the importance of disability representation on screen.
“If I’d seen it when I was younger, and there were more individuals with different disabilities… children growing up will have something to relate to,” she stated.
Ellie added: “We’re just going to see how it is and adapt… but if I can do it, and do something completely out of my comfort zone, then people watching at home can realise they can adapt too. Dancing is for all.”
BBC Breakfast airs every weekday from 6am on BBC One. Strictly returns on Friday night at 7pm, also on BBC One, with the first live show of the new series airing the following night.
