STRICTLY stars Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez are back with a new version of Firedance. Fans can expect tangos, sambas, salsas, extravagant costumes and groundbreaking choreography… but not much chat.
“The lovely thing is there are so many great shows out there that have all the chatting and connection with the audience in that way,” says Karen. “But we want to find our connection with what we were born to do and what we’ve been doing since we were kids and that is simply through dancing.
“If Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were dancing, or in a movie together, they were just dancing and that’s what we love. You can just go out there and move your body and have fun.
“Also, everyone knows everything they need to know about us already! I grew up in Venezuela, Gorka grew up in Spain and we love dancing, that’s it!”
Gorka agrees, saying: “If they want to know more, they can just look us up on Wikipedia. It’s cheaper than buying a ticket!”
As for Firedance, Karen is really excited to be touring, even though they planned it a while ago.
“This is our third year doing Firedance,” she says. “But, of course, the first year we only got six shows in before it got stopped by the pandemic, so it still feels very new and exciting.
“It’s a show that is fresh, it’s sexy and it’s just a celebration! We have all the dances that the audiences love, like our tangos, our sambas and our salsas, so it just celebrates all the fun we have together as a friendship and everything we love to share with people.”
Gorka adds: “It’s still along the lines of what we did before, but we’ve remade some of the show and brought in some more uplifting songs, some more modern songs and a fair few surprises too.
“The idea is still the same obviously, we’re going to be dancing all night, there’s lots of fire and a lot of energy, so everything that people loved about it the last time is still there, just with some new things brought in which we think really adds a whole new spark to the whole thing.”
After their success of TV's Strictly, the show will, of course, include ballroom dancing – but there’s much more.
Karen says: “The nice thing is that we’ve trained in so many different styles, that being able to utilise that is really special.
“Obviously we can do all the waltzes and tangos etc, which we do in our own way and we do enjoy putting things in there that we know people really like to see, but there’s still dances we actually don’t like.
“Every dancer has some, so it’s great to have the freedom to just do the things we love and I think that comes over in the performances. We like the fire dances, we like the strong, rhythmical dances that have power behind them.
“At the same time though, we do have some very simple, beautiful and understated numbers that people love to see, so there’s a good mix in there, but it’s all the things we love. The fact we have a background in different styles is a good thing, so why not put it out there and show ourselves in a different light?”
And there will be plenty more shows in the future. Even though Karen has reached the ripe old age of 40, she says she has no plans to hang up her dancing shoes just yet.
“I can’t see my drive ever retiring, as once you do, what’s left?” she says. “It’s lovely for people who do enjoy retirement, but I don’t ever want this to end, so I’ll always want to be involved in the arts and in dancing. It’ll always be a part of my life, so I’ll go as far as I can and for as long as I can, that’s for sure.”
Firedance will be at G Live in Guildford, on Friday 3 March.