Strictly Come Dancing 2015 has officially begun
Sparkles at the ready! The professionals are all together for the first time today as rehearsals get underway
Bring on the sparkles because Strictly Come Dancing 2015 has officially started. Yes, today all of the professional dancers have gathered with their choreographer for the first round of dance rehearsals. You might as well start stocking up on mince pies. It's basically Christmas.
The line-up of 16 pros – which this year includes three new dancers – will now get to work learning a range of group dances, which they'll perform throughout the series. Familiar faces Brendan Cole, Kevin Clifton, Pasha Kovalev, Ola Jordan and Aliona Vilani are among the bunch. They'll line-up alongside three shiny new professionals: Russian-born Dancing With The Stars pro Gleb Savchenko, 2012 Italian champion Giovanni Pernice and eight-times South African Latin American champion Otlile Mabuse.
But while their preparations are now underway, the pros are yet to find out who their celebrity partners will be for this year's series. That comes later, although there are already plenty of rumours, of course.
However, today it's all about the professionals, and the dancers have been getting excited sharing messages and pictures online as this thirteenth series gets underway.
Here's Aliona's peek at the backstage action:
#strictly #rehearsals #prorehearsals #strictlytime @AlionaVilani pic.twitter.com/vnzJiLP8JL
— AlionaOnline (@AlionaOnline) August 3, 2015
... although Janette Manrara has a different idea of how training should look:
https://twitter.com/JManrara/status/628106762500112384
James Jordan has also sent a message to wife Ola, after she injured herself in training for reality show The Jump earlier this year:
https://twitter.com/The_JamesJordan/status/628110223442595840
The team is already confident this year will be one to remember:
https://twitter.com/JManrara/status/628156220784951296
And it certainly looks like the competitive spirit has already kicked in...
https://twitter.com/karen_hauer/status/628115070380306432
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC1 this Autumn