The Grand Opening of the Strictly Come Dancing exhibition at Berkeley Castle
After a summer of shorts and T-shirts it was time to don the sparkly nail polish, pop on some lippy, a nice dress and head off to the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Red Carpet Launch event at the historic Berkeley Castle.
On arrival we were treated to a glass of bubbly and a selection of canapés in the courtyard with music and a dance display courtesy of some of the girls from the Linda Virgoe Dance Studios.
Time for the grand opening and we were escorted via the red carpet into the Great Hall where the spectacular exhibition of 14 now famous dresses from the 2017 show will be displayed throughout the whole of September. The four girls, Secon, Sophie, Jennifer and Claudia from Linda Virgoe took to the floor for a fabulous display of dance while the giant glitterball sparkled above. The dramatic entrance of ‘Strictly’ celebrity contestant Russell Grant followed, a gold ribbon was cut, and the event declared open!
Russell is quite evidently a huge fan of the show as well as a contestant. He entertained the crowd with his enigmatic humour and proceeded to teach us some of the dance moves he had learnt during his time on the show in 2011. We did our best, but as you can imagine, a lot of laughter was involved.
The evening continued with a question and answer session with Russell, BBC Executive Producer, Richard Curwen, Strictly Come Dancing Live Events Manager at BBC Studios and Strictly Dress Expert, Carole Williams in the Long Drawing Room. During the relaxed but amusing chat we learnt some interesting facts about the organisation of the show, what goes on behind the scenes and how the couples are selected and paired together. Chemistry is the key!
The rest of the evening was spent perusing the exhibition at leisure. The beautiful handmade dresses designed by Vicky Gill look spectacular in their surroundings in the Great Hall. Everyone appeared to be having a lovely time and were able to discover interesting facts about each dress and take photographs and selfies with their favourites. Video screening of the dresses in action was also ongoing throughout the evening.
The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ exhibition continues throughout the whole of September at Berkeley Castle and admission is included in the entrance price. The exhibition also coincides with the start of the latest series on BBC1. Strictly fans will love it.
Explore Gloucestershire
1 September 2018
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