Strictly star Pasha's ballroom tour passion

STRICTLY Come Dancing Star Pasha Kovalev has spoken about breaking out of the BBC smash hit show and into his own solo tour.

The Siberian professional dancer (34) has been joined by former Strictly star Katya Virshilas on a five-month tour around the UK called, The Best of Strictly: A kaleidoscope of dance, which drew to a close this week.

Pasha started dancing at the age of eight and moved to America in 2001, he joined BBC’s Strictly in 2011 and was partnered with Waterloo Road actress Chelsee Healey.

In 2012 he was partnered with Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh and last year led Countdown presenter Rachel Riley to the dancefloor.

Pasha said: “This is myself and Katya’s third solo tour, and every year we want it to be bigger and better.

“The first time I was invited to do Strictly myself and Katya just clicked, we have similar ideas about dancing and music.

“It’s a long tour and a lot of work, but we’ve been doing what we love and we get a great amount of support from the audience, which we thrive off.”

This is the first year Pasha decided not to take part in the official Strictly tour, which was also helped by the fact Rachel wasn’t available to take part.

The kaleidoscope tour featured backing dancers, Q and A session and audience dance participation where they compete for a prize.

Pasha added: “We featured 14 brand new dances that have taken elements or music used in some of the famous Strictly routines, as well as current chart music and classics like Frank Sinatra.”

Pasha said that he was still in touch with singer Kimberley, who broke the happy news of her pregnancy to him via a text.

“She said to me: ‘There’ll be no more cha-cha-cha-ing for a while because I’m expecting’.”