Kevin Clifton to join Strictly

Posted on August 19, 2013

Burn The Floor dancer Kevin Clifton has been named as the fifth new professional on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. He joins four other new dancers – Iveta Lukosiute, Janette Manrara, Emma Slater and Aljaž Skorjanec – and his fiancée Karen Hauer (pictured with Kevin).

Kevin tweeted: “Couldn’t be more excited to be joining my beautiful fiancée @karen_hauer and the rest of the amazing @bbcstrictly pros on SCD this year :)”

The 30-year-old from Grimsby proposed to Karen on stage during a performance of Burn The Floor when it was at the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre earlier this year.

British Latin American champion Kevin comes from good dancing stock. He is the son of world champion Latin dancers Keith and Judy Clifton, who run Cliftons Dance Academy in Grimsby, and brother of Joanne Clifton, European Ballroom champion.

Photograph: Chris Mann

Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner was editor of Dance Today from 2010 to 2015. She has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out Buenos Aires, where she cut her teeth as a dance journalist working on the tango section. Today she continues to dance everything from ballroom to breakdance, with varying degrees of success. Her debut novel, The Girl Before You, was published last year in paperback, ebook and audiobook.