Letting go: Kevin Clifton

Don’t Tell Me The Score

The importance of letting go of the need for approval with Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton. Kevin’s parents were world class dancers, and he took it up when he was just four years old. Along with younger sister Joanne, also a Strictly champion, he competed in international dancing competitions from a young age, going through one particularly harrowing experience at the Wimbledon of dance- the British Open- aged 11. What he experienced there stayed with Kevin, and left him with self-doubts that he carries round to this day. Kevin was four times a runner up on Strictly before eventually lifting the glitterball in 2018 alongside Stacey Dooley, and that success only came when he let go of desperately wanting and even needing to win the competition. As well as letting go, Kevin and SImon talk about whether dancing could or should be thought of as a sport, as it was recently considered for inclusion in the Olympics. They also talk about choosing to do what feels right in any given moment, even if externally it might appear to be a bit boring and they discuss Kevin’s burgeoning meditation habit and embracing the idea that none of us need 'fixing', we just need to shed the stories and labels we’ve all picked up throughout our lives.