Born in Ukraine before moving to Italy at the age of nine, Nikita Kuzmin could never have imagined he would end up on one of the biggest dance shows in the world. Joining Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, the professional dancer has made it to the final twice and has been partnered with popular celebrities including Amber Davies, Layton Williams and Tilly Ramsay. While BBC bosses have ignited a major professional shake-up to this year's lineup, with five fan favourites all axed from the show, Nikita is not going anywhere.
A Serendipitous Start
Reflecting on the opportunity ahead of his new solo tour Burn The Floor: Supernova, Nikita told The Daily Mail: 'Without the show I wouldn't be where I am today and it's just been a blessing.' The star explained that he was scouted for the show, and coincidentally came across the email he received asking him to take part just the other day. 'I think it's more of a scouting process with me specifically. I don't know how other people get on the show, [but] I just received an email.' He added: 'I actually found it a couple of days ago, I found that old email in a folder and it's just wild because they just gave me this opportunity and I'm just so lucky. I'm truly blessed and grateful for every single opportunity they gave me.'
A Heart for Strictly
Nikita emphasised his enduring commitment to the show, stating: 'My heart will always stay with Strictly as long as they want me back.' Created by world-renowned choreographer and BAFTA award-recipient Jason Gilkison, who also works on Strictly, Nikita's new tour promises to be its most daring and dynamic with an electrifying fusion of movement and music. Overwhelmed by the opportunity to tour, he said: 'Five years ago I've never thought that I would even be maybe in this country or doing my favourite show, and today I'm creating this wonderful, wonderful tour and it's just really exciting.' He continued: 'It constantly feels like there are things that I would have never expected are just happening, and I'm constantly kind of reimagining what is the next thing. To even be having a tour it's already a wild concept because where I come from this just doesn't happen to anybody and I would have never expected it to happen to me.'
Strictly Shake-Up and Online Following
Over the past few months it has emerged that five of the show's beloved stars - Karen Hauer, Nadiya Bychkova, Michelle Tsiakkas, Luba Mushtuk, and Gorka Márquez - have been dropped from the lineup in a Strictly 'bloodbath'. This comes after sources said that bosses have chosen to keep pros with a bigger online following in a desperate bid to draw in younger viewers. Boasting 300,000 followers, Nikita has curated a large online following himself but he emphasised that it is important to have a balance between his performing life and his personal life. 'To be honest, I do love my private life and I love life in general, just like a normal human being life. I have a beautiful girlfriend, I have a gorgeous dog, I have three fabulous cats. I have my friends in London and I have a family which is between Italy and Ukraine, so you know they deserve as much time as my job. Everything needs to be balanced in my opinion, to the best of my abilities.'
The Adrenaline of Live Performance
He continued: 'But at the same time, I think performing has my heart and to do it on a bigger reach where you can reach a lot of people at the same time.... It's that sort of a thing which you can never really live or have anywhere else except on Strictly. It's a humongous adrenaline rush. I don't experience that adrenaline rush anywhere else. It's just gorgeous, it's just beautiful.' Despite years of experience Nikita still gets nervous before every performance. 'Every time, and before every theatre show, before every TV show, I have to meditate and pray and just calm myself, because at the end of the day, my job is to make my celebrity shine. If they shine, I can shine along them... I am the frame and they're the picture.'
Tour Dates
Nikita's Burn The Floor: Supernova tour kicks off in June and runs until July as he performs across the UK over 38 dates.
