Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara has revealed her baby is “already dancing in my belly”.
It’s no surprise given she is a professional dancer and the dad is also one of the UK’s best known dancers, her husband Aljaž Škorjanec, who quit Strictly last year.
Despite the pedigree DNA of their first child due in August the couple won’t be putting any pressure on the newborn to follow them into dance.
Janette, 39, from Miami, Florida, revealed: “It’s already dancing in my belly. It doesn’t stop moving. Aljaž and I are so excited.
“Whatever our baby wants to be, that’s fine. Hopefully it’ll be the arts because we are both very artistic and love the arts. If they do we will be their biggest champions.”
Janette, who quit Strictly in 2020 after seven years to take over from Zoe Ball as host of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, isn’t putting her feet up just yet.
At the end of the month, kicking off at the Glasgow OVO Hydro, she will host Disney 100 – a brand new concert tour of eight UK arenas celebrating 100 years of the family favourite.
Janette, who hosted the Strictly Live tour at the Hydro in February, said: “I’ll be big by the time Disney 100 comes around. It means I can’t fly so I’ll be travelling mostly by bus. Which is totally fine. It means I will be able to see a lot of the UK countryside which is gorgeous.
“I’m glad we are starting in Glasgow. I love coming to Scotland.
“We go there every year for Strictly and its always one of the best crowds –vibrant, loud and fun.”
And while she’s working hosting eight shows in some of the UK’s biggest arenas, she revealed that Aljaž will be going on holiday.
She laughed: “I think he’s going with his mates to enjoy one last hurrah before the baby comes.
“While I’m working. But he’ll definitely come to one of the shows to support me.”
Janette married her long-term partner in 2017 and had arranged to start IVF treatment only to discover she was pregnant, announcing the happy news in February this year. All has gone well. She said: “I don’t take for granted how lucky I’ve been with this pregnancy. Everything has been so smooth.”
Janette, who is Cuban-American, joined Strictly in 2013 quitting as a professional dancer when she got the job hosting It Takes Two from 2021.
Slovenian Aljaž also joined Strictly in 2013, winning the show in his first year with Abbey Clancy before deciding to leave last year.
Janette said: “It would have been very easy for both Aljaž and I to stay on as Strictly professionals until the day we retired, because it can be really hard to cross over and do something else. But that’s not in either of our natures, we don’t want to boxed in, we want to smash out of the box and try new things and discover new passions.”
Last year the pair went on four tours together performing dance shows around the UK.
And Janette is proud of her husband for quitting Strictly, saying it’s “one of the bravest things he’s ever done” because he didn’t have another job to go to.
But since Rylan Clark quit It Takes Two she would love him to co-host the Strictly spin-off show with her.
Janette said: “I’m going to be biased and say I hope it is Aljaž so we can host the show together as husband and wife but who knows. We will see what happens.”
Whoever takes over from Rylan, who had hosted It Takes Two since 2019, will have big shoes to fill.
Janette said: “I’m definitely going to miss him and it’s sad he’s not going to be part of the show.
“His energy was infectious and he was such a fan of Strictly. I loved working with him.
“We got on so, so well and he was such a good mentor to me.
“I’m a presenter now but I’m fairly new in the presenting world and he has given me so much guidance.
“He was such a good friend and such a good laugh. He’s exactly as he is on the TV.” Janette, who earlier this year moved with Aljaž from London to Cheshire, still can’t believe the opportunities she’s continuing to get in the UK.
She said: “I’m Latina. My family is Cuban. I never imagined a Cuban from Miami would be hosting It Takes Two or hosting the Disney 100 tour.”
But she sees similarities in both –especially the desire for positivity
and inclusivity.
While Strictly has recently included same-sex partners, a deaf contestant and rumours there will be a wheelchair-using contestant this year, Disney, known for its white princess has got better from Mulan and Aladdin to more recently Moana and Encanto.
Janette said: “It’s beautiful to see there is representation of every human being on Strictly and Disney.”
Janette is such a big Disney fan it was included in her wedding. She said: “In my wedding vows Aljaž promised to take me to Disney once a year, every year for the rest of our lives.”
She’s only just back from her 15th trip to Disney World in Florida. She went to see her first Disney film aged one and from age six was a huge Little Mermaid fan.
For her seventh birthday she had a Little Mermaid-themed party in which her mother coloured her hair red and created a green tail as well as filling three children’s paddling pools for her and her friends to splash about in outside. She’s perfectly placed then, to be the host of Disney 100, describing herself as the audience’s “Jiminy Cricket guide for the night”.
The concert includes the Hollywood Sound Orchestra playing your favourite Disney songs with a cast of West End and Broadway singers and a huge screen showing clips of Disney classics as well as highlights from Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
Janette said: “I’m so excited. I’ve converted Aljaž to being a Disney fan and hopefully my baby will be one too.
“At this point the baby can hear music, so I can’t wait to go on tour and have baby listening to the music I love so much over and over again.
“I’m creating a little Disney fan before the baby is even out.”
And who knows Disney might come calling for Janette to do a voice part in the next big movie.
She screamed: “Don’t. The baby would come out early with my excitement.”
●Janette Manrara will host Disney 100: The Concert which starts at the Glasgow OVO Hydro on May 31. For tickets go to disneytickets.co.uk
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