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DANCER NATHAN TO STRUT HIS STUFF ON TV
AN EASTBOURNE dance teacher is strutting his stuff on BBC1's Strictly Dance Fever tomorrow night.
Nathan Potter, 26, will be appearing on the Graham Norton show on Saturday (April 2) — and he is hoping Eastbourne residents will support him by picking up the phone and voting.
'I am extremely nervous,' he said.
'But hopefully as soon as I get on the stage the adrenaline will kick in.
'My family will be watching on TV — and I think they will be more nervous than I am.'
Nathan teaches dance to local youngsters at Stagecoach at Ocklynge School and has appeared on stage for am-dram groups including EODS' production of A Little Night Music back in November.
His speciality is jazz and street jazz and he comes from a family who love to dance, describing his mum as a 'wicked jiver'.
Although the prize for the winner is an impressive 50,000, Nathan said entering the competition was 'never about the money'.
'I am a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing and when I saw the advert for this show at the end of the series, I just thought, why not?
'I sent my video in and didn't think I would hear anything. But they phoned up on a Thursday and asked if I could come to the auditions on the Sunday.
'After the audition we were called into a room and told yes or no immediately.'
Nathan was then asked to come back the next day, when he had to learn three different dances to perform for the judges.
He said, 'It was really intense. I had to learn the new dances, remember them all and try and be better than everyone else at the same time.'
Presenter Graham Norton is not only the host of the Saturday night show, he also attended all the auditions and spent time chatting to the competitors.
'I didn't speak to him the first time as I was far too stressed,' said Nathan. 'But I have met him a couple of timess since then and he is a nice bloke.'
Nathan, who works as the manager of Bay Trading in Hastings, first discovered his love of dance while watching his sister rehearse and perform at her local dance school in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
'I would always watch her really closely and learn the routines,' he said.
His parents decided to send him to the local dance school and a year later he gained a place at Patterson's Dancing Academy in Coventry.
He trained in tap, modern, ballet, jazz, and Latin American and, after taking time out to do GCSEs, started dancing in clubs when he was 18.
Nathan's dance partner on the night will be 18-year-old Kirsty Cullen, from Weymouth. Kirsty, a student, says her dance speciality is 'funky jazz'.
Nathan and Kirsty will be competing for not only the Strictly Dance Fever crown, but also a prize of 50,000.
Auditions took place in London, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow throughout February and early March — with 80,000 dancers turning up.
The best 30 couples were then invited to battle it out in three live audition shows.
Each week one couple is eliminated by a vote shared between the judges and the viewers, until the winning couple is announced at the end of the series.
n The show is at 6pm on Saturday on BBC1.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
