Strictly star gives dance lessons to Dalston pupils

Ballroom champ kristina Rihanoff is set to visit Shacklewell Primary School

An award-winning dancer who famously struggled to teach John Sergeant to dance in Strictly Come Dancing is hoping pupils at a Dalston primary school will show more talent next Thursday.

Kristina Rihanoff will join year six students at the school in Shacklewell Primary School, in Shacklewell Row, during their weekly Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lesson.

The Siberian-born star will speak to youngsters about her life, before putting them through their paces on the dance floor.

The school’s PSHE co-ordinator, year two teacher, Sarah Paxton said: “She’ll talk to the children about the importance of dreams and never giving up. That will fit in with the PSHE course, which is about building self esteem and the qualities of self discipline and resilience.”

Kristina Rihanoff, who won the South African National Latin Champions in 2006, first appeared on the hit BBC1 show in 2008 - but her partner John Sergeant withdrew from the show after controversially gaining votes despite his inability to dance. Kristina won the Christmas Special last year with John Barrowman.

The dancer’s visit to the school was organised by the Kids Taskforce, through missdorothy.com, which runs the programme taught as part of the primary PSHE curriculum.