STRICTLY Come Dancing stars Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer will reignite their chemistry in Firedance at the Grand Opera House, York, on March 12 at 5pm. Yes, 5pm.
In a show full of supercharged choreography, they will be joined by sizzling dancers and mesmerising fire specialists for a dance-off inspired by movie blockbusters Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Carmen and West Side Story.
Soundtracked by a live band, Firedance will take a journey through Latin and contemporary dance, igniting passion as Marquez and Hauer turn up the heat and hit their rhythm to Latin, rock and pop songs by Camilla Cabello, Jason Derulo, Gregory Porter, Gipsy Kings, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and more besides.
Marquez says: “Firedance is back! Karen and I are so excited to dance up a storm for you in 2023. Expect favourite moments and lots of new songs, dance, heat, fire and passion. We can’t wait to be back with our brilliant company doing what we love and hope you will join us.”
Hauer says: “I am so excited to be reuniting with Gorka to bring you Firedance: Reignite in 2023. Creating and performing this incredible show has been a career highlight and we are taking things to another level with original dances, new music and a lot more fire! We can’t wait to show you what we have created with this second chapter of the Firedance story.”
Originally from Bilbao, Spain, Marquez attended ballroom and Latin dance classes from the age of 11, quickly excelling and representing Spain across the globe.
He first graced BBC One’s Strictly dancefloor in 2016, partnering Alexandra Burke, Katie Piper, 2020 finalist season Maisie Smith, Katie McGlynn and 2022 finalist Helen Skelton since then.
He is a qualified personal trainer, fashion model and content creator, having worked with Facebook, Spotify and Tropicana, and has created his own range of apparel in collaboration with WIT.
Born in Venezuela, Hauer grew up in New York from the age of ten. Joining Strictly in 2012, she is the show’s longest-serving professional dancer, partnering Westlife’s Nicky Byrne, the Hairy Bikers’ Dave Myers, Mark Wright, Jeremy Vine, Will Young and chef Simon Rimmer.
In 2018, she reached the quarter-finals with actor Charles Venn and went a step further in 2019, taking comedian Chris Ramsey to the semi-final. In 2020, she reached her second final when partnering Made In Chelsea’s Jamie Laing. Next came Greg Wise in 2021 and an all-female coupling with comedian Jayde Adams last winter.
Hauer is a certified personal trainer and launched her online at-home, equipment-free fitness programme, Hauer Power, in 2019.
Firedance: Reignite’s 2023 itinerary will take in a second Yorkshire show at Sheffield City Hall on April 1 at 7.30pm. Box office: firedancelive.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york; Sheffield, 0114 256 5593 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
seriously… fab band, singers, supporting dancers. Karen gave it everything, beautiful dancing, costumes etc. someone should have told Gorka he was on stage, his movement was lazy and in many places was pedestrian. nicebum shame about the engagement with anything around him. if I’d been Karen I would have given him a good kicking.