Sarah-Jane and the Strictly stars

A Strabane woman and devoted Strictly Come Dancing fan has had the birthday celebration of a lifetime after meeting, dancing, and getting up close with some of her Strictly idols.

Sarah-Jane Mullen, whose parents Paul and Rosemarie run Strictly by M Dancin’, recently kicked off the celebrations when she, her mum Rosemarie and aunt Genevieve travelled to Dublin to sit in the audience for ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ And it was there that Sarah-Jane took the chance to meet Strictly co-host Tess Daly.

Sarah-Jane explained, “I met Tess Daly just by chance in Dublin at the dancing With The Stars broadcast… As everyone was leaving, she came racing past me. Despite being in an obvious hurry, possibly catching a flight back to England, she was good enough to stop when I asked for a photo and was extremely gracious. I told her why I was there and how my parents run Strictly by M Dancing and she was lovely, encouraging us to keep going. After a brief chat, she rushed off to a waiting car but, I know if she had more time, then would have stopped to chat more.”

If that wasn’t enough, Sarah-Jane once more with mum and aunt in tow, spent last weekend tripping the light fantastic with some of the show’s pro dancers.

Explaining how it came about, Sarah-Jane offered, “Through a company called ‘Dancing with the Pros’, myself, mum and my aunt went off to Alton Towers Resort hotel for a weekend of dancing, where we were put through our paces by the pros in seven different workshops. Over the course of two days, we were shown how to Waltz by Alijaz and Janette, given cha-cha-cha lessons by Carrie and Michelle before being shown how to jive by Jowita! It was an absolutely brilliant experience!

“Dancing runs in the family; I dance and my mum and aunt have been dancing since they were no age so we loved it. When you’re a dancer and a pro is helping you, whether telling you that you’re doing it right or correcting little things in your performance despite being on the right tracks, it’s a huge confidence booster and it’s great to get a new perspective.”

Sarah-Jane says that, by the time she left, everyone was made aware of her birthday with Alijaz sending her birthday wishes at every opportunity.

“It was a very high energy weekend and my legs are dead but it was 100 per-cent worth it and a wonderful birthday experience!”