"If someone walked in here wanting to learn to dance the first things I would get them to think about is their poise, their deportment, their ability to stand up tall and hold themselves right," said Mavis.

"You get some dancers on Strictly, sportsmen in particular, who have trouble dropping and relaxing their shoulders. You can't have that in dancing – you need to be relaxed, and your movements need to be fluid.

"The moment your hips and shoulders start stiffening, especially when you're doing Latin American, is the moment the dance becomes clumsy, and that's when it all starts to go wrong."

Related feature:
Dancing is good for the body and soul
ET features writer Jemma Walton is put through her paces by dance teacher Mavis Stephenson.
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Two: Beware – love might be in the air

"Dancing can be a very romantic thing," said Mavis. "Obviously tempers can become frayed if you have to learn a dance very quickly and spend five or so hours a day learning it, but often it can help people to get very close. Certainly dancing as a hobby can encourage romantic feelings in people!

"I teach people how to dance for their wedding dance, and I have also had a number of people come along to dance class and end up married.

"You see that element of it sometimes on Strictly – Flavia and Matt last year, for example. And that's nice to see – as long as they aren't married to anyone else..."

Three: Act the part

The paso doble dance is based around the idea of a bull fight. As such it involves the female dancer pretending to be a cape, the male dancer pretending to be a matador. This is a fiery, passionate dance, with no smiling allowed.

The waltz, however, is all about being smooth, romantic and graceful. Smiles are allowed and there isn't a bull in sight. How can a dancer switch between the two?

"You have to be a good actor to be able to dance," said Mavis. "You have to be able to switch off and lose your self consciousness. This is why I think Cherie Lunghi, who is an actress, stands a good chance of winning this year.

"She is always very poised, very elegant, and always acts the part."

Four: Think glamour

Mavis estimates that each frock a woman wears on Strictly will cost between £2,000 and £3,000 – so if you're looking to take dancing up professionally, you'd better have a generously-sized piggy bank.

"I enjoy having a job that you need to dress up and look the part for," she said. "I can spend up to 13 hours a day on my feet when I'm teaching people, so obviously that's not so glamorous, but competing can be.

"I've probably got 50 ballroom dresses at home, although they didn't cost as much as the Strictly ones. I like pink and lilac floaty gowns with a low neck and back line.

"They look really beautiful. But competing needn't be that expensive - often women will swap gowns after they've word them four or five times."

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