It's strictly personal for Craig Revel Horwood

Starring Lisa Riley and professional dancers Artem Chigvintsev, Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite, it will tell their individual stories and weave in routines – everything fromballroom to a clog dance – in an evening that Craig hopes will make your spirits soar.

You’ll have seen them on TV; you may have caught up with them on the arena tour. But now, here’s your chance to get up close and personal to the accompaniment of everything frompop hits to show tunes sung to a live band.

“I interviewed all four of them to find out their life stories,” says Craig, “the ups and downs of becoming dancers that brought them to being involved in Strictly. I then wrote an autobiographical arc for each of them. I was keen to construct a showthat wasn’t just a series of demonstration dances.”

So it is that we’ll hear fromLisa about losing her mother, Cath, to cancer just weeks before she started on Strictly. “Cath’s favourite song,” says Craig, “was InMy Daughter’s Eyes. Lisa will tell the audience howshe coped before going into a dance based on that song. It’s absolutely beautiful.’ But there’ll be fun, too, including a ballet based on Emmerdale in which she appeared as Mandy Dingle.

“She’ll also be doing the splits eight times a week which will bring water tomy eyes, if not hers. I couldn’t believe it when she did it at Wembley. The arena shook. It was amazing. But then so is her singing voice. You wait until you hear her sing All That Jazz.”

We’ll also learn about Artem’s tough time growing up in Russia; about Ian confronting his sexuality; and how Natalie had to beat the odds to followher dream.

“I want to show howthey’ve battled obstacles with courage and that very often it’s through song and dance that they’ve found a way forward.

“I also want to take the audience backstage at Strictly to show the nerves before they come out and dance in front of 14 million people with a camera thrust in their face. I’m trying to reveal the face behind the mask.”

Says Lisa: ‘I’m never happier than when I’ve got a smile on myface and I’m given the opportunity to perform. I could be working in Asda, but I’m not; I’m doing the career I’ve always wanted. I think Craig spotted that quite early on. But not initially.

‘Did people think I was going to be a female John Sergeant?

Probably. Before Robin Windsor and I danced our first cha-cha, the bookies’ odds on me were 88-1. On Sunday morning, I was on the front page of every newspaper andmy odds had plummeted to 6-1.’ Artem said: “I’ll be dancing with Lisa which I’m very excited about because she did so amazingly on Strictly last season.”

He started dancing in Russia when he was 12, and got involved with the Dancing With The Stars tour when he went to America.

“It was while I was performing in Korea in the Burn The Floor show that I was contacted by Strictly and became one of the professional dancers in 2010. I was so lucky. I was partnered with Kara Tointon.

We won the show– and I got the girl. We’re still together.’ Natalie wasn’t even walking when she watched her brother and sister learn to dance in Sydney.

“I was five when I wonmyfirst competition and first represented Australia at eight. I then went on to be a four-times ballroom dancing champion.”

After five series of Dancing With The Stars in Australia, Natalie joined the ‘cast’ of Strictly in 2009.

“I could have gone to the US version but I wanted to come to theUK because the quality of ballroom dancing is the best in the world.”

Ian Waite, who joined Strictly for its second series, first got interested in dance around 10 fromwatching old musicals with his grandmother.

“Myhero was Gene Kelly. I loved Singin’ In The Rain. At 11, I went to dance classes withmyfather. The first competition I entered, I won.

The dye was cast, and at 18, I was European champion inmyage group in Latin American dance.”

• Strictly Confidential visits Bristol’s Colston Hall today and tomorrow June 14 and 15, and Cardiff Motorpoint Arena this Sunday, June 16. Visit strictlyconfidentialtour.com for details