I learned women like me can push further

IF they were to name a dance after Sarah Hadland, it would surely be called the "Can, can".

- MARK JEFFERIES

Sure, that name might already be taken - and it is one you will perhaps never see performed on Strictly - but it perfectly sums up the woman she has become since joining the iconic BBC show. After a lifetime of putting limits on what she thought she could achieve, Sarah says the dance competition unleashed a newfound confidence. And she gives much of the credit for that to her professional dance partner, Vito Coppola.

PERSEVERANCE

Speaking as the Strictly live tour kicked off in Birmingham, Sarah said: "Women come up to me every day and it makes me cry because there are two things they all say. They feel people have written them off - but, worse, they've accepted it.

"It's one thing to have other people say, 'Are you really going to do that? Aren't you a bit old?'

"What's worse is you going, 'Yeah, I am'. It's like... no!

"Vito wouldn't accept that from me. It did cause friction at times because I'd be like, 'I can't do it', and I'd get annoyed when he'd tell me to try it anyway... and then I'd do it.