The Greatest Dancer judges get glam as live shows kick off

The Greatest Dancer kicks off its live challenge shows tonight and the judges are ready.

Over the past four weeks, we’ve seen dancers aged 7 and up, perform any dance style in The Greatest Dancer studio in their bid to impress the audience. If 75 per cent of the crowd voted, the mirror opened, sending them through to the callbacks.

Last week, Dance Captains Cheryl, Matthew Morrison and Oti Mabuse had the tough job of whittling down the acts who the mirror opened for and deciding upon their Final 3 to mentor in the Live Challenge Shows.

From tonight, the competition is on! After four weeks of auditions the show goes live, as the final nine acts take to the stage for the Challenge Shows, competing to win £50,000, a chance to dance on Strictly Come Dancing and become The Greatest Dancer.

Every week, each of the dancers are set a challenge which they must tackle with their Dance Captain to create an unforgettable performance. For the first time the power is in the hands of the viewers at home, as they vote to decide who stays in the competition each week.

Ahead of the live shows, the Dance Captains have got glam – and been bigging up their acts.

Cheryl’s squad is made up of all girl dance group Dan Bates Collective, duo Harry & Eleiyah and four piece street group Frobacks.

She said: “My acts are so versatile. They are going to do things the other dance captains don’t even know they can do yet!

“My job is to take the challenges that are thrown at us and convert that into what represents each act best, encouraging and pushing the best out of them to surprise the people at home.”

Matthew’s team includes commercial-contemporary fusion dance group Company Jinks, teenage dance duo James & Oliver and street crew Prospects Fraternity.

“I feel I’ve got a diverse final 3 to take through to the lives and hopefully win The Greatest Dancer,” he said.

Finally, Oti selected Latin formation group KLA, 14-year-old contemporary solo dancer Ellie and drag act Globe Girls for her final three.

“Tomorrow is the first official live show for The Greatest Dancer, and I am nervous,” she said on Friday in a post on Instagram. “You have people, kids, acts that can dance, you just have to show a difference.A difference between the auditions, and they have to look completely different.

“They have to show improvement, they have to show that they’ve worked hard and they’ve gotten better, and I somehow still feel those nerves.

“I somehow still feel like I’m not gonna sleep. It’s ten o’clock but I’m just so filled with excitement of the unknown, but also nerves, because I love my acts so much. I can’t tell you guys how much I love them, and how much they mean to me.”

The Greatest Dancer live shows start Saturday 2nd February at 7:30PM on BBC One.

Picture credits: Syco / Photographer: Rahul Bhatt