If anyone can inspire people to lead an active life it's Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden. And the Welsh dancer says it's her passion for dance that's helped her when she's been at her lowest as she's battled Crohn's disease.
"Dancing has been my saviour and I'm not sure what kind of place I'd be in if I wasn't keeping active with my Crohn's disease – I always feel so much better once I start moving," says Amy.
“When I'm at my lowest it’s my dancing that pushes me through. You can get quite low when you suffer from these flare-ups, and you ask yourself ‘why me? this is not fair’ when you're in pain. When the pain starts to ease and get better, the first thing I want to do is get my body moving.”
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden tries on wedding dresses after postponing big day
Amy has been collaborating with NHS Wales on the Help Us, Help You campaign to inspire people to get more active and boost their physical and mental wellbeing.
The 31-year-old, originally from Caerphilly, is one of the highest-ranking Ballroom and Latin American professional dancers in the UK. For the recent campaign, she hosted a free virtual dance class using her skills and expertise to encourage people of all ages to ramp up their heart rates by trying out some new moves.
She said: “I just think it was an amazing campaign. Doing a little bit of exercise, something you love, or you enjoy, will help you so much – especially coming out of the pandemic. People are so busy but just being able to fit in exercise, whether it's 10-15 minutes or an hour, will be good for you.
“Dancing just makes me extremely happy and it's a good exercise for the whole body. Anyone could do it and I arranged my virtual class for absolute beginners to those who can also dance. I really enjoyed hosting it and I hope others have enjoyed it. I hope this will be something that we can continue working on together.”
Since her Strictly debut in 2017, she has used her platform to raise awareness of hidden illnesses after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 19 years old. She recently won an award for her TV documentary on the subject. Read more here.
She said: “When I was diagnosed, I was finally able to get the right medication to help with the symptoms – it was such a relief for me."
Amy recently announced that she will be returning to Strictly Come Dancing this autumn for her sixth series on the show. Last season, she was very open about struggling with Crohn’s flare-ups during the competition, which even saw her hospitalised during the show's live tour earlier this year, which you can read more about here.
She said: “I'm so lucky, the production team is incredible, my fellow professionals are amazing, everybody looks after me and I just try to keep on top of my symptoms. I'm very aware of the symptoms that could lead to a flare-up the older I've got. I have the most amazing team behind me as well. I just make sure I go in as well as I possibly can be. I'm very, very lucky. I don't worry about it going into work and I think that's important as well.”
The show has partnered her with many celebrities of all dancing abilities over the last few years. She made it to the final in 2019 with celebrity partner Karim Zeroual and had a close run with JJ Chalmers before being voted out in the 2020 quarter final.
When asked about being partnered with celebrities, she said: “We find out when you find out who the celebrities are, and sometimes you guys know before us because we're in professional rehearsals. We know who the celebrity line-up is when it’s announced but honestly, we don't know who we’re partnered with until it’s filmed. I’ve tried to guess the height based on previous partners and careers they’ve had, because you would want it to be a different story. So, I guess but we honestly have no idea.”
Since the show, Amy has also been a part of other dance tours and even starred in her own tour ‘An Evening with Amy Dowden.’ She said: “A producer came along last year and asked if I would like to do it and I was like, absolutely. My days are so, so busy because I'm dancing, filming my new TV series and I'm getting married this year. But I knew I needed to squeeze it in.
“We've already done three dates and it looks like we're going to try, somehow, to fit another one in. I just had to do it – I've really missed dancing in theatres. It’s looking like it’s going to be on my hen weekend, so I’ll have a busy time.”
Amy is engaged to professional dancer Ben Jones, and they are planning to get married this summer, after the wedding was previously postponed due to the pandemic. Fellow Strictly professionals Diane Buswell and Oti Mabuse are also set to be bridesmaids.
Amy has a busy year ahead; she is hosting BBC One’s new show ‘Dare to Dance,’ which will air in January 2023, filming some secret upcoming TV shows and is learning Welsh on S4C’s show ‘Iaith ar Daith’. Read more on that here.
