Emotional ties with professional dancer Flavia Cacace

Flavia’s new show Tango Moderno tours nationwide until 14 April; see tangomoderno.com for details

‘This is mum and dad on their wedding day in Naples. They met dancing. Mum wanted to go professional, but it wasn’t the done thing, so she sent me to classes instead. We moved from Italy to Guildford in Surrey when I was four, and my parents still live nearby. I’m the youngest of six. We’re very close and are always on WhatsApp.’

‘I’ve had this – one of my first Argentine tango dresses – for 15 years. It’s not that glitzy – I used to prefer plain styles. Vicky Gill, the Strictly Come Dancing costume designer, makes all my dresses now. She’s incredible.’

‘I’m on my fourth show with Vincent Simone. We’ve been dancing together for 22 years. Our success comes from knowing each other so well. Each time we do a show, we think it will be our last. It’s so draining, but hard to give up. When you’re given opportunities, you have to take them.’

‘I was on Strictly for seven years and won four trophies. I’m most proud of the one for the 2012 Children in Need special when I danced with the astrologer Russell Grant. We wore red devil costumes and he got really into it.’

‘These shoes are from Midnight Tango, my first theatre production. On tour, shoes last three weeks before they get too wobbly and I have to throw them out. I have about 40 pairs in my wardrobe. I find it more painful than ever to dance in heels because it puts so much pressure on your joints.’

‘Actor Jimi Mistry and I met on Strictly in 2010, and married in 2013. We chose these Issey Miyake perfumes for our wedding day so that whenever we spray them on, it takes us back. Our lives are hectic, but we make it work.’

‘Playing the violin was a big part of my childhood. I struggled to read music, but if I heard something, I could play it. I stopped when I was 16, but I’m planning to take it up again. I always like to have something going on besides dancing. I need something else to get me through life.’

‘Dogs have always been part of my life. I grew up with a german shepherd, who I talked to all the time. I love walking my two cockapoos – Zak [left], nine months, and Pablo, two – on Camber Sands and Whitstable beach.’

‘At the end of my last tour, I was exhausted. I took a dog-grooming course to snap myself out of my ‘dance brain’. The course was hard. On the first day, I came home and said to Jimi, ‘I can’t do it!’ He talked me round. It can be therapeutic.’

‘I inherited these earrings from my grandmother. After we moved to England, we would visit Italy every summer and stay with her. She had hair down to her waist, which she would wrap around her head. She also wore long gloves just to go shopping.’