If they were to name a dance after Sarah Hadland, it would surely be called the “Can, can”.

Okay, 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 has unleashed a new confidence.

And she gives much of the credit for that to the absolute belief in her of her professional partner Vito Coppola. 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.

“And I’m so grateful to him for that, for his perseverance – for his rock solid belief in me, telling me not to limit myself. Sometimes I’d feel frightened that Vito believed in me. I thought, ‘I’m gonna let you down’. I think as women you often have that self-doubt. But now I don’t let it stop me.”

Sarah, a 53-year-old single mum, added: “What Strictly made me realise is you get to a point in life and you have your values, your morals and certain things born out of experience. But you haven’t reached the limit of your experience. So how can you limit yourself from trying things just because you fear you might not be able to do it? Because, what if you can?

“It’s the confidence to say it’s good to be vulnerable and open to trying. To just try, and see what happens when you do. That’s what I’d want to encourage others to do – to not put a ceiling on what you can achieve, at whatever age. Now I reframe ‘I can’t’ as ‘I can’t… yet’. Because I won’t know if I don’t try. And that’s quite a powerful feeling.”

Sarah Hadland (right) spoke to the Mirror recently about working with Vito Coppola (left) on Strictly last year ( 
Image:
Mike Marsland/WireImage)

She also praised winner Chris McCausland, saying that what he ‘did was another level’ ( 
Image:
Getty)
Her friendship with Vito on and off the dance floor is what helped get her to last month’s final – up against comic Chris McCausland, Love Islander Tasha Ghouri and JLS singer JB Gill. Sarah says she never doubted who should lift the glitterball trophy.

She said: “If Chris hadn’t won, it would’ve been a scandal. I’d have felt guilty if I’d won over him, we all would. What he did was another level. The thing I’ll take away from Chris is that people with disabilities are problem solvers. And I’ve never thought of it like that. He’s not the one going, ‘I can’t do that. I’m blind’. He’s like, ‘Well how are we gonna do this?’ And there’s no, ‘I’m blind’. It’s just so inspiring.”

Sarah was thrilled to bag a place on the tour, joining JB, Tasha, Wynne Evans, Jamie Borthwick, Montell Douglas and Shayne Ward.
She said: “I’m like a kid going to summer camp – I’m beyond excited. It’s a different vibe to the main show, where every week you’re on the back foot.

“Now we know the dances it’s just, let’s have the most fun. I think the come-down from the tour will be huge, but the high will be amazing. That’s why so many people told me I should do it.”

Sarah had the backing of sitcom co-star Miranda Hart, who often popped in to support her as she rehearsed for the main series. After the success of the Gavin & Stacey Christmas finale, fans have speculated whether a Miranda special could be on the cards this year. Sarah smiled: “You just never, ever know. The Gavin & Stacey finale was so good. Ruth Jones reminds me a lot of Miranda. She’s a phenomenal talent and captures – with James Corden as well
– that voice for women.”