Married couple, and Strictly Come Dancing sensations, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, have such passion for Latin American dance which translated to the stage during the two-hour performance.

The dancers took the audience from the streets of Brazil to the Rio carnival before reaching the bullrings of Spain.

The show made its debut in London’s West End last year, fulfilling the couple’s long-held dream to choreograph and perform their own show.

It was so successful, the duo took it on tour once again and Friday’s show at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, was towards the end of the run, which closed on Sunday at The Sage, Gateshead.

The couple were joined by four leading Latin American dancing duos in a technicolour display of vibrant routines.

These included a mix of all the disciplines including paso doble, samba, jive, salsa, mambo and the rumba.

Every dance linked together to tell a story and was punctuated by pitch-perfect performances from the band and lead singers who performed numbers such as Livin’ La Vida Loca and Chica Chica Boom Chic.

But it was the Argentine Tango that really took my breath away as the stars performed a slick and sensual routine that portrayed desire, jealousy and longing.

The show was missing the exciting lifts and gravity defying moves regularly featured on Strictly Come Dancing.

However, on such a small stage such feats were not possible and were substituted with speed, spins and sparkle that gave the show a magical touch fans of the show are accustomed to.

The second half moved away from the traditional Latin American feel to incorporate routines from the 1920s dance halls with the jive followed by modern numbers such as Justin Timberlake’s Senorita and a Spanish Grease remix.

The audience were invited to participate in the fun by attempting to keep the rhythm for Mambo Italiano by clapping along.

Although we didn’t fare too badly, we were at our best with our fervent applause which followed every routine including a well- deserved standing ovation to finish.

Overall, the evening was electric and made me want to get to my feet and join in — LB.