Strictly favourites Kristina Rihanoff, Robin Windsor and Oksana Platero team up with X Factor's Christopher Maloney for Dance

HER breathtaking routines wowed audiences on Strictly Come Dancing and she remains one of the professional dancers who made the biggest impression on the smash hit show.

Kristina Rihanoff, 40, took to the floor of Strictly for eight years - and is now set to tour the UK with her own show Dance to the Music - which stops in Weymouth next weekend.

It's a new beginning for Russian-born Kristina, who seemed to attract controversy as a Strictly dancer in the same way contestants suddenly attracted spray tans.

Be it for her 'Strictly romance' with dance partner and rugby star Ben Cohen or for the controversy whipped up by her partnership with TV reporter John Sergeant, Kristina has been no stranger to the world of tabloid headlines and will remain forever in the memories of Strictly fans.

Who could forget that Paso Doble routine in which a stomping John Sergeant dragged Kristina across the floor? The former political editor was propped up the bottom of the leader board each week but remained a firm favourite with fans. He withdrew from the contest saying 'winning would be a joke too far.'

To the disappointment of many, Kristina has ruled out returning to Strictly.

She said: "I'm not going to go back, I much prefer producing my own shows. Eight years was a long time there and there's nothing else like being on Strictly. I feel like I've done everything there, I had some great dancers like Jason Donovan and others - like John Sergeant!"

I ask Kristina what she thinks of the outcry over the number of celebrities entering the show with previous dance experience.

She said: "I watched a bit of it last year and it has evolved so much from the days when Mark Ramprakash and Darren Gough won to the present one where there are more people with dance experience.

"You're never going to find 14 celebrities and all of them have no dance experience as many of them have done it at stage school. Joe McFadden was a wonderful winner but it's incorrect to say he had no dance experience because he did. I thought that Debbie McGee was fantastic, what she did did a world of good for women of her age. All four of the finalists had some sort of experience."

Kristina says putting together touring shows is the right fit for her.

"Now I want to be my own boss and create my very own shows. I can't see myself being away from home for six months now, Strictly takes up all your time from August 1 to middle of December and my heart just wouldn't be in it any more. It's nice that people keep saying they miss me on Strictly and they were saying that to me and Robin after the opening night of the show yesterday, that it's not the same without us."

Dance to the Music features Kristina's fellow Strictly dancers Robin Windsor and Oksana Platero and her husband Jonathan. It also stars X Factor singer Christopher Maloney, who reached the final in 2012 and became firm friends with Kristina when they both appeared in Celebrity Big Brother.

Kristina said: "People say that the friendships on the show are fake but something very good came out of Big Brother for me and Chris, we are very close. I was doing some charity events and asked Chris if he would support me. His work is so magnificent and his singing works really well in the show. He's very versatile and does pantos and can really entertain the crowd, he's amazing and gets everyone laughing."

Dance to the Music has something for everyone, Kristina says.

"People will see all sorts of dancing from 1920s to present day. It's like an evolution of dance. We've got the Charleston, the lindy hop, then going through the years to disco, the hustle, stuff from the 80s, break dancing, hip hop, ballroom and tango. What's important to me is to create a show appealing to the whole family, it's quite difficult to get the younger generation interested and going to the theatre. They love street dance and hip-hop music and we've incorporated that into the show for them.

"The cast we have is out of this world. I wanted to cast people from different backgrounds and they are dancers who do all sorts of things with very different styles and we hope it will appeal to everyone from 8 to 80."

Although it's a gruelling schedule of shows nearly every night until February 28, Kristina says she is used to the routine and can usually spend the night at home in Northamptonshire with Ben and the couple's one-year-old daughter Milena.

Kristina said: "Luckily I'm still able to have quite a lot of time at home, there's a lot of driving to all the venues but I'm still able to see my little one in the morning and take her to nursery. It's a long tour and it is difficult in our line of work but that's what we do, work really hard for a couple of months and then take a couple of months off. It's exciting to have my own production."

Kristina says she never thought that she'd be calling Britain home after coming here to take part in Strictly.

"I'm always going to be Russian and there's also a little bit of America in my heart as I lived there and a lot of Britain is in my heart now now. I had a learning opportunity in both America and Britain and I've been given the platform to do this, I've loved everything I've done. I lived in London for eight years and now I'm living in Northampton with Ben and it's very rural and my life is very family orientated."

And there's no chance of her hanging up her dancing shoes just yet.

"Having Mila was fantastic and it took a year before I could get back performing. It was a difficult process. I thought I could never get back to the condition I was in before. But I love the theatre and I love the audience and after Strictly you have to rebrand yourself and start something different. For me, I love doing choreography and the creativity of it all and I will see how this show goes.

"Hopefully I can create a little legacy so Mila will be proud of me and what I do."

*Dance to the Music is at Weymouth Pavilion on Sunday, January 28. Call the box office for tickets and more information. It also goes to Westlands, Yeovil, on February 22 and City Hall, Salisbury on February 23.