FRESH from his victory on Strictly Come Dancing, winning dancer Pasha Kovalev is cha-cha-chaing his way to Dorset with his new tour. He speaks to Joanna Davis about finally getting his hands on that Glitterball trophy, just what made Caroline Flack so good and what people can expect from his new show Life Through Dance.

JUST like his on-screen Saturday evening persona, Strictly Come Dancing star Pasha Kovalev is polished, suave and charming on the phone.

He answers my call and tells me he has been waiting for me to ring and is ready to answer all my questions with no time constraints.

What a charmer – and that accent to boot!

Just a month after his victory on Strictly partnering TV presenter Caroline Flack, Pasha is getting ready to go on the road for his Life Through Dance tour.

Refreshed and relaxed, he has just returned from a holiday in Miami with Countdown presenter Rachel Riley, his partner in the show’s eleventh series.

The pair revealed they were dating last year.

Pasha tells me he has just got back from a holiday in the Florida sunshine. Was that with a certain Miss Riley, I ask?

And this is the part where he goes all coy.

“Yes, it was,” he tells me. Then he clams up, only to add: “I like the beach, I like to go anywhere where I can sunbathe.”

When I tell Pasha we have some lovely beaches in Dorset he’s not quite convinced that Weymouth beach in March will live up to Miami beach... well, at any time of year, because this 5ft 10inch twinkle-toed Siberian much prefers hot countries.

Pasha came to the UK in 2011 to join Strictly after appearing on So You Think You Can Dance in the US.

The 35-year-old has also appeared on Broadway in dance show Burn the Floor.

There are some smouldering shots of a bare-chested Pasha on his official website. How does he cope with all the female (and male) attention he receives in this country as a result of Strictly?

He says: “I’m not sure about that. I think people are excited to see me, a few people know who I am when I go out but I don’t know about screaming fans!

“I’m quite a modest guy and I don’t like to bask in the glory of anything I have done on television, what I’m trying to do with my dancing is inspire people.

“That’s what I’m trying to do with my touring show, to give people food for thought.”

Pasha has made the most of his fame since he came to the UK to join Strictly. This will be his fourth tour.

Life Through Dance will see him reunited with his former dance partner Anya Garnis. The pair competed together in Russia and then again in the US on the third series of So You Think You Can Dance.

Pasha said: “Anya is a special guest on the tour. I’ve been dancing with her for 13 years and it’s wonderful to have her on the tour.

“I’m going to be doing a lot of different dances to the ones I have done on Strictly.

“Anyone who wants to see the same dances can just go to YouTube to watch them.

“I just love entertaining people and showing them what different dances there are and give them a different perspective on dance.

“The show will have a little storyline, the show is about relationships, interactions.

“I think dance represents emotions on aspects of life – how people feel when they are in love, sometimes people fight, sometimes they are moved and sometimes they have a big party.

“The show will show the audience all these different sides of life.”

There will also be a bonus for local dance troupes across the country with young dancers invited to take part in the show.

Pasha says: “For them it’s a big experience, it’s exciting for young dancers to get on the stage and show people what they can do.

“We also have a lot of audience interaction, we ask people to put on a cape and teach them the paso doble.

“We always want to try and do things differently and love the participation.”

Pasha thinks the key to his success on Strictly – the most of any male dancer, reaching the final on three out of four occasions – is down to the women he has been partnered with.

He also reached the final with actress Chelsee Healey and Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud.

Last year with Caroline Flack the pair set a record of becoming the first to score a maximum 40 points from the judges in all three of their dances in the final.

Pasha said: “I have been partnered with some amazing girls over the years on Strictly.

“I don’t know how I have deserved that – the producers always seem to give me the best!

“This time around with Caroline I had the best of the best and I ended up winning – it didn’t seem real.

“My main goal was to make whoever I was dancing with perform at their best and for the audience to see how much they had developed.

“Caroline got into the place where she was able to perform and wasn’t holding back, I think that translated into what we were doing and the audience saw that.”

With Pasha so busy with other commitments, will we see him back on our screens again taking part in this year’s Strictly, I ask?

“The producers start talking to the celebrities early on but they don’t start talking to the professional dancers about it until the last months of spring.

“I don’t even know for sure I’ll be asked!

“I will see what happens and I’ll be looking forward to talking to them about it,” he said, But what is clear is that Pasha really loves to tour and put on his own shows.

He said: “This is going to be a long tour going from March to June and it’s important to be completely ready for it, otherwise I couldn’t present it to an audience.

“On Strictly you lose so much weight and shed so many pounds as there’s plenty of exercise in the dance routines.

“In my spare time I like to relax and not do much.”

But it sounds like even when he is relaxing he is always busy planning something else, I suggest.

“I’m planning to do something in the West End, it would be so different to what I’m doing on tour.

“In the West End people are coming to see the entire show and I would want to create a show that will cater for everybody.

“It’s in the plans – maybe not this year but eventually! I always seem to have something going on.”

And so ends my conversation with Pasha. Hard-working, polite and modest, it’s no surprise that this reigning King of Strictly is in so much demand.

Life Through Dance is at Weymouth Pavilion on March 20. It also goes to the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil on Sunday, May 17 and Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre on June 10. Contact the venues for tickets.