Melanie Walters, best known for playing Gwen West in Gavin & Stacey, is taking to the dancefloor in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing – despite admitting dancing is a step into unfamiliar territory.
‘I’ve no formal dance training to speak of – my involvement in musicals and pantos has been as a character actress, not a dancer – but I have always loved to dance,’ she told DVD Fever. ‘We’re talking disco, not clubbing!’
‘It is something completely outside my normal life and my comfort zone,’ the Death Valley and Hollyoaks star said, adding that her signature move could best be described as ‘freestyle’.
She also admits to some apprehension about learning the routines.
‘I’m nervous about my head saying, “Yes, I can do that move”, but my body disagreeing!’
Melanie’s Pilates background gives her an advantage
Melanie’s self-deprecation belies her years of experience in movement and fitness.
Away from the spotlight, the actor is a successful Pilates teacher and studio founder, having started practising more than 20 years ago.
She originally turned to Pilates to help support her back.
‘I took up Pilates originally because I had been told it was very good for improving posture. I had started to notice that my back was getting quite curved, a bit like those signs you see for old people,’ she told Wales Online.
She noticed improvements almost immediately.
‘It helped my upper-body strength.’
She also saw changes in her physique.
‘My body started to change shape, [it] slimmed me down in my centre…and I’m no longer barrel-shaped!’
‘I took to it really easily…I absolutely loved Pilates from the very beginning,’ she said.
That passion eventually led her to found her own studio, Pili Pala – originally called Practical Pilates – in Swansea.
According to the studio’s website, she is ‘an advanced instructor CYQ level 3’ and holds qualifications from The Pilates Institute in London in mat-based Pilates, back care Pilates, clinical posture, Pilates in pregnancy and functional rehabilitation.
She is also ‘an advanced personal trainer’, with qualifications in gym and circuit training, nutrition, exercise programme design and fitness testing.
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Why Melanie is such a Pilates devotee
She has spoken at length about Pilates’ benefits.
‘I am obsessed with it. It’s all about rebalancing the body and I can see how it really helps people with bad backs,’ she told Arts Hub. ‘I see [that in] people in the workplace as well as the over-60s.’
‘The great advantage with Pilates is that everyone can do it,’ she added to Wales Online. ‘There is no age limit. It’s very low impact, so it is suitable for everyone.
‘It is wonderful for improving mobility and flexibility…It is also good for rehabilitation after an injury or fall,’ she continued. ‘Pilates helps give a strong core, stability for everyday physical challenges and a supple body that breathes deeply.’
Research backs her up. One review of eight trials found that Pilates improved core muscle strength compared with no exercise, while another review found evidence that it can improve flexibility and dynamic balance. Those qualities will surely prove useful on the Strictly dancefloor.
Outside Pilates, according to the BBC, Melanie also loves ‘swimming in the sea near her Mumbles home every day’.
