WORLD Ballroom Showdance champion and Strictly Come Dancing winner Joanne Clifton is taking to the musical theatre stage as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday.

She plays a Kansas girl determined to make it big in 1920s' Jazz Age New York City after previous credits in Face The Music, Burn The Floor, the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour and Norma Jeane, The Musical, wherein she starred as Marilyn Monroe.

"That was last year, around May-June time; just a three-week run in Stockwell at the Lost Theatre," she recalls. "It was about the dark side of her life, set in a mental institution. Sarah Denton was playing Norma Jeane, the real Marilyn, whereas I was playing the glamorous film-star Marilyn, the voice in her head. It was just an honour to play her as I had to study her and she's such an icon, such a legend.

"I met my boyfriend there – Joseph Bader – who was playing the narrator, but we've just split up now, because I'm going on tour and I've been busy with Strictly, but I hope he'll come back one day. So it's like Marilyn's story: always searching for love."

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Joanne Clifton's Millie Dillmount hard at work

Such are the trials of the performer's life. "It's a tough life, but I love it," says Joanne, who comes from a champion dancing dynasty that includes her grandmother, who was still teaching at 83; her parents Keith and Judy, who run the Clifton Dance Academy in Grimsby, and her brother, fellow Strictly luminary Kevin.

"When I was a ballroom showdance competitor, I went over to Italy at 16 and came back at 30 as the world champion. I trained at Bologna, travelling around and competing in different countries each weekend, so I've travelled the world, but not seen it because I was too busy dancing...which is kind of like Millie's life."

Ah, Millie! This has been such a whirlwind of an interview already that Millie Dillmount has not had much of a mention, but now is Millie's turn. "She takes herself off to Kansas at 19 to live her dream in New York, which is what I did, having to leave my family behind at 16, but because my family are all dancers, they understood," says Joanne.

"I was 30 when I became a world champion at 2013, which was an amazing feeling. I've competed for 29 years now; my first competition was when I was four and Kevin was five – he's a year and 11 days older than me – and after that world championship I did Strictly for the first time in 2014, with Scott Mills. We somehow made it to week six, we made Hallowe'en; I don't know how!"

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Joanne Clifton's Millie Dillmount at full stretch in Thoroughly Modern Millie

Joanne's two Strictly victories followed, first the Christmas Special with McFly drummer Harry Judd in 2015 and last December the big prize with BBC sports presenter Ore Oduba. "Ore wasn't good on Monday mornings; I'd be tearing my hair out with him, but he'd be great again by Tuesday!" she says.

Could another triumph be on the cards this winter, in stark contrast to brother Kevin losing in four finals? "I don't know about that. I reckon I'll be getting a dud this year! It would be nice if Kevin could finally win instead," she says.

Joanne recalls how she felt her parents did not want her or Kevin to dance, but they did so anyway, and now she is rising to the latest of her challenges by leading a cast in a touring musical, singing eight songs such as Gimme Gimme and the song-and-dance number Forget About The Boy. "This is what I like; I like a challenge. I know people are going to say, 'can she actually act and sing?' or 'have they only cast her because she's won Strictly?'," she says.

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Joanne Clifton: "I wouldn't call myself the glamorous one; I'm the relatable, ordinary one," she says

"I'm not delusional enough to not realise they might think that, but I've done acting and singing training for a few years now – private lessons – as I'm a believer that you always have to work very hard; like competing very hard for many, many years to be a world champion.

"If I'd accepted a show like this three years ago, with no theatre training, it would have bitten me on the bum, but my aim is always to keep improving."

Joanne admires flapper Millie's determination to succeed. "That's what I relate to," she says. "Like on Strictly, I wouldn't call myself the glamorous one; I'm the relatable, ordinary one, who likes fish and chips; the one that girls can connect with."

Thoroughly Modern Millie runs at Grand Opera House, York, now TUESDAY to Saturday. Box office: 0944 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york. Monday's performance has been cancelled to allow for the technical "get-in".