Giovanni Pernice and Rose Ayling-Ellis won the hearts of the nation when they competed together on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2021, with the pair's partnership seeing them lift the famed Glitterball Trophy.
Since then, their friendship has gone from strength to strength and this week the pair enjoyed a night together at the Royal Opera House where they were entertained with a night of ballet. Before the show, they were able to catch a meal together and as you can see in the clip below, their bond was still going strong with Giovanni teasing his former dance partner about her "smelly breath".
Following the show, Giovanni and Rose posed with ballet dancer and teacher Mayara Magri, where Giovanni was full of compliments for the pro dancer as he enthused: "There are dancers and then there are DANCERS! What a talent this woman is @maymagriofficial."
He added: "Thank you @salscalzo @royaloperahouse for having us!! Gorgeous night of pure dance," he finished the post off with a heart emoji and one representing a pair of ballet slippers.
© InstagramRose was clearly taken by the show as the former EastEnders star shared a clip of herself attempting to do some ballet poses. Rose attempted to keep her balance, before giggling as she lost her balance. "She got inspired apparently," Giovanni joked in his caption.
Giovanni and Rose have a really close relationship and when the actress scooped a coveted award at The Stage Debut, the Italian-born professional dancer was one of the first to congratulate her.
© InstagramGiovanni opted to include a string of red love heart emojis which immediately attracted hundreds of 'likes.' Rose's fans were also quick to share celebratory messages. One gushed: "Congrats Rose and so well deserved - you brought so much life, joy and fun to the character of Celia," while another added: "Congratulations! So well deserved and a big YES to your caption!"
The pair's night out comes following Giovanni's unexpected exit from this year's Strictly as his partner Amanda Abbington pulled out for personal reasons, and it shortly follows the dancer making a career announcement.
© Guy LevyThe star took to his Instagram Stories earlier this week, where he re-posted an announcement from the Lockstep Dance company revealing that he would be teaching a dance masterclass at Sadler's Wells in London this weekend.
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The class, which will take place on Sunday, 5 November, will cover Cha cha cha, Samba and Jive. Sharing his excitement, the fan favourite captioned his Story: "See you all there!!!!" He also added a gif which read: "BOOK NOW".
