Strictly Come Dancing star Katya Jones has a very busy second half of the year ahead of her. Not only will she be starring in Somnium Dance alongside Neil Jones in June, but she will then be stepping back into the Strictly studio for rehearsals come the end of August, as the pro dancers prepare for the 2019 series of the show. And now, in December, Katya's revealed that alongside Strictly, she will be playing Glinda the Good Witch in Wizard of Oz for the Christmas pantomime at Peterborough's New Theatre. Katya shared the news on Twitter, retweeting the announcement from Prime Pantomines. It read: "Announcement. Follow the yellow brick road to the @PboroTheatre this Christmas with Strictly Come Dancing star Katya Jones! Katya will be playing Glinda the Good Witch in a panto that will have you in stitches."
Strictly Come Dancing star Katya Jones is set to star in her first panto
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Katya then wrote a message on Twitter alongside the post. "I'm doing my first ever Panto!!" she said. "This is really exciting for many reasons, there will be wings, there will be dancing (I guess) and there will be a DOG!!" The star's former Strictly dance partner, Joe McFadden, was one of the first to comment on the news. "You'll be great in this! Well done," he wrote, while former Strictly winner Ore Oduba added: "Awesome news Katya! Welcome to Panto club." Fans, meanwhile, were already planning on buying tickets to come and support Katya. "Congrats Katya! So excited. Glinda is one of my all time fave musical theatre characters and I cannot wait for you to play her, hopefully I'll be able to come and watch you," one wrote, while another commented: "I want to see this so bad!"
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While it has been reported that Katya won't be getting a celebrity dance partner this year, the show has made no comments on the reports. When the rumours circulated in April, sources confirmed to HELLO! that "As usual, while the pro line-up has been confirmed, the celebrity line-up won't be for some time, therefore decisions over who gets a celebrity partner are yet to be made."
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Both Katya and Neil were confirmed for Strictly earlier in the year, and in March they chatted to HELLO! about the upcoming series. There is a lot of hope among Strictly fans that Neil will finally be given a partner this year, and Katya joked that she was slightly worried about the prospect. She told us: "I'm getting a little bit worried because I managed to get hold of the Glitterball in 2017, but I think the anticipation of Neil having a partner has been growing so strong, that everyone's going to vote for him instantly!" She teased: "It's going to be a battle."
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