Strictly Come Dancing: why Bethany Antonia’s pairing matters

Bethany Antonia has explained why dancing with a woman on Strictly Come Dancing was a priority, not an incidental detail of her casting. The Birmingham-born actress, partnered with professional dancer Nancy Xu in this year’s competition, says watching an earlier same-sex partnership helped her feel more comfortable coming out to people in her life. She asked producers for a female partner, hoping to offer somebody else that same encouragement.

That gives this partnership a significance beyond its performances. Antonia is describing a connection between something she watched on television and conversations she subsequently felt better equipped to have. Our take: that is a persuasive argument for representation because it is specific, personal and rooted in experience, rather than an abstract promise about what entertainment might achieve.

What happened

Antonia identified Nicola Adams and Katya Jones’s 2020 partnership as an important reference point. They were Strictly’s first same-sex competing couple, demonstrating that a woman could enter the celebrity dance competition with another woman as her professional partner. For Antonia, that possibility arrived at a particularly meaningful moment.

Speaking to the BBC about watching Adams and Jones, she said: “I wasn't out to everyone in my life.” Seeing them compete made it easier for her to discuss her sexuality with people she knew. That is her account of her own experience, not a claim that one television appearance works the same way for every viewer.

Her request to producers followed from that experience. She wanted her participation to include a female dance partner and to make different relationships visible. The distinction matters: she was not merely accepting whichever pairing arrived, but expressing a preference about how she would take part.

She has also described dancing with Xu as a source of considerable enjoyment. The pleasure belongs in this story alongside the significance. A contestant can care about what her presence means and still be there for the rehearsals, the performance and the sheer fun of doing something unfamiliar. Treating representation as permanently solemn would miss a substantial part of its appeal.

The background

Antonia’s television career began at 18, when she played Jada Conjo in Doctors. She later played Lady Baela Targaryen in House of the Dragon. Strictly puts her in a different position: rather than inhabiting a scripted character, she is appearing as herself while learning a demanding performance discipline.

That shift helps explain why a dance partnership can carry more personal meaning than a casting credit. Viewers encounter the celebrity’s learning process as well as the finished routine. The professional partner is both a collaborator and a teacher, making the relationship central to how the audience understands the contestant’s experience.

Ballroom’s familiar male-female presentation has also carried assumptions about who leads, who follows and how a couple should look. Those are conventions, not a reason to assume two women cannot create a compelling performance. Lead and follow describe functions within a dance; they need not serve as instructions for someone’s identity outside it.

There is another useful distinction here: a same-sex dance partnership does not establish a romantic relationship between its participants. Antonia’s comments concern her own life and her choice of partner for a television competition. They do not invite speculation about Xu’s sexuality or either woman’s private relationships.

For readers who associate public success with unshakeable confidence, Antonia’s account offers a corrective. Visibility and certainty are not interchangeable. Our piece on Harry Styles and Thom Yorke discussing self-doubt explores a related tension: being accomplished at your job does not remove the vulnerability involved in being seen. The contexts differ, but the useful lesson is to resist mistaking recognition for complete personal ease.