We all love the glamour and elegance of Strictly and we love it when the celebrities gradually gradually change from ugly ducklings with two left feet into graceful swans, gliding round the dance floor.

But what does it take to make a real ballroom champion? Julie Blackburn has been finding out.

The young girl curled up on the settee opposite me in her school uniform just looks like any other normal, pretty teenager. She says most of the other pupils and the teachers at her school - Castle Rushen - have no idea about her life in the ballroom.

Yet, tranformed with yards of chiffon sequins, her hair and make up immaculate, Claudia Lewthwaite and her partner Scott Horne, both 14, have just been crowned British Junior Champions after winning performances in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens last month.

Outside of the dancing Scott is an equally normal teenage boy who is also very good at football: he is on the Isle of Man FA development squad and has been away to the UK for trials. Put them together on the dance floor and they create magic.

We watch strong partnerships develop over a few months on Strictly but they have nothing on these two: they’ve been dancing together since they were seven.

Claudia, who had started ballroom dancing inititally with a girl partner when she was four, was still so shy about dancing with a boy that she didn’t even want to hold his hand at first, her mum Nicola recalls, adding: ’But now they’re really great: they get on like brother and sister.’

’I probably spend more time with him than with my actual brothers,’ says Claudia, laughing.

I ask Nicola when she first realised that they were good.

She says: ’They’ve always been really commited to it: they’ve always tried really hard and they’ve never moaned or groaned about going to dancing because both of them miss parties to do it, so that’s how I realised that they were serious about it.’

Claudia and Scott have been instructed by dance teacher, Jayne Hill, since they first started dancing: ’She’s fabulous with them,’ says Nicola.

Under her guidance they soon progressed from local competitions to going across to compete.

’We won the Under 10 competition in Blackpool and then after that it got a bit more competitive and we started going away more and more,’ says Claudia.

As their success has ramped up so has the cost.

Nicola says: ’At this level it’s not cheap. Since the beginning of January they’ve been away competing twice a month and coming from the Isle of Man that usually means two overnight stays. We’ve also had two trips to London for dress fittings.

Ah - the dresses. Of course we all wanted to know about those.

All Claudia’s outfits are made, and sometimes custom made, by DSI London, who supply all the dresses for the Strictly shows and tours, Dancing on Ice, and a host of other programmes.

The dresses can cost around £4,000 each but fortunately DSI London now sponsor Claudia and she can wear their clothes for free.

On one of her first visits there, she was given a dress that had been previously worn on Strictly by Janette Manrara.

Claudia was just 12 at the time and could slip easily into one of Janette’s gowns - Janette is barely five foot tall with a tiny frame - but Claudia has now grown taller and developed a more athletic physique so that is no longer an option.

For one of the dances she did at Blackpool last month DSI London designed and made a dress, in gold and black, especially for her.

Like the Strictly dancers, Claudia will usually only wear a dress once and then it is returned to DSI where it will be offered for sale.

Nicola says she has become very proficient at washing the hems of the dresses in the bath, in very gentle detergent, so they go back in pristine condition.

As it happens, three years ago Claudia and Scott were nominated for a Classique award and they were also asked to take part in the cabaret along with the runners-up in The Greatest Dancer.

They met Janette Manrara and her husband Aljaž Škorjanec who were presenting the award and Claudia showed her the picture of herself wearing her dress.

She says: ’They were really nice: a lot of famous people won’t really have a conversation with you but they were so friendly.’

At the championships in Blackpool, as Claudia was dancing, she spotted Shirley Ballas, sitting in the front row watching and they got the chance to have their picture taken with her afterwards.

She recalls: ’She said I was dancing well.’

’She said you were a beautiful dancer,’ adds Nicola.

If she could chose the Strictly dancer she would most like to emulate Claudia says it would probably be Karen Clifton, and if she could chose a male partner from the show to dance with it would be Gorka Marquez.

She and Scott only dance ballroom, rather than Latin American, and interestingly, there is a very good reason for that, as she explains: ’There’s a lot of people who specialise in it, especially in Ukraine where they don’t go to normal school, they just go to dance schools and train.

’Even the English people who do Latin go to training camps in Ukraine.’

Which obviously explains why so many Strictly professionals come from Eastern Europe. When they went away to the championships they had quite an entourage which included Mary O’Dea, who does Claudia’s hair and dance teacher’s daughter, Scarlett Beattie, who does her make up.

This, says Claudia, is probably her favourite thing about dancing competitively: ’When we go away on the dance trips I just like the whole experience.’

’The cameradie is great,’ adds Nicola.

Claudia also thrives on the competitive atmosphere: ’I like it when you’ve got more of a goal, when you’re trying to beat someone and there’s more competition.’

She and Scott only have one more year in junior competitions and she is unsure what they will do after that.

Claudia says: ’We’re hoping to go back to Blackpool next year and win the title again.’

Next year they will have to fit it in with Scott’s footballing commitments and their GCSEs.

Claudia says she’s not sure whether she would like to make dancing her career: ’I would but I don’t really know what I want to do yet - be a dance teacher maybe.’

She thinks Scott would prefer to be a professional footballer, or a coach.

And Nicola says that, despite the expense and all the travelling: ’We enjoy it and I’ll really miss it when they decide to stop eventually because it’s been a massive part of our lives.’