'I was trained by Strictly's Graziano di Prima – this is what he is really like'

A woman who has taken several dance classes with Graziano di Prima has described him as a "patient" and "brilliant" teacher. Nicoletta Adda has trained with the Italian dancer several times, firstly over Zoom during the pandemic, and later joining group classes and taking private lessons with him in London.

Her last classes with him were mere weeks ago in Italy and she admits she is surprised by the current furore surrounding him, saying that is not her experience. His teaching methods have been called into question after training footage from last season's Strictly Come Dancing showed him kicking Zara McDermott.

However stylist Nicoletta, who runs of Pinkananas Image Consultancy, insists she never saw this side of him. "That's not my experience, and it's not the experience of all the people in the group who used to come to his lesson. He has always been amazing to us. So I cannot say anything about that, because that's not my experience," she said.

"He's just the most amazing teacher, and he's got so much patience with everyone, because if it was a group lesson, we were all different [levels], and he just had time for every single one of us. So I can only say, you know, positive things about him."

Nicoletta first began training with Graziano and his dancer wife Giada Lini during the pandemic when they offered Zoom classes. She later signed up for in-person group lessons with the couple and some private lessons with Graziano, which were available through his website and took place in Attic Studios in London.

"He's got a very good method and he breaks it down from the first step," she revealed describing how he teaches. "You learn the first step and you will do a few steps, and you do it until you get it. He would do it until you perfected it, but at your level.

"Then he would add another section of the routine, and another section and another section. Then we would start from the first and we would do the first two together, and then the first three together, and so on so forth, until the end of the lesson, when we would put together all the sections into a nice routine."

She says they were unable to offer a course of lessons due to their commitments but she had several classes with them. She learnt the Jive, Cha Cha Cha, Samba, Salsa, Paso Doble and Charleston despite having no dance experience beforehand. "If I can kind of dance now, it's only thanks to him," she added.

Video footage from a recent class of hers with Graziano in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, shows him attentively guiding her through the steps and at the end he gives her a hug. "I think that you can see the way that he holds me and he leads me is so gentle and protective and that's the way he is and that's the kind of person he is," she continued.

"He's a very good teacher because he's been teaching for a very long time," she pondered. "I mean, he used to teach in Sicily when he was a kid. He knows what it takes, but it's very patient as well, and it's a lot of fun. I always had so much fun because he makes you laugh. He makes you feel good, actually," she recalled. "Because even if you're not best mover in the world he has a way to make you improve, but at the same time, encourage you and give you the incentive you need to go to go forward.

"I never taught dance, but I have taught other subjects, and I know what it means to make the students feel good about even the smallest improvement, and he is very good at that. He is really an excellent dancer, but he can also pass that knowledge on to you.

"Obviously, you know you can never become like him, unless you start from when you are 3-years-old. But he tries to position you to achieve [learning the dance].

"It's always special to dance with him. I've always said everyone who dances with him on Strictly - it's an amazing experience.

"I think they have such a fantastic opportunity to learn from the best. I would just say, lucky them. Every single one of them [his celebrity partners]."

Nicoletta Adda is a personal stylist and image consultant with Pinkananas Image Consultancy