Eight things we learned from Oti Mabuse's Desert Island Discs
Oti Mabuse was born in Pretoria in South Africa, and began dancing as a child along with her sisters Motsi and Phemelo. She studied civil engineering at university, but dancing was always her true passion. She has been successful in numerous international dance competitions, and is best known as a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing, where she has twice lifted the Glitterball trophy, with partners Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey. Here's what we learned from her Desert Island Discs:
1. One ingredient is vital for a great dance partnership
“For me, I think it's the chemistry,” she says. “There has to be something that is unexplainable, that is untouchable, that the two have. That chemistry - whether it's friendship, whether it's love, whether it's passion - it sparks so much because the goals and the intentions are aligned and from there on, we can do whatever we want.”
2. Anything is possible on the Strictly dancefloor
In 2019 Oti won Strictly Come Dancing with actor Kelvin Fletcher and she went on to win again in 2020 with the comedian Bill Bailey – but she didn’t think she would retain the Glitterball trophy:
“Absolutely not. I remember just having deep conversations and I was like ‘The whole point of Strictly and what we love so much about Strictly is that Strictly is the one place where everything is possible. Bill was the oldest winner on Strictly. On first glance, you wouldn't think it's possible, and then he does it. It's the magic of Strictly where the impossible becomes reality.”
3. She believes that anyone can dance – if they dare to try
“Anyone, everyone! I think that's why shows like Dancing on Ice and Strictly are so popular - because there's this element of wanting to be whisked away in the waltz, or a foxtrot, or skating and just gliding on the ice and feeling like you're on cloud nine. Anyone can do it. You just have to really be brave enough to look up a dance school and take the first step. It might not happen in a week. Not everybody is going to look like Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly in a week. And Strictly makes it look like it does because we do it in seven days. But what people don't see is that [we rehearse] all day, every day.”
4. Her mother wanted to be a dancer but never had the chance
“She always wanted to wear those big ballroom dresses and have her hair done,” says Oti. “But also in those years [in South Africa under Apartheid] black people weren't allowed to, they weren't allowed to even be on the same dance floor as white people.”
Her mother went on to set up a dance school, providing an opportunity not only for her three daughters but also “something for the kids in the neighbourhood to have, where they would be safe, where they would be learning, where they can feel free and be kids,” says Oti.
Oti’s third musical choice is dedicated to her mum - A Song for Mama by Boyz II Men.
5. Her desire to work hard and win comes from her parents
“When we grew up, [our mum] was very strict - we were not allowed to do anything. The only thing we did was go to school, do sports weekends. We didn't even have weekends off. We were dancing. She didn't want us to grow up and feel like we didn't have opportunities, and she wanted to make sure that we were always busy so that we were never in the streets and we weren't getting up to any mischief.”
The whole point of Strictly and what we love so much about it is that Strictly is the one place where everything is possible
And her competitiveness? “That definitely comes from my dad's side,” says Oti. “The fact that I can dance from 10am until 10pm. That's because of the man I grew up watching. My dad was working so hard.” Her father trained as a lawyer under an ANC scheme to educate and empower young people, and he went on to set up his own law firm, offering representation to defendants who could not afford it.
6. She has strong memories of her first international competition – in Blackpool aged 11
“It's a big, big, big deal - leaving the country is a big deal, and being able to compete overseas is a big deal and [Blackpool] is one of the highlight competitions that you want to do every year. It is massive, you have dancers from all over, planning their lives around this one competition.”
“And I remember getting there and it was so windy and it was so grey and dark... But you spend most of your time in this ballroom. This beautiful, beautiful ballroom with a shiny brown floor made out of wood and the ceiling had paintings, and the balcony had sculptures on it and it had looked like nothing I'd ever seen in my life... and it was the best feeling.”
And when the competition is over? “You go and play in the arcade and you get a pick and mix!”
7. She was supposed to have a career far from the bright lights and the dancefloor
Oti’s mother felt it was vital for her youngest daughter to gain a professional qualification, in case her longed-for career in dance didn’t work out – and so Oti found herself studying civil engineering at university, which was not her choice at all.
“Then I actually fell in love with engineering and the maths and science side of it and the idea of building something from scratch, and problem solving, and going to a field where it's just one tree and sand and then building a community there, building houses for people who can't afford a living.”
Despite this enthusiasm, in the end dance won out, and Oti left the course before graduating, moving to Germany to become a professional ballroom dancer. “To retire at 20 from dancing after I'd been dancing every single day since the age of four, didn't sit right with my soul and it didn't sit right with my heart.”
8. Her last disc is dedicated to her two sisters
Oti’s oldest sister Motsi is familiar to Strictly viewers as a judge on the programme, and her middle sister Phemelo – after learning dance from a young age – now works as a mechanical engineer. Oti chooses a song for the three of them: “It's about all the hard things that we've been through, the times when people told us that we would not survive the times, when people told us that we weren't good enough, the times when people doubted us and put us down. And the best way to retaliate or to show them is to be the best that you can be and succeed.”
The song is Survivor by Destiny's Child. “And this was the song we always used to sing, obviously because we were three girls and Destiny's Child was [a group of] three too.”
