‘We grew up among drugs and violence. Dance kept us focused’: Oti Mabuse on Strictly, survival and self-belief
When Mabuse lost her brother, dance helped her grieve. Then it made her a star. She talks about her childhood in South Africa, life in Britain, and the ‘full-on’ training for her new tour
In news that should gladden the nation, Oti Mabuse – beloved dancer, grafter and bringer of joy – has just become a British citizen. My own feeling is that Mabuse should have received instant citizenship along with her national treasure status, thanks to her work on Strictly Come Dancing, on which she competed for seven years. At least, thanks to the Life in the UK test, she knows all about our mountains, parliaments and islands, she says with a laugh.
No time to celebrate – Mabuse is in the middle of preparing for her new dance tour, Viva Carnival, which opens this summer. Her previous show, I Am Here, “was very personal, about South Africa and growing up, and everything that happened there, and the reasons why I am the way I am. I wanted a slight continuation of that – not where I come from, but where I would love to go.” She loves travelling, she says, and connecting with people, and she wanted to explore the world’s festivals, from Brazil’s carnival to Glastonbury. The idea was “to kind of create my own dance carnival”.
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