It is my dream, to be here, to be doing this
me. When I am not feeling the strongest, I know who to go to.
“As I grow older, I grow wiser and I think I am growing in to who I am.” She emphasises: “In to ACCEPTING who I am.”
In an interview six years ago, Oti said her two main goals before she was 30 were “to win Strictly and to open a dance school.”
She laughs: “I had written down a 10-year-plan. And it’s happening. It’s HAPPENING. The school has been a dream and passion of mine for years, and of course, we had to move it back a bit when everything shut down earlier this year but now it’s here.”
The London-based school will include classes in a range of styles for competitive dancers, as well as beginners, and there will be online sessions too for fans around the country.
“Love of dance in the UK is not going away,” she says. “People here really do embrace it fully and a show like Strictly, which is done to the highest standard, encourages and supports that.”
Glasgow, one of Oti’s favourite cities on the Strictly Live tour, has a “strong dance scene”, she says.
“I was so looking forward to coming to Glasgow for the first time and oh, I loved it, LOVED it,” she sighs. “Coming to Scotland is always fun.”
With her first bunch of 10-year goals successfully achieved, what is next for Oti Mabuse?
“Oh, my first plan is to write another 10-year plan,” she laughs. “I don’t know, I don’t know – off the top of my head? To make the dance school a success, for years and years to come, for people to love it and come back again and again. To develop the presenting side of my career, to choreograph more – my goal is the west end – to WORK, to keep WORKING and to give 110 percent. That is always the goal.”
•Oti’s 2021 UK tour, I AM HERE’ is on sale now – otimabuse.com