31 Quotes by Oti Mabuse

The goal was for me to become a civil engineer. But one day I really felt that it was important for me to do what I really loved. I was really good at engineering, but I didn't have a passion for it, so going to work was something I had to do, not something that I really wanted to do.

I was born and raised in Pretoria. Nobody ever really talked about Santa because the whole concept just didn't make sense to us. Think about what South Africa looks like: I mean, we don't even have any chimneys for him to come down!

I'm obsessed with 'Wicked', and I'd love to play Nala in 'The Lion King'. Some of the songs from 'The Lion King' are performed in my native tongue, so when the cast performed an extract from the show in 'Strictly' in the language I grew up with, it made me cry.

My first passion was to create for young girls the idea that you have to be brave and courageous, it's not easy taking big steps and saying, 'I'm going to be a professional dancer'.

My sister loves to play Christmas music - especially Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' - that's definitely the best to dance to.

The first dance we did for 'Ain't Misbehavin' was five minutes and I was like, 'What? Five minutes!'

When you are different, that can lead to judges not marking you right because they think you look 'odd' - and that's in any competition.

I can make a beginner, anyone with no dance experience, look amazing if we put in the hours.

I have different styles of shoe for different dances and I love sneakers, flats, platforms, heels, boots. Especially my thigh-high black leather boots from Kurt Geiger.