Over the past year, she has taken a seat on the judging panels of BBC One’s The Greatest Dancer, ITV’s The Masked Singer and most recently ITV’s Dancing on Ice – leading to speculation that she may not return to the Strictly ballroom. Written by Strictly Come Dancing superstar Oti Mabuse, this debut picture book will dance into the hands of families who have loved watching Oti on-screen. Mabuse’s popularity surely helped pave the way for her sister Motsi to join the judging panel, too, and there are even rumours that BBC producers are considering bringing in another Mabuse sister, Phemelo, or even Oti's dance husband Marius Iepure, as a replacement for her.

Mabuse’s father was a lawyer, often working pro bono, representing people during the bleakest days of apartheid. Her mother, a teacher, also had a formidable civic drive, pushing on after apartheid was overturned to secure equal rights for women. “Even after Nelson Mandela was president, we still had to march to get the right to vote. That’s what has made me who I am, that I come from a country of strong women.” But her mother also took the dancing extremely seriously. For years, she “kind of adopted” Mabuse’s dance partner, when they were both 10, “so that he would have the financial support and be able to make rehearsals. She always said: ‘I want more for my daughters because I know what they are worth.’ She fought for us a lot.” You take those advantages that your parents and educators didn’t have and, you want to just make them proud It’s time for Oti’s dance class! Join Oti in her dance studio and learn “The Bird Jive” in ten easy steps. A drop-off point at the Royal Festival Hall (30 metres) has been created for visitors who are unable to walk from alternative car parks. Our Access SchemeIn a statement, Strictly’s executive producer Sarah James praised Mabuse’s energy, creativity and talent, and her contributions to “so many of the show’s most memorable moments”. Oti Mabuse performing with Colin Grafton on Dancing On Ice, February 2022. Photograph: Zac Cooke/PA Items are left in our cloakrooms at the owner’s risk, and we cannot accept any responsibility for loss or damage, from any cause, to these items. We're cash-free It is unsurprising to find her launching three projects at once: a tour of her own, I Am Here (this is a direct translation of her name, in Setswana); The Cher Show, a new musical, for which she is the choreographer (Arlene Phillips directs); and finally Romeo & Duet, an endearingly daffy TV dating format, where a single person stands on a balcony and a suitor has to woo them down with song.

The Cher Show is on tour until 2023, cheronstage.com. Oti Mabuse’s UK tour of I Am Here starts on 28 April, otimabuse.com/tour. Romeo & Duet is on Saturdays at 7pm on ITV and ITV Hub Dance will always be my first love and to everyone, my family especially, friends, strictly fans and judges who have been my support throughout my strictly journey. Thank you for being incredible! You are irreplaceable in my heart and have made everyday unforgettable! I love you.” Before that, while she was just being “a supportive girlfriend”, hanging in the Let’s Dance queue with Marius and warming up with him – he was already one of the professional dancers on the show – she was spotted by producers. “They went to Motsi, said: ‘There’s a girl downstairs, shall we bring her up and see how good her German is?” By the time that season aired, in 2015, she had already won third place in World Cup Freestyle Latin in 2014, second place in the European Championship Latin in 2014 and first place in the German Championship, Freestyle Latin, so she had fulfilled her raison d’etre, and the reason she had moved to Europe in the first place – to compete.In retrospect, it probably shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise. Mabuse, a strict teacher and exciting competitor, has never written off any of her partners as mere cannon fodder or “comedy” acts. Instead, she has instilled the ballroom fundamentals into the most unlikely of candidates, and, unlike some of the current crop of pros, maintains serious respect for the traditional dances and their technical underpinnings. For level access to the Royal Festival Hall from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road off Belvedere Road, please use the Southbank Centre Square Doors. The JCB Glass Lift is situated at this entrance and will take you to all floors. All floors are accessible from the main foyer on Level 2. If you need further assistance, our Visitor Assistants are here to help you. It’s the end of an era on Strictly Come Dancing: Oti is out-y. Yes, the hugely popular professional dancer and two-time champion Oti Mabuse has today officially announced that she’s quitting the BBC ballroom show after seven years. A year ago she spoke to The Telegraph suggesting that this would be the case.

Oti Mabuse is the only person ever to win Strictly Come Dancing two years in a row, but the great unspoken rule about competitive television is that people don’t really care who wins. In fact, she was already the ballroom’s sweetheart for her samba with Hollyoaks’ Danny Mac in 2016 – a moment so exhilarating that people stood up to cheer when they were halfway through it.Any sized item can be left in our cloakroom, including fold-away bicycles. We don’t accept non-folding bicycles. Items must be collected on the same day they are stored. From time to time, the cloakroom may not be available. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall or the Queen Elizabeth Hall, or into the Hayward Gallery, so please leave large bags at home. In a statement, BBC Strictly said Mabuse’s “energy, creativity and talent” had contributed to many of the show’s most memorable moments. “She will be hugely missed, not only by viewers, but the entire team.” Alternative parking is available nearby at the APCOA Cornwall Road Car Park (490 metres), subject to charges. Blue Badge parking at APCOA Cornwall Road They are pretty prodigious, in other words – like the Williams sisters of dance – and she says (of King Richard, the biopic about the tennis coach who brought his daughters up to be champions): “I saw that movie on a flight, and I told my parents, we need to watch this because I think we have to have a conversation. We call my mum King Richard.”