Oti Mabuse: ‘Dance will always be a part of who I am’

Although Oti Mabuse is no longer a professional on Strictly Come Dancing, she will never miss an opportunity to get her dancing shoes on.

She toured the country with her own stage show this summer, teaches at her own dance school, and is married to a dancer with whom she dances in the kitchen and all round the house.

And when she’s not dancing herself, the native South African is planning routines for others, as a choreographer on Strictly.

“I still do all things that involve dance, because that will always be a part of who I am,” she says.

“I don’t dance so much now – it’s mostly me teaching and watching other people. But on my socials, I dance all the time. I grab my husband and we dance in the kitchen, we dance in the living room, we dance in hotel rooms – we dance everywhere.”

Mabuse left Strictly, on which her sister Motsi is still a judge, in 2022, and has been a behind-the-scenes choreographer for the show for the last few years. But doesn’t she wish she was still dancing in it?

“No, no, no!” she declares. “Honestly, I love supporting all of my friends. They’re so brilliant and it’s just nice. My sister’s always also there.

“I’m so happy with what I’m doing right now, but it’s also nice that I’m just watching my friends do their thing.”

And while her Strictly friends do their thing, Mabuse, 35, is doing hers – and that’s primarily looking after her daughter, who’s nearly two. Sometimes she even takes her to work with her, and she says: “I’m incredibly lucky – sometimes I go to work and I think ‘Wow, what a great life’. It’s a great position in life to call this work.

“I took my daughter to Loose Women once, and she loved it, and all the ladies loved it, and I felt so happy – my heart was just full, because I really feel lucky and privileged.”

Mabuse says she leaves for work very early in the mornings, so her husband, Marius Iepure, takes their daughter – whose name she’s keeping private – to pre-school. But Mabuse always makes sure she can pick her up.

“I’m home by 3.30pm and so that gives me enough time to cook and then to go fetch her from school and prep her bath. And then when she gets home the food is cool, she can eat straight away, and then we can play a little bit before bathtime and bedtime.

“It’s really important to me, that night-time routine, that’s really where we get to bond. I love it so much.”

Mum and daughter also bond when they cook together, and Mabuse now lets her little one help when she’s making recipes from Green Chef meal kits, for which she’s an ambassador.

“Oh my God, we have so much fun,” exclaims Mabuse. “She loves cooking with me. We made salmon yesterday, and it’s a stir-fry of broccoli, peppers and garlic. And so she’s got her little baby knife, and she’s with me there chopping all the stuff, and we’re throwing it in the pot, and she’s watching me cook.

“She’s got a real passion for doing things and spending time with me. She enjoys the fact that we’ve done this together as mum and daughter, and so when we have our dinner, it’s a nicer bonding session. And for some reason, when she sees me cooking it, she eats it.”

Green Chef has just launched a line of home-delivery recipe boxes targeted at female health and hormonal balance, tailored to contribute to nutritional health for PMS, perimenopause, menopause and other hormone-related symptoms. Mabuse says she’s finding the recipe boxes particularly helpful for her PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome).

“My symptoms are bloating, having cravings, and low energy, and I need to know my iron levels are as good as they’re supposed to be and that I’m getting the right amount of nutrients through food and having a balanced diet,” she explains.

“It’s very important for me to be able to manage my food so that my hormones can remain stable and also to ease my symptoms.”

She says it’s only recently that she’s realised both her diet and lifestyle can affect her PCOS symptoms. “It’s something I discovered before I had my daughter, which I didn’t know and I hadn’t heard of,” she says.

“And so now, since having my daughter, it’s become such a vital part of my life, knowing that sometimes it’s just a little bit more difficult to not gain weight if you have to try and work on your hormones more.”

Mabuse was pre-diabetic when she was pregnant, and stresses: “My food intake was very important, as well as how much I exercised.

“I try to get into the gym four times a week, and it’s more muscle-building and then taking as many walks as possible. And food has always been an important part of my life, especially because I’m a dancer – I’ve always needed enough energy to tour and to dance and for other stuff too.”

And that “other stuff” includes her burgeoning writing career – Mabuse’s steamy debut novel Slow Burn has just been published, and she’s currently writing her next one.

“Right now I’m working on my book, so food is a great source of energy, and it’s something that gives me joy. I love to eat, but knowing what goes into my body has always been important.”

So with dance teaching, choreography, writing and looking after her daughter, is Mabuse planning to squeeze any more children into her busy life?

“We don’t know yet, but it is something we’ve definitely considered,” she reveals. “Children are a blessing, and if God permits, I would definitely love to have more.  My daughter’s such a social person who loves other children, so if a brother or sister came along, that’d be brilliant.”

Oti Mabuse is an ambassador for Green Chef home delivery meal kits and its new Women’s Health range, which features nutritionally balanced meals to support women through key stages of their lives including PMS, menstruation, perimenopause and menopause.