Ballroom Dancers: Oti Mabuse and Alex Hixson
Picking the right partner, hair colour and dealing with the competition: an inside view on ballroom dancing
Get your dancing shoes on because this week Kim Chakanetsa brings together two supremely talented ballroom dancers who between them have a pile of trophies. We talk about the glamour, romance, athleticism and also the rivalries, injuries and tears that go on behind the scenes.
South African dancer Oti Mabuse has been Latin American dance champion in South Africa eight times and she is currently gracing UK screens as a professional dancer on the popular reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing. When she started ballroom dancing was a very divided activity, "We were the only black family doing Latin and ballroom, I was young, I was four and cute, but for my sisters it was extremely difficult." More recently, things have changed, she says "It's not about where you come from or what you look like, it's about what you do and what you deliver."
Alex Hixson is from the UK and has been a World Champion bronze medallist and an International Professional Rising Star Champion. Her favourite dance is the foxtrot. Alex started dancing aged 6, "before 'Strictly', so before ballroom dancing was cool. I saw a poster and told my mum that I want to do ballroom and Latin dancing and she said why? That's what old people do."
Image: Alex Hixson (Credit: John Sinclair) and Oti Mabuse (Credit: 91热爆)
Last on
Clips
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What does it take to become a ballroom dancer?
Duration: 00:48
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"We were the only black family doing Latin and Ballroom"
Duration: 01:18
Broadcasts
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 00:32GMT91热爆 World Service except News Internet
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 03:32GMT91热爆 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 05:32GMT91热爆 World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, South Asia & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 06:32GMT91热爆 World Service East Asia
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 07:32GMT91热爆 World Service Australasia
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 09:32GMT91热爆 World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 13:32GMT91热爆 World Service except Americas and the Caribbean & News Internet
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 19:32GMT91热爆 World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Mon 7 Nov 2016 21:32GMT91热爆 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
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