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Motsi Mabuse, a South African-German dancer who competed on Let’s Dancing, the German version of Strictly Come Dancing, has spoken out about the physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of dance instructors when she was a child in South Africa.
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Miss Mabuse claims that the incidents inspired her to take precautions at her own dancing studio to shield students from experiencing the same kind of abuses.
The 41-year-old former professional dancer said, “Some of them [my dance teachers]were fantastic and encouraging, but some of the relationships were abusive.”
And when you talk about abuse, people may occasionally ask, “Yeah, where did he hit you? He hit you in what way? Show me some images.
However, manipulation and emotional abuse are examples of things that are difficult to detect.
It seems to happen to you, but it’s all in your head.
There is no way to explain to others that I experienced this as a young girl when a teacher repeatedly tells you that you “dance like my dog” or something similar.
“Some were also physically abusive.”
The mother-of-one, who has previously spoken about the racial harassment she experienced as a young dancer in South Africa, continued by saying that despite her mother frequently being around, she frequently felt like no one was there to ‘protect’ her.
There were other instances where my mother was present, and I believe that even she was stunned by what had just occurred. Nobody, however, considered removing the children from this since they believed that this was the proper way to discipline children.
So when you are a small child, no one stands up for you, and that is what you carry with you.
When Miss Mabuse relocated to Germany at the age of 18, she had a “different relationship” with her teachers who, according to Miss Mabuse, spent time “building me up and trying really hard to fix all of that which was damaged.” She later joined the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel in 2019.
In order to maintain the emotional health of her students, she also disclosed that she had a therapist working at her dancing school in Germany.
“We should be looking for happy, healthy sports people,” she remarked. When I see someone who is an eight-time world champion or whatever, but who isn’t content with their life or in good health, that really bothers me.
I truly don’t think the trophy is worth it because we’ve seen athletes fail and then recover, returning to share their experiences. It isn’t worthwhile.
