World Dance Champions Mark & Olga

Two Bicester residents recently scooped the world’s biggest award for dancing and are now teaching locals how to take their first steps on the dance floor.

Ballroom and Latin champions Olga and Mark Elsbury were both born into families passionate about dance – and their own careers flourished when they matched as partners, both on and off the dance floor.

Olga grew up in Moscow to a mum who had always wanted to be a dancer. However, she got married and had children young, with responsibilities which meant giving up that dream.

Instead, she encouraged her daughter Olga to start dancing at an aunt’s studio shortly after Olga’s eighth birthday. The teacher gave a chocolate to the best student at the end of each class, and Olga often used to get chosen for the treat.

At her first competition Olga achieved second place, and that lit a fire in her. She knew that next time she wanted to win.

She continued dancing in Russia for a few years, then started looking for a dance partner when she reached 16. The criteria for the perfect partner is stringent: they need to have arms and legs of a similar length for the best chances of professional success, and they and their families need to get on well due to the amount of time spent training and travelling together.

Born to dance

Meanwhile, Mark was born and raised in Uxbridge to parents who were both professional dancers. After retiring from competitions, they taught and performed on cruise ships before opening a dance studio in England when they had their first child, Mark’s older brother.

Dance was simply a normal part of Mark’s childhood. He was swept up into dance moves as a baby, and started learning as soon as he could walk.

Mark went on to win the Juvenile (under 12), Junior (under 16), Youth (under 18), Amateur and Professional Show Dance competitions. He remains the only person to have won in every single age category.

Olga was a friend of a family friend, and Mark was asked to pick her up from Heathrow when she came over to England for tryouts, back in 2002. Olga knew only basic English at the time, so they got to know each other haltingly, danced together and then said their goodbyes when Olga headed home.

The start of a partnership

They were a perfect match as dance partners. Two weeks later, Olga moved to the UK with her mum in tow. Mark wanted to ask her out on a date, but was a little scared to do so, at least until Olga’s mum moved back home three months later!

They eventually went to Alton Towers with another dance couple on a double date, and their romantic connection developed from there.

They lived in the Midlands for a while, shuttling back and forth to London regularly for teaching and training. To break their journey, they would stop at Bicester Village for a coffee and a browse around the shops. The sun always seemed to be shining when they pulled up and they grew to love the area.

Then the pandemic happened. There were no classes to teach and no competitions to enter. Olga and Mark spent their days looking at houses online, eventually finding a home they loved on Kingsmere. They have now been happily living here for two and a half years.

An international win

After the lockdowns finished, the classes and competitions restarted. Success followed success for Olga and Mark, culminating in a win at the Warsaw International Dance Championships last September.

They also started up new classes for children and adults locally, at the Kingsmere Community Centre, Whitelands Farm Sports Ground and Graven Hill Primary School. These classes build on the success of Crystal Dance Studios in Dudley, which Mark and Olga have run for 15 years.

Teaching has brought them a new and different kind of satisfaction, as they take pride in their students’ progress and achievements. And, of course, the success of Strictly Come Dancing has helped reach people who might not have otherwise considered learning to dance.

They love life here on Kingsmere – particularly how new everything still is, how pretty it looks (especially in winter), and it’s proximity to Bicester Village – even if the sun doesn’t shine here quite as often as they were led to believe!

For more information, visit the Crystal Dance website or email [email protected] to book your free first lesson.

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Funny habits

Olga on Mark: “He likes to talk a lot – he talks to me all the time. I don’t know what about – I don’t listen.”

Mark on Olga: “When I first met Olga, she didn’t speak English fluently but usually said, ‘yes’ to everything I suggested. About six months after we met, it was as if she’d just learned the word ‘no’, because suddenly everything was ‘no’ – including telling me my dancing was wrong!”

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Fundraising Gala and Competition Weekend

Mark is also Chairman of the British Competitors Dance Corporation, a not-for-profit organisation which raises funds to provide up-and-coming generations of dancers with training to prepare them for national and international competitions. The next fundraising event is a Gala Night plus Ballroom/Latin Competition at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July 2024. The event will include dance competitions for all levels as well as showcases from Top British Professional Ballroom and Latin dance couples, including Mark and Olga. Tickets are available at www.the-english-dance.co.uk.

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This piece originally ran in the Kingsmere Frontrunner newsletter.