Siblings take the dancefloor by storm - winning professional championships aged eight and 11
- 7 months ago
Meet the siblings who have taken the dancefloor by storm - winning professional championships at the age of just eight and 11.
Petya Mott, 11, has been dancing since the age of two and his sister, Anya, eight, followed in his footsteps aged three - after watching her brother busting moves.
Petya won his first solo competition in January 2020 and started competing with his sister in June 2020.
The duo won their first competition together in December 2020 and are the current UK Closed champions - after winning in Bournemouth on July 30, 2023.
Petya and Anya are fans of Strictly Come Dancing and would love to compete on the show one day.
The siblings' mum, Vera Mott, 38, a language teacher, from Bournemouth, Dorset, said: “They started dancing as a couple from the first day of lockdown in March 2020.
“Anya is only eight but she is dancing in the same category with 11 year olds.
"There are a lot of movements that require her to work twice as hard.
“We are really proud of them and me and my husband, Steve, 47, would do anything to support them."
Petya said: “We want to become world champions and hopefully, ballroom dance will be an Olympic sport so that we can compete in the Olympics.
“We would love to go and see Strictly Come Dancing and maybe even be on the show.”
Petya started ballroom lessons at aged two, while the family were still living in Kazan, Russia.
They moved over to Bournemouth, Dorset, in May 2015 and Petya continued his love of dancing and started competing in June 2016.
Anya soon started to pick up her brother's hobby.
She said: “I was crawling on the dancefloor while my brother was dancing, so practically I have been dancing my whole life."
The pair began dancing together during the lockdown in March 2020 and dance every morning for an hour with their teachers - Warren and Kristi Boyce.
The siblings also squeeze in three hours of dance lessons after their school day.
They won their first championships together in the Croatia International Open Online Dance Championship in December 2020.
Petya said: “We were really proud of ourselves and our results.”
Vera said: “I had tears in my eyes when I saw the result.
“It came with many obstacles because it was an online competition.
"There were delays in the sound and the video.
“I wanted them to win, but I did not expect them to win.
"They were trained by having Zoom classes, so I was really proud of them.”
Petya has been able to keep up with his studies alongside the intense dance training and got 100 per cent on his SATs math test.
Vera said: “Because Petya is doing excellent in both academics and sports, the school is really supportive of his ballroom dancing.”
The siblings have also raised £620 for the charity 'I Can Dance UK' - which helps disabled children to dance.
Petya said: “We run every day in August 2020, a total of 100km. We raised £620 for the charity ‘I Can Dance UK’.
Petya Mott, 11, has been dancing since the age of two and his sister, Anya, eight, followed in his footsteps aged three - after watching her brother busting moves.
Petya won his first solo competition in January 2020 and started competing with his sister in June 2020.
The duo won their first competition together in December 2020 and are the current UK Closed champions - after winning in Bournemouth on July 30, 2023.
Petya and Anya are fans of Strictly Come Dancing and would love to compete on the show one day.
The siblings' mum, Vera Mott, 38, a language teacher, from Bournemouth, Dorset, said: “They started dancing as a couple from the first day of lockdown in March 2020.
“Anya is only eight but she is dancing in the same category with 11 year olds.
"There are a lot of movements that require her to work twice as hard.
“We are really proud of them and me and my husband, Steve, 47, would do anything to support them."
Petya said: “We want to become world champions and hopefully, ballroom dance will be an Olympic sport so that we can compete in the Olympics.
“We would love to go and see Strictly Come Dancing and maybe even be on the show.”
Petya started ballroom lessons at aged two, while the family were still living in Kazan, Russia.
They moved over to Bournemouth, Dorset, in May 2015 and Petya continued his love of dancing and started competing in June 2016.
Anya soon started to pick up her brother's hobby.
She said: “I was crawling on the dancefloor while my brother was dancing, so practically I have been dancing my whole life."
The pair began dancing together during the lockdown in March 2020 and dance every morning for an hour with their teachers - Warren and Kristi Boyce.
The siblings also squeeze in three hours of dance lessons after their school day.
They won their first championships together in the Croatia International Open Online Dance Championship in December 2020.
Petya said: “We were really proud of ourselves and our results.”
Vera said: “I had tears in my eyes when I saw the result.
“It came with many obstacles because it was an online competition.
"There were delays in the sound and the video.
“I wanted them to win, but I did not expect them to win.
"They were trained by having Zoom classes, so I was really proud of them.”
Petya has been able to keep up with his studies alongside the intense dance training and got 100 per cent on his SATs math test.
Vera said: “Because Petya is doing excellent in both academics and sports, the school is really supportive of his ballroom dancing.”
The siblings have also raised £620 for the charity 'I Can Dance UK' - which helps disabled children to dance.
Petya said: “We run every day in August 2020, a total of 100km. We raised £620 for the charity ‘I Can Dance UK’.