Chantel and Cheryl are two of my very best dancers. Absolute naturals both of them, Chantel was the first of my students to turn professional and now teaches seven classes a week for hipsinc. Cheryl arrived later and now teaches private lessons for us.
I clearly remember the very first time I saw each of them in class.
Chantel is frankly stunning. No-one could ever miss her. Tall, leggy, with the look of a glamour model, she has a face you can't take your eyes off. The day she arrived in class she had just recently fixed the one part of her anatomy that didn't conform to glamour model ideal. Barely covered by a tiny tie-front top, the first sight of Chantel's cleavage as she leaned forwards in a deep hip circle will be forever seared into my memory banks!
As I got to know her I also discovered she has the personality of an angel and the work ethic of a captain of industry.
Cheryl is beautiful too, but in a quieter way. She seemed to arrive in the beginners class fully formed as a dancer. She executed every move perfectly and I was astounded when she insisted that not only had she never done a bellydance class in her life, she had never done ballet or any other form of dance, even as a child.
Almost nothing dance-wise is beyond her. New moves never faze her and complex combinations and choreographies are approached with focus and almost immediate proficiency.
The two of them met when Cheryl completed her fast track through to the advanced class. But their dance partnership was sealed when Cheryl started to attend Chantel's weekly street-bellydance class. Street-bellydance is a mixture of hip hop and bellydance and is typified by stars such as Shakira, Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé. Chantel's remarkable energy and glamour girl looks are perfectly suited to this youthful style of bellydance and she loves teaching it.
The two of them started to perform together and soon created a duo, calling themselves Mystika.
Last autumn they decided to enter Britain's Got Talent and were thrilled to go through into the main heats. With tens of thousands of entrants and only a few hundred getting to that stage, that was a major achievement. Now they were going to be performing on the enormous stage at the Hammersmith Apollo, in front of Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden. And filmed for a TV audience of millions!
I went along to support them on what turned out to be a very long and decidedly odd day. The 'holding area' - a large function room nearby, was full of every kind of eccentric and forever-hopeful entertainer it was possible to imagine. Fully painted clowns jostled with Madonna impersonators. Sixteen stone pearly kings chatted to tiny circus performers with hoops hanging off every limb. And a group of men dressed only in dressing gowns and socks solemnly informed me they were balloon dancers.
It was a long day of interviews, waiting around, more interviews and much more waiting around. We arrived at 10am. Just before midnight the girls finally made it onstage.
They went down well with Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan. Simon said he really liked them and Piers said it was a treat to see bellydancers who were so “easy on the eye!”
Amanda hotly denied it, but all the talk backstage that day was about Amanda’s attitude to attractive contestants. All the girls were saying, 'Amanda will buzz you off. She’s buzzing all the pretty girls as soon as she sees them!' Every young female contestant we met had the same story to tell: the moment they went out on stage, Amanda had buzzed them. As she did with Chantel and Cheryl.
But Mystika got the support of Simon and Piers who voted them through to the next round. We didn't know whether they would actually be shown on TV (not everyone who is filmed and voted through is broadcast) so we were all thrilled and relieved that they they were part of Saturday night's broadcast.
Even better, there is a lively interview with them on the main Britain's Got Talent website.
I love these girls so much. And I am unspeakably proud of them. I can't wait to see what they do next.
Watch Chantel and Cheryl's interview here
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