KIZOMBA

As a pioneer of Kizomba teaching in Belgium, Sonja KikiZomba looks back at more than a decade of experience.

She first fell in love with the dance in 2006 during her studies in Coimbra, Portugal. Previously a ballroom and Salsa dancer, she was asked to start teaching Kizomba in 2011. With Kizomba being virtually unknown in the area, she was forced early on to assume the role of leader and follower alike.

Complementary to the devotion for the dance, Sonja underpins her cultural knowledge with her academic background in linguistics and politics. She holds a master degree in Lusitanistics which allowed for a thorough insight into the languages and cultures of the Lusophone world. Understanding both Cape Verdean Kreol and Angolan Slang later proved precious for a wholistic pedagogical approach in Kizomba. She dedicated her post grad thesis to the economic and political transformation of Angola after the end of the civil war, followed by several travels across the country in a quest to ever more deeply experience Angolan culture.

Sonja's love for the roots of Kizomba, her enthusiastic teaching method, and precise explanations got her booked in over 20 countries across 4 continents. She was solicitated to all major high-quality festivals (such as Miami Beah Festival, Sawa Sawa Washington, Tabanka Texas, Las Vegas Festival, LIKE Festival Lissabon, Luxembourg Kizomba Festival, Istanbul and many more).

Over the years Sonja has been appointed to the Jury of different Kizomba competitions in Germany, Belgium, the United States, and Central America. With "Kizomba Continua" (which is a reference to the independence slogan "a luta continua"), KikiZomba organised the first ever Kizomba Festival in Belgium back in 2013. In 2014 Sonja took up DJ-ing in order to provide the scene with more authentic music. The same year KikiZomba was awarded for preserving and promoting Angolan culture in Belgium.