What made you decide that organising Kizomba festivals was your next step?
After spreading my passion in Birmingham and genuinely believing I had made a positive contribution to the Kizomba scene in England through my parties Testa com Testa and Sedução, and through my Be Inspired Workshops, I felt it was the right time to create a festival. Between my friends (Rico, Paparazzi and Adda) and I and the opportunity of living in Sardinia, everything fell into place and the Sardinia Afro Beach Festival (SABF) was born.
How do you determine which artists, performers and DJs you invite?
Quality is the key together with someone’s contribution to the Kizomba community – with the forever expanding popularity of Kizomba we often receive requests to DJs and teachers at SABF. However, we select our team a long time in advance and base it on the artists’ positive attitude and energy together with their knowledge and skills.
What are the biggest challenges you face each year?
Everyday is a challenge. Balancing everyday job, family life and my weekly classes and also parties in another country is a challenge in itself. The admin work behind the festival is probably the hardest and most time consuming aspect of organising a festival. All the exciting things such as the parties and selecting beach locations is the easy thing, but of course we pay attention to all the small details of these exciting things to make sure the festival dancer has a great time. Then there is the greatest challenge of them all – learning how to dance Kizomba. There is not much time remaining after the above!
What would you say has been some of the highlights so far?
Seeing so many people trusting us from around the world to come together and make new friends through SABF is something that has made a lasting impression on us. I also think the energy inside our festival is something truly amazing and I believe it is because the artists and dancers can see how important our festival is to us, I also think we have broken new ground in Sardinia and Italy, taken Kizomba to some exclusive beach clubs in paradise locations and exposing what we love to a few more people who have never seen Kizomba before.
What does the future hold for Sardinia Afro Beach Festival?
We have a bright future and our reputation is growing every day. We do things the right way and believe that our friendship and energy together with our collective knowledge is helping us to stand out from the crowd.
What do you think is the key to being a successful promoter of Kizomba?
Well, I think the key is longevity, and the key behind this is doing things for the right reasons, sharing things in the right way, and above all remembering the hard work of others and the foundations that were laid before I discovered Kizomba. And of course having a true love for Kizomba is really important.