La Mode: TELL US THE LATEST ABOUT YOU
Kaffy: The latest about me is that I am restructuring the dance business and right now I have expanded and created four major companies that provide services for dance and its relating sectors. So it’s a really major entrepreneurial move for me right now. Secondly, I’m about to kick off with my web series. So, that is why I am going to be active on YouTube, I have a lot of content to put on YouTube for workouts, dance and for dance tutorials and a lot of behind-the-scenes that have not been seen before. Also, I have already shot two seasons of my reality TV show called ‘Beyond the Dance’ and that will be airing soon on different channels nationwide or should I say continent-wise. I will be launching my new facility as well; it is a big move for me. There is a lot happening.
La Mode: WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO DANCE?
Kaffy: Freedom of expression. Whenever I hear music, sound, I just feel like I need to soak myself into the rhythm of the sound, interpretation of the lyrics, or into the general idea. I am inspired to dance sometimes just by situations around me, whether it is good or bad, painful or not. I think dance for me is like breathing, it’s like me waking up being me. I use it to communicate and express myself unto various feelings of life. For me it is a way of life and it is hard to say this why I dance. I dance because I want to dance.
La Mode: WHAT SHOULD THE VIEWER TAKE AWAY? INTERPRETATION OR A MESSAGE YOU WISH TO CONVEY.
Kaffy: I think right now I am really a bit bored with what is going on with dance in terms of social media like they just want to dance to music; create a new dance move or style. I think right now I want to do something more meaningful. I am so into a lot of youth and teens empowerment, entrepreneurship and mentorship programmes for dancers this year. So if I am going into all these things this year then it goes in line with creating dance videos to tell a story to inspire a young girl going through hardship or to inspire a young boy who does not understand what to do with his life at the moment. You know something just to help express all the things we go through as young people and are not able to talk about them. As artists can sing about them, I want to dance about them.
La Mode: DO YOU HAVE FAVORITE PERSONAL QUOTES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR DRIVE FOR SUCCESS?
Kaffy: My personal quote, I would say I had to derive my own quote myself. I don’t believe in being a victim of any circumstances, I believe that we can always rise above anything. I don’t believe in excuses and for every situation, there is a solution. I also believe that man was made to be great and we all are not made be great in the same way but we are all made to be great regardless of what aspect of life we find ourselves. So, if you find yourself being a butler, you can be a great butler, if you find yourself being a shoemaker, you can be a great shoemaker. So don’t look down on yourself like so because I am a shoemaker, that relegates me to be a least important person or because I am a team player in a company and I don’t own a company yet doesn’t mean I am not valuable. I think every human being has a sense of value that it can add to humanity regardless of the position. Every position in life is valuable.
La Mode: WHAT OTHER PROJECT DO YOU HAVE RUNNING ASIDE DANCE?
Kaffy: I said it in the beginning that apart from dance as the art form, this year my main focus is the expansion of dance service options because a lot of people are dancing and they forget that there’s more to dance than just body movement. There is a business side of dance. There are service provisions in dance. A lot of these have not been explored well enough and a lot of orientation needs to be given to dancers on how to manage themselves, protect their intellectual properties, grow as brands, expand their business visions, expand their horizons in terms of the kinds of services they can render and make them understand the different sectors that their services can be appreciated even though those sectors are not aware that just from the art of dance, we can branch out into those areas. So for me, my goal this year is to get people to see that you know, get my company into that foremost agency that can help empower, accommodate, produce, and let us be a major mark in the economy. Let us be able to prove to the government that the entertainment industry is now looked upon fiercely and growing exponentially, let’s take a look at how many young people are looking into that direction and there is just too little or no structure available for young people that want to go into it. There are no enough educational platforms to create good orientation for that kind of thing so the creative industry is growing but the platform to improve it is not. So a lot of things I am doing this year are to help groom, grow and sustain that.
La Mode: WHO CAN DANCE?
Kaffy: Everybody can dance but not everybody that can dance is a dancer. The terminology dancer is professional and is basically meant for the profession-minded people and as much as all of us that can dance, not all of us are dancers. There are some people that are dancers like they’re good but don’t want to pursue dance. So, I really think it’s really about how far you want to go in the art and how well you actually display the art of dance. For emphasis, not everybody is a dancer but anybody can dance.
La Mode: WHAT ELSE IS THERE FOR US TO KNOW ABOUT DANCE?
Kaffy: You need to know that dance is one of the oldest forms of communication; before we learn to speak we learn to move and before you even add music and beats, the body can move just in synergy; emotions, feelings, anger, love and pain can make people move in unity. I think the power of dance is underestimated because just as we use music to correct ills in the society and we can use music to communicate love, unity and peace, so can it be with dance. The same way music can be used to tell young people ‘Don’t do drugs’, ‘Stay with one partner’, ‘have protected sex’ all of that can still be communicated with dance. So dance should be seen as one of the greatest tools for reformation, empowerment and education because I have kids that we teach and that has helped a lot of them with retentive memory, self-esteem among their peers, gives them a lot of confidence and as long as children can express themselves its easier for you to be able to help them out in areas or when they get stuck in life. It is always good to have something to run to you know, there’s always something you can do when you can’t tell your parents anything, there always an art form that you can run to in order to express yourself and set your soul free.
La Mode: YOUR FAMILY AND THE BRAND, HOW DO YOU MERGE THEM?
Kaffy: It’s God. It is not very easy for me to tear myself into various parts because I am doing so much at the moment and one thing I can tell you for sure is that every time I get to spend with my family is very precious and we make use of it very well even if I am tired these children will not let me be. So it is not easy, there is no blueprint for how but the greatest thing you can do is love every moment, cherish every moment, create the opportunities as much as you can and value the times that you share together.
La Mode: WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A STATEMENT WITH DANCE?
Kaffy: Well, I will leave it for you to say. I know for sure that dance is not where it was when I started and I am happy that I have made an impact, that I am part of the process of getting it to where it is today. So, I can pat myself at the back and say ‘Well done’ but I cannot say I am done. Ok, there is ‘Well done’ and there is ‘Are you done yet?’ No, I am not done. There is still a lot to do. It is one thing to say we’ve gotten dance to a level of acceptability but what about the sustainability, security, how far can it take a child, a young man, young woman when they are already 60, 70, or 80 what’s left for you? Can you still go on stage? What can you do as a dancer? These are the things I am working tirelessly for. So I have been able to convince a lot of parents to put their kids in dance school, convince some of them to even say ‘My kid will be a dancer’ and because of me a lot of people have said they don’t mind their children being dancers but to me now, when they become dancers how far can they go? And that’s the next level for me now.