From India to Angola: The Rise of Asia’s First Kizomba World Champions

TAKEAWAYS

• Namrata transitioned from TV production to dance after a heartbreak.

• Elvis discovered freestyle dance through hip-hop and B-boying.

• Kizomba was introduced to India through workshops and training abroad.

• The couple faced challenges in teaching authentic Kizomba in a fusion-driven market.

• They emphasize the importance of learning the roots of dance styles.

• Winning the world championship boosted their confidence and recognition.

• They aim to promote Kizomba and Semba through their dance academy.

• Their teaching philosophy includes cultural education alongside dance.

• They have created a structured syllabus for teaching Kizomba.

• Their journey inspires others in the dance community. The Kizomba community is growing through regular practice sessions and feedback.

• MASK aims to elevate the Kizomba experience with rigorous training and workshops.

• Future plans include expanding the event to attract more artists and participants.

• Asian dancers are hardworking and persistent, challenging stereotypes.

• Health and fitness are essential for longevity in dance careers.

• Listening to music mindfully enhances dance understanding and performance.

• Consistency in practice is crucial for improvement in dance skills.

• Finding a good teacher and asking questions is vital for learning.

• Cultural exchange enriches the Kizomba experience for dancers.

• Kizomba is an intimate dance that is gaining recognition globally.

SOUNDBITES

• "I was a TV producer."

• "This is my career."

• "Kizomba was a bit of fusion."

• "We are the only regular Semba teachers."

• "We are also running everything on dance."

• "We do not want to get into this herd mentality."

• "We kept trying to build the interest."

• "We are first Asians winning."

• "We want to learn this style of Kizomba."

• "Roots and Rhythm: Building a Kizomba Community."

• "We want to build a community that levels up."

• "Don't underestimate Asians in dance."

• "Kizomba is an intimate dance, we are open to it."

• "Dancers are athletes, consistency is key."

• "Ask questions, find a good teacher."

• "Every dance is a new experience for me."

• "Kizomba is global, even in unexpected places."

TRANSCRIPT

Victor (00:00)

Hello Kizomba friends and welcome back to another episode of Kizomba Conversations. As always, I'm your host Victor. Today we are joined by a dynamic dance couple all the way from India making waves on the Kizomba scene. Let's welcome Elvis and Namrata to Kizomba Conversations podcast. Hello both, how are you doing?

Namrata (00:22)

We doing is good. Hello everyone. Hello everyone. We're so excited to be here. Namaste.

Victor (00:27)

Hey, Namaste

and hello, welcome. Very excited to have you both because you are all on the other side of the globe and you guys are doing some amazing things over there and we really wanna shout out what you're doing, spread it across the world. So welcome to Kizomba Conversations. No problem. We're gonna get into all things Kizomba and like we always do on our podcast,

Namrata (00:46)

Thank you for having us. Thank you so much for having us.

Victor (00:54)

We want to find out a bit about you both. And the thing is, obviously you come from India, okay? And that's a place not traditionally associated with Kizomba and Semba, okay? So what we want to do is find out a bit about your backgrounds and how did both of you discover Kizomba? So as always, ladies first, so Namrata, over to you.

Namrata (01:05)

Bye, booboo.

So basically my whole journey into dance was quite exciting. I was a TV producer and I spent quite a few years in television production. And then I had a heartbreak and I quit it to get basically a change in the scene and distract myself. And I started going for these Salsa socials. At that time there was only Salsa Bachata. And my dance journey began from there and there was this guy who owned the first Salsa company in India.

Victor (01:23)

Wow.

Namrata (01:45)

And he asked me to join the company. So I said, yeah, sure, why not? I'm taking a break. Let me just join for fun because I love dancing anyways. I used to dance a lot for school and college. So let me try it out. that was the end. I call up my mom one day and I'm like, sorry, I'm not going back into television. This is my career. She's like, what? I'm like, yeah, this is what I'm going to do. Are you crazy? You used to be a senior producer in television and now suddenly you're going to be a dancer because please understand this. In India,

Dancing at that time was not considered a career. It was a hobby. It was something that you were passionate about and you do after work. But to say that's your work, parents are not going to accept it. But I was hell bent. I was like, no, this is what I want to do. I'm going to give it a try. I'm giving all I have. So I went directly into dance and I started enjoying Salsa and Bachata. And slowly I trained to be a teacher. And we...

You know, one story led to the other, started performing, started teaching. There was again the same guy, his name is KT Namgyal. He's now based out of Germany. So he was the first one to bring Salsa to India and he was traveling. That was the time when he was the only artist actually traveling, you know, out of India. It was an unheard of concept. So he used to go to Europe and come back. And one of his trips, he comes back and he's like, guys, I want to make you guys hear this music. I'm sure you love it.

And at that time people were listening to more of Ghetto Zouk and thinking it's Kizomba. But yeah, well, you know, he made us hear a few songs and obviously we fell in love. And he was like, you know, I attended a few workshops and you know, I want to introduce it to you guys. You guys are my team. So we started kind of, you know, doing these few workshops and then he would go back, come back. But Elvis and I by that time had already become partners. We had met at the company. We had started performing Salsa and Bachata and we

started listening to a lot more of that music. And it was in 2014 that both of us decided to go to New York to upgrade ourselves because we wanted to venture out. We wanted to start something of our own. So we went to New York. We collected, now you know how it is collecting money to go for six months to New York to basically upgrade ourselves and see the actual world of Latin and Latin music.

Victor (03:57)

Wow. Yeah.

Namrata (04:04)

And we land there and we join some of these studios where we are learning New York style Salsa, Dominican Bachata. And at that time there was this teacher there called David Campos. He's French, he's from Paris. And his wife, Gida, she's from Lisbon, she's Portuguese. And they were introducing Kizomba in the New York scene. And they used to have this weekly social.

where they used to do and they would teach this class same studio we were learning Salsa. So we went and we were like, we love this music. We should go and check out the workshop and see how they teach. And that was the end for six months. We kept training with them, kept training with them. We came back to India. We introduced the classes. We started, you know, like kind of building the Kizomba scene. And then every year we were kind of going back to two, three, three months and

Then David happened to also go back to Lisbon and he did the teacher's training course with Master Petchu. And then he comes back and he said, guys, I'm sorry. What we were doing was a bit of fusion. And now I want to, you know, retrace my stuff and, know, give you guys the Kizomba and Semba flavor. And that's when we went into the real deal. And the good part is that at that time he brought on Bonifácio. He came to New York for a weekender and

everything was history. Bonifácio made us fall in love with Semba and that was it. At least for me, that was it. We were anyways watching videos, we were watching a lot going on but to actually meet him and do his workshops, it was amazing.

Victor (05:36)

Wow. So thank

you, Namarata. Listen, we here to talk, it's a conversation, right? So thank you and great. No, no, no, it's fine. But what I'm getting from that, okay, the very part of what I'm hearing when you started talking about this, it's interesting, right? Very interesting how life is. Because it was a heartbreak, right? That brought you to all of this, right? When you actually go in a circle. So it's just interesting anyway.

Namrata (05:38)

Sorry that was long but I had to give you like a history. She went in. I'm sorry. You know what? You can cut me in anytime.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victor (06:05)

So that's one

thing. And then you've mentioned, you know, how you kind of went through the evolution there. Then you've talked about some people. So Master Petchu, Bonifácio as well. And for people that aren't, you know, very, who don't necessarily know them, listening, they are, you know, great teachers on the, the Kizomba scene that you can go and look at and reference to, but they're great. So that is great. And thank you, Namarata for that. So Elvis, is there anything you want to add to that? Yeah, audience Namarata pretty much.

Namrata (06:10)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victor (06:32)

cover at all and what can we find out a bit about you Elvis?

Namrata (06:33)

Yeah, so there's a lot of things that she said, you know, that was a later part of the journey for us when we connected. But for me, it was a bit different. Like I used to always love dancing since, you know, childhood, I used just dance. All the Indian stuff, this was like Bollywood and some like Maharashtrian folk dances. And I used to keep dancing and all of that, you know, in my area where I lived. Later on, when I got into college, I got introduced to hip hop.

B-boying. when I got introduced to B-boying, I kind of came to this side of the dance, you know, the freestyle aspect. I didn't know that dance had a freestyle and aspect like that because in Bollywood and all that we do is like mainly choreographies. So when I got introduced to hip-hop and experienced that freestyle side of dance, I was like, wow, this is something else. Like, I'm doing me, you know, learning all the basics and, you know, trying to speak the language.

Victor (07:20)

Yeah. Yeah.

Namrata (07:26)

So hip hop was one of the main things that got me to this side and later on actually said there was this company. We had auditioned, me and my crew had auditioned for this company as a hip hop team. It was a Salsa company and they were looking for a hip hop team. So we auditioned and we got selected and basically the owner of the company was like you can learn free Salsa. We teach our companies mainly like Salsa Bachata. There was no Kizomba back then. So Salsa and Bachata and...

If you want, since you guys are in the company, you can come and learn these styles. And I always wanted to learn, you know, Salsa. I used to watch some stuff on YouTube, but whenever I used to open like the YouTube videos, it used to be like the ballroom, Rumba and all of that. So that never really connected very to me. But when I got into the Salsa company, I met some instructors who were dancing like, you know, the proper of Mambo, Afrocuban and Salsa, the Rumba and all of that. And that really connected.

to me I was like wow this is something what I want to learn and that's how I got introduced to know Partner dance styles and that's where I met Namrata and yeah as and by we kept training and we got introduced to Kizomba music in the beginning it was Ghetto Zouk and yeah the music like for me since it was Ghetto Zouk it has you know like that R &B hip-hop kind of connection so it was very easy for me to connect I was like okay this is

Victor (08:28)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Namrata (08:45)

You know, I saw some videos and I was like, okay, this is looking totally different from Salsa Bachata. The music is really nice and soothing. It has a lot of groove in it. And let's see how it goes, you know, because looking at it, it kind of looked, you know, easy. But then I was like, okay, like the follow... Like in Salsa Bachata, you have cues where you can show your hands and the partner is away from you. She can see you, you know, and I was like, okay, this is very tricky because she's...

Victor (08:56)

Yeah.

Namrata (09:11)

She can't see you. So how is the leading happening? Like what is this dance? I want to learn this dance. Something different. And yeah, so we went to New York and we met David Campos and all of that that she said. So that is what happened. That is how my journey began.

Victor (09:12)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Namrata (09:26)

So I saw Semba and I was like, wow, what is this? This is like, because that felt like break dancing for me. That felt like b-boying. Other than Kizomba, which was a bit different. When I saw Semba, I was like, okay, this is what I want to learn. Okay, I like Kizomba, but this is something so free and so, yeah, so much fun, so much freedom and you know, a lot of playfulness and a lot of like, you have a lot of space to express whatever you want.

Victor (09:29)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Simba, so much fun. So much fun. ⁓

Namrata (09:52)

So, I got that Semba bug when I saw all of them. Plus, when I met Bonifácio, I learned from him and understood different aspects of the dance. It was great. Plus, even Master Petchu, when he came to India, he shared a lot of different aspects about the dance, the traditional side, sub-genres, not sub-genres, but the tribal dances that are connected, know, he had Semba and all of that. It was so much to learn and so much, like, so many different rhythms.

connected to Semba that you know, got me connected to Semba. Yeah, that's about it. Something I to know.

Victor (10:24)

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no. And I think that a

Namrata of things there. you, you you talk about your dance evolution So I've seen you doing some of your dancing on Instagram and some other places. So I've seen some of that stuff. So really, really good. But it's interesting how you can literally how dance can take over. So you've got hip hop, you've got Salsa there, Bachata, all these things, and they come together. But obviously you both have found a passion in Kizomba that I think

we all love. I don't know where that comes from. I'm not trying to say that you like it more than the others, but there's something there about Kizomba that kind of just takes over for us to the point where I'm doing a podcast about it, Exactly.

Namrata (10:59)

That's so true.

Victor (11:03)

But no, okay, cool. So great and thank you both for your tracing backs in terms of how you got into Kizomba. So let's talk a little bit about Rare Grooves, okay? So Rare Grooves, your dance academy. So you were teaching Salsa for, well, over 10 years, is that correct?

Namrata (11:20)

15. Yeah, around 15.

Victor (11:21)

15, okay, so even longer. About 15 years, okay. So when

you decided to introduce Kizomba to it, to what you were doing, what were some of the struggles that you faced, especially around bringing authentic Kizomba to a community from scratch? Was it difficult to do that?

Namrata (11:39)

So the thing is, before starting Rare Grooves, Namrata used to teach with Salsa India. She used teach Salsa over there. So that's how her teaching journey started off and I was like kind of assisting. And later on, we wanted to train more, understand more so that we can get better at teaching. And we wanted to introduce Mambo in Mumbai because Mumbai was mainly on one. So we wanted people to get that. So that was one of the reasons we went to New York.

And we were training over there. And since we were training over there, New York has everything. So we even saw Kizomba. We were like, okay, let's train this because we listen to this music a little bit in our socials. Not even Kizomba. They used to play like one Ghetto Zouk in between. And nobody knew what to do. People used to dance Salsa. Some people are dancing Salsa. Some people are dancing Bachata. Like random things happening on that song. But as we got to know, we are like, okay, there is a specific style that you...

you can dance to this kind of genre. So let's learn that also and come back and share. That was one of the reasons. And yeah, so she was teaching Salsa and then we went to New York and we trained and then we came back to India and we started off Rare Grooves. then that's how... name Rare Grooves Dance Company was born in New York. Because we were training so much that we were like we should go back and open our own company and start teaching.

so many hours of training, so much of repetition because when you go with the teaching in your mind then you obviously have to constantly repeat this class cycle for it to get into your muscle memory so that when you come back you can reproduce it. Now to go and train for a month and come back it's not possible to teach that you've got to constantly repeat. So Rare Grooves Dance Company was born in New York Elvis chose the name.

And we made a little rough kind of a logo there. We came back to India. And if you see some of our initial videos, I'll send you the links, you will see our Kizomba dancing was very different because we had come back from New York and at that time the teacher there was kind of doing like a fusion style. He himself did not know that that was not the real Kizomba. It's only when he went and did the teacher's training with Master Petchu that he realized that he needed to tweak it around and...

you know, the authentic style looked in a certain way. So if you see our evolution from the first few demos that we have done and some videos to now, you'll be like, whoa, they went from Fusion into Kizomba Semba because we thought that's Kizomba. And you know, and it's only when we trained a lot with these teachers that we realized that we needed to, you know, do a marka in a certain way, the weight transfers, the grounding, the music interpretation. So yeah.

But like you asked us about authentic Kizomba and Semba. Now the reality of the matter is that currently in India, Elvis and I unfortunately are the only regular Semba teachers. For the simple fact that, I don't blame the teachers, for the simple fact that people are more inclined to that music, the fusion music, especially the youngsters, it really appeals to them.

Victor (14:37)

Mm-hmm.

Namrata (14:41)

And because of that, they get the fusion aspect of it is more appealing. So the teachers, because they want to run a business, they obviously want to start teaching fusion first. Now Elvis and I, because we've done so many years of training and I mean, last year we completed 10 years of Kizomba in India. We are pretty clear about the fact. We're not for the simple fact that of course, everybody at the end of the day is doing a business. I mean, at the end of the day, Elvis and I.

We are also running everything on dance. We don't have other careers. But one thing that both of us were very clear about was that we do not want to get into this herd mentality and say that, you know, it's fine. This is what people in India want. And hence we will give it to them. And thankfully, by the grace of God and of course, our hard work, you've obviously seen Elvis's videos, his musicality is super strong. And when he takes on a style,

People want to learn that. And we initially did a lot of videos. We did a lot of where we... I mean obviously we didn't charge that much money. We went to festivals, we did demos, we did... You know, lot of shows. Elvis and I are not... I can't even remember the amount of shows that we have done. my God, every session... Because doing shows is like a really great way to promote also when you can see the dance. They're like, okay, I to that. This is you want to learn.

He's already hip hop and you know, like we already performing Salsa for us it came naturally so he literally choreographed every second song that there was and then people saw us on stage people saw at us festivals and they realized that okay there is the fusion aspect which we love but then we also love what they are doing we love the the energy we love their connection we love the playfulness we love the tricks because we were doing a little bit of tricks so

These were new things that they were seeing and then suddenly people started associating us with Semba. They thought Kizomba is still fusion but we are doing Semba. they would say, Elvis Namrata. Lot of confusion. They were like, Elvis Namrata, we want to come to you for Semba. And we were like, sure. But even Kizomba, Kizomba we are already learning. But they don't understand the difference between an Urban Kizz and fusion and Kizomba. They think that that is Kizomba but Semba is what is authentic, if you know what I'm saying.

Anyway, so coming back to that. In general, let me cut you a break. In general, since I started training in hip hop and all of that, I understood that staying true to the roots of whatever style you're learning is very important. If you, like you can do whatever you want later on with it, you know, that's what, like that's my opinion towards the fusion and all of it. Even though I know I've heard conversations, even I've heard Kizomba Conversations and some of your interviews with other artists.

Like, you know, with the fusion and all that, I feel everything comes from Semba and Kizomba. Even though, you know, some people are like, no, it's different. I'm like, I can't see the difference, you know, other than some aspects, like, you know, you are away from the partner and all that. But in general, what I'm talking about is like the groove and the way you step and those polyrhythmic stepping, those are the same. So what we feel is like, even we tell our students, the roots.

I know Fusion is popular and all mostly because of social media. There was no social media. All of this would have been very difficult. But yes, we tell our students learn the roots and then you can do whatever you want to. You know, this is what I kind of tell my students if they want to learn Fusion and stuff like that because everybody's watching videos again and they kind of get, you know, attracted and they are like, how we want to learn this also. I'm like, yeah, for sure. It all comes from the roots.

Victor (18:23)

Yeah, and I think it all comes from the roots, right? That's where it started.

That's where it started. You can fusion and you can mix. You can do different things. Fine, do your thing, but you've got to respect.

Namrata (18:29)

Exactly. Yes.

Yeah. So that's why we tell them that get your foundation and base correct. And after that, you take it wherever you want, but finish doing that. Don't just jump into something without learning where it comes from. That's the only thing. We can't really tell people not to do something if that's what appeals to them. If this kind of music appeals to them or that dance, of course they will do it. And why not? But learn the pace. having said that, our challenge is real.

In India, people only want to dance Urban Kizz and Fusion. There's a very small percentage of people wanting to dance Semba and Kizomba and literally we are struggling. have an annual event that we... percentage of people who really understand what live music and real sounds are about. And that is why we started our annual event since 2017. Earlier it used to not be called MASK.

Victor (19:18)

Yeah.

Namrata (19:23)

It was called Weekender with Petchu or Weekender with Bonifácio. And then slowly we progressed to MASK and I'm sure in the future it will be something else. But this annual event that we do is this because we wanted it so badly for the community to grow, slowly level up and level up the right way. And we've tried. It's been a struggle. There are days when we just sometimes wonder what are we doing? Like no matter how hard we try, it's like a dead end. But I'll tell you, we've never stopped. We have kept

on our consistency. Even there have been times when we've had to travel two hours away from Mumbai to teach a class where they've only been three students. But we've gone and we've come back two hours back, but we didn't stop. And today in that sector, we have close to 25 people because we kept at it and we kept trying to build the interest. We kept trying to host these monthly socials, make them listen to the music, educate them.

But I feel if you really want to try and build a community, have to just keep at it. This is one thing I also got from Semba. It gives you that feeling that you've to keep going. Yeah. Keep going. You know, whatever you want to do, if you believe in yourself, just keep going. That is what I feel when I listen to Semba and dance, you know. Even when we went to Angola, I could see that. I could see that in the people. You know, the life is difficult.

Victor (20:25)

Absolutely.

Yeah. Well, what I would say to you both.

Yeah.

And what I would say to you both.

Namrata (20:45)

But everybody keeps growing, everybody keeps smiling.

Victor (20:48)

Yeah. What I would say to you

both is please do keep going because definitely we've to preserve the roots. We've got to get it right. And even though it's a small percentage of people over there, doesn't matter. Just keep going because I'm sure it's going to keep, you know, it's going to increase, increase. Now, wanted to ask you because you mentioned it and for the people that don't know, you mentioned MASK. So what does MASK stand for please, when you mentioned it, because some people won't know.

Namrata (20:52)

Yes, definitely.

No, we will, And now we've made it for so many years, yeah.

Sorry, MASK. MASK stands for Mumbai Authentic Semba Kizomba Weekender. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So, one of the reasons for us to start this weekend was also because we have festivals in India. No, I think that we're going to come back to We're going to come back to that. Okay. Yeah. We have festivals in India and we go, we are invited for some festivals and...

Victor (21:12)

Yes.

Yeah, just wanted to clear that up. So people who didn't know knew. Yeah. Okay. Fantastic. Okay. Good. Well, like I said,

That's okay. All right, that's fine. But ⁓ yeah.

Namrata (21:41)

we go and we see, you know, there is a Kizomba class. Somebody teaching a Kizomba class. Oh, we are teaching a Kizomba class and it's just one hour, you know, and not even one hour. You know about it, how it goes. So, you know, we get that little time to teach and, you know, nothing is happening. There are international teachers coming down, you know, and again, they're just doing one class or two class. If you check out the time, it's like 40 minutes, 40 minutes. So, 80 minutes in total.

It's not easy to share stuff about such a rooted dance in like 80 minutes. And that was back to back happening. That was happening and we were like, okay, this is not how people are going to understand and learn about this dance. So we need to do something different. So we started this weekender format. we used to call our instructor. So first time we called Master Petchu. So it was weekender with Master Petchu but we told Petchu that you are going to be teaching 8 to 10 hours of classes.

Yeah, you are the only person who's there. There's going to be no other instructor. And we want you to take your space and you have 10 hours. So now you break it down and have however you want, you two hours for traditional dances, two hours for Semba. He wanted to do Tarraxinha, so Tarraxinha. And you know, he broke it down according to how you wanted. They also gave him feedback according to how, you know, the community is, what level they are at and all that. And according to that, he set it up and...

It was very nice and successful and everybody loved what they learned. They had a lot of content. Whatever they're learning was clear because Petchu had time so he could go slow. And yeah, it was really good. Plus we had this DJ Sagar from UK. He played really good music. Whatever song Petchu was asking, Sagar was just playing it. That was the first time I met Sagar as well and I was like, wow, this fellow really knows his music.

And even Petchu said that, you know. So it was really good, you know, to do that concept because the students who were going for festivals and who attended the weekend... First of all, festivals, I want to clear one thing. In India, there are no festivals for Kizomba. No, no, no. I didn't mean Kizomba festival. mean festivals where there is like one Kizomba class and all that stuff like that. Yeah. So all the people who were attending festivals and wanted to learn Kizomba but found it difficult...

But when they came to the weekend, they were like, wow, we have so much to train and now we're going to go back and we're going to keep training this. And thank you so much. So we continued that. That's why, you know, the second time we had Bonifácio.

Victor (24:09)

I think the main thing from this for me is the fact that in India, you're getting some of the best training that you can possibly get from people like Master Petchu, Bonifácio and all that. So the point there is that the dancing there is of a very high standard. And when we look at it,

on YouTube people, please check it out. Check out Elvis and Namrata. See some of their work. All I can say is fabulous. Excellent. So when you talk about keep going, that's why I'm saying keep going, keep going, because yeah, the dancing is, yeah, very, very good. All right? And just on that point, gonna change over for a moment, talk about your dancing and talk about you both becoming world champions, okay?

Namrata (24:32)

Thank you. Bye.

Victor (24:51)

So in 2022, I believe you became the first Asian world champions in Kizomba at the Paris Olympiads. So obviously with that, the first Asian instructors invited to teach in Angola alongside the national championships in Luanda. Yeah. Which is a big deal. Big deal. Big deal. So what did that moment feel like for you emotionally when it's sank in?

Namrata (25:07)

Yes. Big deal.

Which one first? I need Olympians. I will let her speak about this first. I want her to speak about the World Championship because in general I have competed in different dance styles. I won a Salsa World Championship as well. And I've done a lot of battle structure dance competitions. But this was her first. This was her first battle structure kind of competition, a one on one thing.

Victor (25:18)

Okay, so the world champions.

Okay. ⁓

Okay.

Okay.

Namrata (25:43)

and straight up into a world champion. How do you feel? I was so overwhelmed. But I'll tell you something, when people talk about manifestations, it's true. Because when Elvis and I competed in India, in Asia for the qualifiers, after that we just had about a month before we were going to Paris for the Olympiads. And every day I would, you know, imagine...

then how would it be if I would be just winning the championship and I would shut up myself like shut up you can't win it you're just some Indian going over there competing with some people coming from Angola some people who are training every week there's obviously no way but you know I would just constantly think about how it would be and you won't believe it when we went to Paris and we finally won it it was an out-of-body experience for me to the extent that we had

Lawrence announced and said and our world champions for 2022 from the for the very first time from India and I'm telling Elvis can you pinch me? I can't dream it. He's like can you pinch me? I had seen it so many times in my head or dreamt about it that when it actually happens I thought it was a dream and I'm telling him can you pinch me? He's like shut up you actually won it and he was like it was crazy because frankly speaking it's

Too overwhelming to be suddenly in front of so many people, so many Africans competing there against you. You are some Asian. First of all, people in Paris didn't even know that India dances Kizomba. Yeah, I still remember when they introduced us. I remember India as everybody liked it. Like, okay, India. Okay, whatever. But then when we did the first round, it was Pio Pio

Yeah, that was the first time I heard that song actually. I didn't listen to the song before. Yeah, and there was something about that song. I don't know that the saxophone part just got me Yeah, my god, he's wonderful. But because in India we don't have festivals We don't have DJs who play only Kizomba Semba music we had a we didn't have an edge over the dancers there because

Victor (27:40)

Klaudio Hoshai.

Namrata (27:54)

we had not heard some of the music they were listening to every day. So when we went to the Olympiads, most of the songs we were hearing for the first time, including Pio Pio., which was a selection song. And the minute Elvis took on with his freestyle, you should watch it. I'll send it to you. It's on Instagram, our pre-selection. The people, you had to see the response. You could see it in the crowd. They were like, what India has doing that kind of

that gliding, that grounding, they were aghast and instantly the judges went 8-8-9-9 and we were already on the top going into the finals and that experience itself was so surreal that I mean I think it was worth everything we've done so far. Yeah it was a bit tricky it was a new format like I battled before a lot and how was hip-hop you know but Kizomba Semba it was tricky it was you know like okay now how do I

How do I battle in this? It was tricky to understand what all to do to stand out. We trained like one and a half month. We were training daily. Researching more songs, reading, getting deep, watching some videos and getting some inspiration. And trying to create things so that we stand out. And we definitely did some things which actually we showed out.

Victor (28:52)

And that's really, really good. I'm very happy.

Namrata (29:16)

And that was like another plus point. Like Elvis would always say that, you know, learning other dance forms always compliments the one you're doing it. It happened because he used some tricks which he used to use during his B-boying days and we did one of them which nobody's really done. And then, you know, that became like his signature move and we did it the first time in the Olympiads and people were like, what's going on here? Like, it was crazy. That battle was crazy and the kind of...

reaction that we got from the people there, the appreciation. We had some friends competing too. Tabanka was there. And there's some really, really good artists who had come there to compete. But somehow we, I don't know, the stars had aligned for us and we had worked hard to kind of, you know, mold our style. Even though it's not easy for us, we don't constantly train with teachers. It's not possible in India. But we tried and oh my God, I'm telling you, it was so real.

Victor (30:10)

Yeah, no, congratulations.

A surreal experience, but it definitely happened. And I can hear the passion in your voice with it still. So that's cool.

Namrata (30:14)

Yeah.

Yeah, plus it was crazy watching

Fabrizio. Yeah, and Effy was there. Effy was sitting out there like this and I'm like, okay, did we do good? Did we do bad? What is it? We had good judges that year, yeah.

Victor (30:22)

That's that.

Yeah, no.

It's amazing. Yeah, it's

amazing. It's amazing that, you know, this is the thing about Kizomba, right? It's global, it's big. And I want people to realize just how big it is. Because, you know, we can stay in our own little bubble sometimes. And I'm happy we're doing this episode to kind of understand just the broad depth of where it's going in the world, because not everybody knows what's going on there in India. And like I say, people, you need to check out them, check them out on Instagram, Facebook, whatever it might be, because some great dancing. But the other thing is

Namrata (30:36)

Yeah.

Victor (31:00)

The other thing is, you what was it like then to be invited to teach in Angola alongside, know, you know, some of these great people? What, what, did, how was that feeling for you?

Namrata (31:10)

Let me tell you something about Adilson Maiza. He is one of the artists who I really look up to for the simple reason that he makes things happen. And it's not only about promoting himself and Telma to be out there, but he's actually doing a lot to kind of get his Angolan people out there. And he's making it happen. He's recently taken his entire Fenomendo team.

to Stuttgart to be a part of the cultural program and take them back. So he does these things where he's not only about like, okay, I'll make it happen. And then, know, like shelled it. So when we invited him to India for MASK, he saw the way we dance. He was not expecting it obviously, because he's a busy artist. We are not expected for him to see our videos. But when he came and he saw us dance live and he saw us perform.

He was pleasantly surprised and he said that, you know, I want the people of Angola more than outsiders. I want the people of Angola to see what you guys are doing for your country and the fact that you are putting it the right way. You have not tampered with our, you know, traditions of our culture. You are

portraying the culture so beautifully in India so far away when you've never been exposed to that world but you're still doing it and I want my fellow people in Angola to see what you guys are doing and the way you teach. I want them to see how you break down movements, how you teach and that time you know frankly speaking we thought that you know he's just overwhelmed and he's here and maybe you know it'll not happen we were excited but we didn't know if it was gonna happen but he made it happen. He made it happen. He called us, he put us on the artist list

He gave a Semba show to teach. I mean, we are Indians living back of the beyond. Semba show is a style that the Angolan youngsters have made, you know, to popularize, commercialize their style. But he gave us that workshop alongside the national champions. we were, because the concept was one Angolan teacher, one outside teacher coming together and teaching one workshop. And we taught with them and it was so overwhelming. It was a really nice experience to

You know, work together to create a piece so that we can teach with Lipio and Helena. It was really nice. The feeling was crazy. I was honored. was like, wow. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. And you know, when we were teaching over there, were Angolans sitting around there looking at us, taking the classes. I was like, okay, we better do a good job. Yeah.

Victor (33:34)

Yeah.

Yeah.

This is what

I'm saying, the quality of what you're doing. And obviously that is a big deal for Adilson Maiza to say those words. And then invite you.

Namrata (33:47)

Crazy.

I really respect him. And it's not only like

she said, he does things for his team, and people in Angola. It's not like that. actually when he travels, he came here, he's seen the work we put in. So he wants to help in other countries, people who are putting work in for the Angolan culture, for Kizomba Semba, he finds those kind of people. He tries to push them and you know. He's true ambassador. He's somebody who...

wants to see his culture grow and he's proud of the fact that other people are doing it well and portraying his culture. So I really respect him because he's a true ambassador of Angola. And he always goes back to Angola. Yeah, he always goes back. It's amazing.

Victor (34:29)

Fantastic.

And you know, Adilson, Master Petchu, Bonifácio, Tony and Carla, These are some of the people that you've trained with and worked with. And I want people to understand the level of these people. All right. So that's what I'm trying to get out. you know, working with those people must be great for you both. And if we just go back to what it was like for when you won the championship. So just want to find out what changed for you.

Namrata (34:43)

is.

Victor (34:59)

personally and professionally after becoming world champions? Because you've opened up yourselves to a number of different teachers, you've studied the work, you've done it, you've been invited now from other people. This is great, right? So what has changed for you both professionally and personally after becoming world champions?

Namrata (35:12)

Yes.

of frankly when we won the championship it was like I said it was a surreal experience but it also built so much confidence in ourselves that you know there's something that we are doing right and that's why we've reached where we've reached and people have recognized our hard work considering there are zero festivals in India where we train at there are zero exposure to the current music that people in Angola are listening to and yet

Somehow with all the little research, staying back in India, we managed to win that world stage. It opened up a lot of things in our head itself. Like we started, we started, if I may say we dared to dream that, you know, we could be on the world map. We could, you know, take our work out there proudly and say that, you know, we are also there representing and representing well. Of course, back in Asia, it became a huge deal.

for us. In India, was huge. Our family, our friends, our supporters, our students, and generally even the dance fraternity, there was so much appreciation for us. We came back, there were a lot of newspaper articles that came about us, like they printed about us, know, first Asians winning. We started getting a lot of work, a lot of...

recognition from the fact that like when people would introduce her they would say they are world champions so it's just so good for your self-confidence as well to constantly keep at it and the fact that I'm doing it right you know sometimes you need that little bit of a boost that you know may am I doing it right I'm sitting it back in India but am I doing it right but then when something like this happens you are like but yes I am doing it right you know

Victor (36:41)

Yes.

Namrata (36:58)

So yes, the Olympiads was a great way for us to realise that we need to keep going and there's something that we're doing right. It's okay if people are not following it and there's a small percentage of people who are following it us, but who are? We are there and we are making it

Victor (37:16)

Beautiful, beautiful. I love it, I love it. yeah, sorry, I'm smiling a bit too much, but let me change my appearance here. All right, so, okay, cool. So, all right, let's talk a bit about then. So I'm gonna hope I say it right. it's, Raizes e Ritmos, right? forgive me. All right, so you're weekenders, right? They're playing a big role in growing strong Kizomba across India, right?

Namrata (37:31)

I

Asia.

Victor (37:42)

What, so yeah, okay, across Asia, absolutely. So what is, so roots and rhythm, yeah, truly representing your philosophy. So how did that philosophy come about and what were you trying to hope to do with that, with the Weekender? Okay.

Namrata (37:48)

Thank you.

Totally Elvis's brain shine so I'll let him talk about

it. So Roots and Rhythm, basically we want to do this because we're teaching in Mumbai and there are people in other cities who keep hitting us up like we want to learn this because they're watching our videos, they're watching our classes and they're seeing our students dance and they're like we want to learn this dance like how can we learn this style of Kizomba and I'm like this is the style of Kizomba.

Victor (38:04)

Mm-hmm.

Namrata (38:24)

This is not a new style of Kizomba, this is Kizomba. So we were like, okay, let's create something so that we can go to different cities and have those people who want to learn, you know, have a proper, you know, clear path towards the Kizomba Semba Journey. Yeah, and we wanted to take it through the dance and the music with, you know, like having the cultural background in mind. We created like a syllabus which has like a...

Victor (38:26)

Mm-hmm.

Namrata (38:52)

nice musicality, musical breakdown element in it with the dance and a section where we kind of show documentaries and we, you know, share about the instruments and everything that's required for a person to understand how to dance to this music, you know, breaking down the drums, how the guitar works, what is the difference of genres in the music, all of these things, something like that. You know, it's like a package of

Victor (39:09)

Yeah.

Namrata (39:20)

All these elements which really helped people understand the difference. Because again, like I said before, Mumbai is the only city actually where there is proper Kizomba Semba going on. The other cities, other states, it's not that much because everybody is mixing a lot of things. So people are really confused. You know, they're dancing, they're dancing whatever, but they're very confused and when there's a Kizomba song, a lot of people cannot dance at all because they have trained in a different way.

Victor (39:38)

Yeah.

Yes.

Namrata (39:47)

So

they see us dancing and they are like, how do we dance to this music? So that was one of the main reasons of creating this course because people from other states really wanted to learn and be a part of this beautiful thing that they watch online and there was no other source for them in India. So that is one of the reasons we created it and we started pushing it to different states. One of them was Bangalore. That was the first.

state where we went, Bangalore city. It was really good. People really loved it and you know now even Bangalore is like picking up in terms of Kizomba Semba. And slowly slowly we met Naz and Naz wanted the same thing to happen in in Malaysia so she hit us up and

Victor (40:29)

Who is NAZ?

Just the people that don't know who is NAZ. You've mentioned NAZ, who is NAZ?

Namrata (40:32)

And Nazreen

is the woman who was picking up the Kizomba Semba scene in KL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She's been putting a lot of work and trying her best. Again, it's at a start of stage, you know, so she's going through it. But she saw our journey and she's like, she got inspired from our journey and she's like, think, like, I want to do this. So please guide us, guide me and help me also build up the community.

That's when we told her that we have this course and let's do it in Malaysia. And when we went there, it was very nice even they loved it because we have created this course with a lot of clarity. We've taken a lot of time to think what all we should be teaching. From all that we have learned from our teachers, we have also added our experiences as outsiders from this culture, how to approach.

the steps, the music, know, our experience. we added all of that. So it's a mixture of all the teachings that we have taken from different teachers and our experiences put together, you know, very perfectly so that it gets easy for everybody to understand what's happening. Let me, let me add on here. So, I mean, I'm not, I'm not just praising him because he's my partner, but of course we've done so many years, but Elvis.

Victor (41:41)

Yeah, and that's great. That's great.

Namrata (41:53)

has created such an amazing effective syllabus for RER that it's just the perfect blend for a weekend. Of course it's divided into phases because we cannot teach everything in one go. But we have like phase one, phase two, phase three and it slowly builds up into actually being a really strong dancer. And the syllabus that we have made in phase one.

the breakdown of the foundation cause it's so effective like I'm not just saying it because it's my episode I mean I can it's my episode but I just want to tell you that it's like literally one of the best breakdowns of how a foundation needs to be taught especially how to understand grounding how to understand weight transfers framing how to engage your muscles how watch to engage and what not to so we

also like being through so many years of you know trial and error that finally now the place we are at with our beginners I think Elvis and I teach a very good beginners class yeah yeah and also it helps the fact that because he dances so many styles and I also bring my Latin background into it I think learning and dancing other dance forms always compliments and that's helped us so much

Victor (42:54)

Yeah, yeah, I think that was going to be my. ⁓

Namrata (43:10)

And Kizomba Semba has helped us be better leads and follows in other styles. Because Kizomba Semba has so much of, you know, muscle engagement and body control that it makes you such a fine dancer in other genres that it's amazing how it can really, you know, mold you as a better dancer in other genres. So yeah.

Victor (43:30)

That's great because my question literally was what impact have you seen on dancers in your local communities of it and you've literally just answered the question without me even answering it.

Namrata (43:34)

Yeah.

Yeah, because for

us it's always, mean, when people say that, do you think so and so is a good teacher or so and so is a good teacher, we always say, you have to see their students dancing because, I mean, you could be teaching year after year, but if you're not being able to actually produce students on the floor, then it's of no use. But because of these trainings that we've been doing, we are already seeing the community grow in all the cities where we've been and Malaysia, of course, because

I mean, if you speak to Nazreen and if you see some of the videos, the people there have really developed an interest in Kizomba and Semba. They are coming for these regular practice sessions or what we teach, they practice till we go back there again. That's another part of the course. Once you learn the course, it's not over there. We have a group and then every week, every 10-15 days, they practice and then we get videos, we check what's going on, them feedback.

Victor (44:29)

Yeah.

Namrata (44:29)

Because

we continue it, like she said, we phase one, then we phase two. So all these phase one people can't just come into phase two because they have done phase one. Yeah. So we check all of it through our groups and practice videos. And if they have done the work, then only they are allowed to phase two or they'll have to again repeat phase one. It's something like that, you know, it's like a proper... It's fun, it's strict, it's a mix of everything. It's strict. But also... Sorry?

Victor (44:51)

Okay, who's the strictest out of both of you?

Who's the strictest out of both of you?

Namrata (44:57)

Actually it depends you know. I mean he be strict. Some classes I'm strict, sometimes he's strict. You know what, but we are a good blend with each other. but yes I am the stricter one.

because people are a bit like, she's come kind of situation. But you know, I like it. I like it.

Victor (45:10)

You know, it's a theme I notice. I notice

this theme with teachers. It's always the lady who's more stricter. I notice it. It's interesting. It's interesting. ⁓

Namrata (45:18)

⁓ Yeah, I am. But

like when we are choreographing, a choreographed thing for a show, like I'm mostly choreographing then like I'm super creative. super strict when he choreographs. And Elvis and I have this thing even in Aarya, we do a lot of performance batches because we feel that performance in shows really cleans you up, it elevates your style, it makes you do the same thing again and again so it gets into your muscle memory. So we do a lot of

A lot of performance batches, small, small choreographies at RER. We're going to be doing another one. We've done one in Malaysia. We're doing another one there. And then he's obviously the choreographer because his musicality is next level. But he's so strict when it comes to performance batches. He's like, I want it like this. But our shows are good. Our shows are good.

Victor (46:02)

Perfectionist, right? Perfectionist,

okay, great. Just so before I, I don't want to forget, but I just want to take it back to something you said earlier on. So we mentioned, we mentioned Naz or Nazreen. So I just want to say thank you to Nazreen as well, who helped make this episode come to fruition. Yeah, so through DJ Guelas and through myself, we all got together and created this. So thank you, Nazreen, for that initiation and bringing me Elvis and Namrata here. Okay, cool. So.

Namrata (46:16)

Yes. She to be initiated. Yes. Thank you so much, Naz.

Yeah.

That's it.

Victor (46:32)

All right, just take you back a little bit to MASK again. So Mumbai, Authentic, Semba Kizomba Weekender. With that, you've met artists like Tony and Carla, Adilson, and Fanio as well. You made them all accessible to India. So what I want to find out from you, what is the bigger vision that you want from MASK? You've created something great. Is there a bigger vision that you have behind it? Yep.

Namrata (46:44)

It's.

Yes.

So basically, so far we've been doing it as a small weekender because obviously the crowd is limited that's genuinely interested in Semba and Kizomba and those who are they genuinely are and they keep coming year after year to be a part of the weekender since it's their only annual dose of kind of levelling up it like I told you before, MASK is not for beginners. It's an intermediate level weekender.

So whenever the teacher, whoever we invite, we always brief them that, you know, it's an intermediate weekend, so you can try and push the participants because before MASK comes on board, we do special trainings where people come into special workshops, special, you know, like these series of workshops where they know, kind of leveling up and getting prepped for MASK. So when the artists finally come on board, they come in.

presuming that they can teach intermediate level workshops, can concentrate on styling, can concentrate on musicality, on individuality and a lot of... Obviously every month we've had traditional dancing as well because you know like a bit of Kazakuta, Kabetula, like whatever they come up with, they just come and teach some of the traditional dancing as well. So all of that, so far we have tried to keep it like a small event because in India...

Like I said, everybody's more attracted to the bigger festivals where there's Salsa Bachata, Kiz Bye Kiz Kizomba, it's mostly Urban Kiz. So we've tried to keep it small. However, in the coming few years, are planning to, or daring to dream bigger. And hopefully we'll be able to get a bigger crowd, get sponsors. That's a big thing for us, to be able to get sponsors and hence try and make it bigger.

in the sense of trying to get more artists. Like this time we had Tony and Carla. So that was two artists for us. Otherwise, you generally only get the lead. But next time we maybe have get a group. We might get some or maybe get two couples. You know, so we have more Namrata of workshops and more flavor. But like I said, like Elvis told you before, we don't really want to change the format.

of the fact that we want 10 to 12 hours of training with one artist with a simple fact that we feel that for us to kind of imbibe somebody's style or try and think how they think, you do need more Number of hours to kind of get that their flavor into you rather than just sporadic one or two workshops here and there and say, okay, go figure. So that's one format we will not let go of.

So whoever comes, even if you get two couples, then we give them like a split of six, six, six hours and six hours. But definitely the number of hours is not going to reduce because this is something that we are very clear about. We want to bring an artist and we want to rigorously train with them. And then of course they are open to private classes, which they do. They do a lot of private sessions and they sometimes try and do like a little bit of small boot camp where they do a choreography.

So we're going to try every year we try to incorporate newer elements into the Weekender but this number of hours and training, trying to train with one artist and channelizing ourselves to the way they think is something we will keep at it. Yeah, definitely want to build this up and kind of hoping that we can get down like a singer. Yes. A future who can do like a show, a live music show.

Something like that, than just the teaching aspect that we have. So that the people get that pure vibe. But then again, for a show we need a bigger crowd as well. so eventually it all depends on the numbers. If the number increase in a good form, then we can think of pushing and adding more elements to MASK. Other than just this workshop. Yeah, genuinely.

building more centers in Mumbai and because of RER we are trying to go to different cities so that more and more people get influenced by our styles and hence they have that much of a trust in us that they the minute we say that we're bringing down an artist and they might not know the artist but they'll still come because they know that we will not compromise on what we are bringing down and it'll always be the best so we are trying to

build the community in such a way that we don't have to rely on you know people who are not really interested but you're still coming rather than building a community that's already in that phase of Semba Kizomba they're just coming and leveling up so we're trying we are building centers we are trying to go to different newer cities and buildings so yeah and we have seen it with the participants also you know slowly and slowly we're getting we got participants from Malaysia this time we had participants from Malaysia

There was a couple of people from US, Kenya and then next year there are some people coming from Australia. So people are watching this, watching MASK and they're seeing what's happening, they're seeing the format and a lot of people want to join in from different countries as well. So that's really good and we want to keep pushing. Hope so when you come here. Yeah, you have to. Yeah. Yeah.

Victor (52:01)

Yeah, great.

I'm sold. I'm sold. As as I can, I'm

I'm coming 100%. Yeah.

Namrata (52:12)

I guess

the biggest challenge from an organizer's point of view is the fact that you've got to maintain the same quality. Sometimes it's very quick for people to say, but you know, last year you had this, but this year you didn't. And it invariably happens. You can't please everybody. But somehow, touch wood, we have tried to maintain the quality. We have. Like, whatever it has taken, it has taken. But we tried to be consistent with MASK, and that's why the trust has been built.

Victor (52:41)

Absolutely. And obviously you want to take it as global as you can, right? When it comes there. Yeah. Okay. Cool. So keep that in mind. And obviously we build it and build it. Okay.

Namrata (52:41)

minutes.

Yes. Yes.

Because

there are lot of dancers like when we went to Lisbon and we have seen people dancing. So a lot of people want to learn from some instructors and like for example Tony and Carla, a lot of people wanted to learn from them but they never came to Asia. So people had to go to Europe and all of that. So when they came over here, a lot of people wanted to come from different countries around Asia also so that who cannot go to Europe, they came over here. And we want that kind of quality social dancing.

Victor (53:06)

Mm-hmm.

Namrata (53:19)

You know, people from different countries should come and dance over here so that our people can also see how the social dancing works. And that being said, we really want to get people from Angola. Yeah. And you know, if we can get like a good sponsor and all of that, we'll get some people to just come and dance. Because you know, I want people to see that, you know, how they dance. How each and every person, you know, dances over there so purely. Oh.

Victor (53:26)

Yeah, I think that global element is really important.

Yeah.

Yeah. 100 % yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

absolutely. Yep, yep, yep. Cool. Just let's just do it right. So in terms of representing Asia to the world then you both well, you're increasingly becoming reference points for Kizomba and Semba in Asia because of what the work that you're doing. What do you want the global community, to understand about the Asian Kizomba scene?

Namrata (53:48)

They really need to experience that.

Victor (54:08)

What's one thing you really want them to know globally around the world?

I know we've talked a lot, if there's one thing that you say, you know what? This is what we want you to know about us.

Namrata (54:16)

So.

So basically I feel that Asians first of all are very hardworking. Yeah, if they put their mind into something they want to excel in it. You can see most of the Asian countries including India, we are hardworking and I feel that there's so much scope for Kizomba Semba in Asia that if we go the right way and if we keep at it and if we are consistent, I think Asia will become a huge.

market for Kizomba Semba and generally for the culture to really grow here. So yeah, I feel Asia has really good potential in terms of the arts and we put in long hours, even though we don't have exposure to, you know, to the best of festivals or the best of music or the best of DJs, but we somehow hustle and we make it happen. So I think.

I want people to understand that don't underestimate Asians. We are hardworking, we are persistent, and we will make it happen. ⁓

Victor (55:19)

because my next question is

about misconception. So you're touching on it here right now, but is there any stigma or misconception about Asian dancers that you'd like to challenge or tell people about? Well, yeah, I'll leave it at that question. Any misconceptions that people have about you and that you'd like to say, hold on a minute, this is what it is.

Namrata (55:26)

Yeah.

Again, like I said, when we went for the first time to represent at Paris or even if we've been for festivals outside or even when we went to New York and people saw us dance, even Bachata, they were like, what? Indians are dancing so close. It's such an intimate dance and you guys are so good at it. And we didn't even know that India would dance Latin styles. we were like, Latin style has been in India forever. And this is a misconception because

We are very open to new dance styles. We are very used to partner dancing because of course ballroom has been for a while, Tango is very big. in India, ballroom styles are very big. I mean, Salsa and Bachata have been there forever and Kizomba now of course is building. It's an intimate dance. So, yeah, I think that's the biggest misconception people have about India that, you know, Indian, because India is a conservative society or used to be now with the...

you know, with social media influence and with the times changing and everything, everything's looking up and people are more open to trying out new styles and the music that appeals to them and a style that appeals to them. There's no stopping us. mean, we are trying very different things. So think that's the biggest misconception that people have about Asia that, you know, they are conservative, the society is conservative and hence these styles are unheard of that Indians are doing it. But hey, look at us.

We are dancing Salsa Bachata and Kizomba. So, and there will be newer styles will come out and Indians will be doing that as well. yes, we are very open to it. And like I said, we are hardworking, so we'll accept. Yeah. And as I remember dance, like there are a lot of other things also you'll be surprised to know that India has this or Asia has this. You know, we love everything. I think we love everything. So we have a little bit of everything. Maybe it is, it will be very underground, but it's there.

Victor (57:06)

Yes.

Yeah, no, yep.

So.

Namrata (57:33)

You name it and you'll find it. There's a lot of similarity between when we went to Africa, to Angola. This was the first thing that hit us that there's so much similarity between Africans and Indians in terms of the way we celebrate music. Music is always our background for everything. We celebrate everything. We dance to everything. Our folk dancing is so rich. Our culture is so rich. Like you...

Victor (57:33)

Definitely there. Yeah.

Namrata (57:57)

come out in any different state and you will see a different language, different way of dressing, a different dance and different music like our instruments are beautiful. The tabla, the harmonium, the sitar, they're all beautiful instruments. So I feel that we are very open to music and dance anyways.

And then when you see the African culture and how grounded they are and some of our folk dancing is very similar. Like Elvis and I have been training in the tribal dances like we try and do classes when we go. And then we tell our teachers, this is so similar to Indian folk dance because even we have our grounding and we also dance bare feet and we also have these movements where we are looking up to heaven and you know like to the gods and whatever. So even like the way things are in the folk dancing and the instruments and how we...

dance to live music and you know our rhythms. It's so similar that I feel that we are definitely Indians are so open to a lot of dancing music. India and Angola in general have always had a good relationship. Given trade and all of that India had a really good relationship. So we were training, we were doing this class in Angola with these OGs.

Lovely history. He had a tribal dance workshop and they were playing and oh my god his workshop at the Angola Kizomba festival was phenomenal. And then when we entered the first day when we landed in Luanda, the sights that you see on the streets, you're like you're in a city in India. know women with the vegetables on their head or selling cloth and then they are balancing and walking and that's what Ginga comes about, right?

But in India, the same like we have these ladies dressed in traditional saris, you know, with the baskets on their head and all their, you know, vegetables and fruits that they're selling or, you know, cloth they're selling and they don't even need to hold it. They have such great balance and then they're walking on the roads and then hawkers standing around and, you know, they're selling stuff. People are eating something.

The sites are so familiar. I had to take videos and send it to my mother and said, my God, because I come from a small town in India. And I sent it to my mother and said, my God, this is like home. And she's like, is that Africa? I said, yeah. And it's so similar. Even the food. food. Rice and beans. We eat rice. Yeah. We have the rice and beans. Yeah.

Victor (1:00:14)

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah,

no, was when I went to Angola. I totally, totally understand what you were saying. 100 % So yeah, no, that's that's fantastic. And, know, thank you so much for sharing all that. ⁓ You just picked up picked up on something. So when I was talking to you about misconceptions, one thing I would just want to remember is DJ Miro Kikola, well known DJ.

Namrata (1:00:33)

Thank

Victor (1:00:43)

a couple of years ago, you know, I saw him out and we were just talking like we always do. And, you know, I said, okay, so where have you been now? And he goes, Oh, you know what? I just came back from India. And I was like, really? Because yeah. And he said, Victor, India. I was like, yeah. He goes, listen, the festival I went to the dance that I went to is because they can dance over there. And I was like, really? Remember, this is a few years ago. So I didn't necessarily know myself.

Namrata (1:00:57)

Hahaha

Victor (1:01:10)

And he was just telling me about how great the festival was and the dance. And obviously, Miro is Angolan, right? So that's his dance, right? So when somebody's saying that, and they'll be like, wow, you're like, OK.

Namrata (1:01:16)

Yes.

Yeah, so Miro came the

same year that we qualified for the Olympiads. So he was a part and he saw the championships happening and he saw all the social dancing and he's amazing. His music is amazing and it was wonderful to dance to his music. But yeah, it was a great experience to have. he played after I was DJing as well and he played after me and then I was watching him DJ and I was like, wow, this guy is doing crazy stuff.

Victor (1:01:27)

Okay, well there we go then.

There you go. Yeah.

Yeah.

He's okay, he's not fat, he's

all right. No, he's good. No shit.

Namrata (1:01:52)

He's amazing. I was like wow. I learned a lot

basically just standing over there and looking at him doing things. was like okay. That's another thing like we want MASK to be able to grow enough that we can even bring down some of the most amazing DJs back to India or bring them for the first time. But then again like I said it's like a self-funded project. So we have to take it easy because we are full-time dancers.

But I'm hoping that one day, the MASK will become big enough that we can call DJs and singers and musicians and expose India to the Angolan culture.

Victor (1:02:25)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So

just want to shout out to Miro. Obviously, you know, you're a great, great DJ. So yeah, Miro, wicked. All right. And two, just something because you picked up on it just a moment ago. So you just mentioned, you know, when you were in India, you see the ladies with the, the stuff on their heads walking. And then you mentioned this is where Ginga came from. So just tell us a little bit about that briefly if you can, just so people can be educated about what Ginga is.

Namrata (1:02:32)

Shout out to Mom. You're amazing.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So let me tell you, one of my

first workshops in Ginga ever was with Eliza Sala. Yes. And when she came down here to India, her first introduction was so beautifully put. She told us that Ginga is a very natural movement that women back in Angola have. And how does it happen? Imagine that you're holding something on your head and you're walking in, you know, side to side with your hips because that's the natural movement. And that's how the movement comes about.

Victor (1:02:58)

yes.

Namrata (1:03:20)

So she was like, she made us hold things on our head like books at that time. That's all we had. And you know, walk around the room and she said, that's what your natural Ginga movement is. And that's how the whole Ginga movement and the whole, you know, the hip isolations comes about. It's because the women in Angola, that's what they would do. They would, you know, hold stuff on their head, carry their babies and yet, you know, dance. And that's how the whole beautiful movement came about. And that stuck with me.

And yeah, every time I think of it and every time I went to Angola and I saw those ladies, you know, walking on the road with those things on their head. And that's what I thought of. said, wow, all of them have Ginga because that's their normal way of living. And even in our villages, we have the same like women carrying really heavy loads on their head and their babies behind or in front because we know that's their livelihood. Yeah.

Victor (1:04:00)

Yeah, never-

Yeah. And it's all individual, isn't it? Because Jing is something that's individual.

So it's the way you move in your own individual way. very interesting. Hoping to get. Yeah.

Namrata (1:04:16)

It just isolates the whole of the concept. does.

Balancing, that's heavy weight on the head but you still have your lower body kind of doing the isolation. I thought it was such a great way of making us understand how the whole origin comes and how it all came down. And she was my first Ginga teacher so it stayed with me. And ironically she was there at the Angola Kizomba Festival. She was really happy to see her. Yeah, she was.

Victor (1:04:32)

Yeah.

So she.

as well.

So Eliza, we say hi to you. We've already reached out to you and we're hoping to get you on the podcast. We've had a conversation, but we'll see what happens. She's amazing. Okay. No, beautiful. Thank you. And yeah, especially for, I think maybe new people coming to Kizomba who don't understand what Ginga is, that's going to be a good explanation for the people listening. So thank you. Thank you for that. So just want to change things just slightly. I'm going to ask you a question here. And this question is more, well, it's directed at both of you, but

Namrata (1:04:47)

Yes. Yeah.

Yes.

Victor (1:05:10)

Yeah, okay, so let me just ask it. you know, cause I don't think we talk about this often. Well, I haven't certainly talked about it often on my podcast and that is health and fitness. Okay. And, longevity in dance. So obviously we know that health and fitness is important. Mental health. We know the effects that dancing has on people's mental health and you know, studies have shown just how great it is for you, for your overall health. so what, guess my question is to you both.

How much importance do you put on keeping yourselves healthy? You know, what you do, exercise and diet and everything, because let me tell you something, Mr. Elvis, I've seen those abs, man. I've seen your abdominals there. I've seen the picture that you got out there, dude. All right? And I'm looking at mine and I see your six pack and I'm seeing, I got a one pack, yeah? Maybe you're one pack.

Namrata (1:05:52)

Okay.

that's okay.

Thank you.

Victor (1:06:02)

I see, you know, obviously you're working out, you're looking after yourself. So my question is, you know, dancers, especially at your level and just in general, how important is physical health to you both?

Namrata (1:06:13)

This guy is crazy. Every month he has a new challenge. I'll him talk about it. It's very important to because to break it down, dance is muscle work. You need to know how to control your muscles, how to use it if you want to dance well. So the more you work out, the more you understand your body, it's going to get easier to understand, you know, whatever the instructor is teaching you, the steps and all those techniques, going to get much more easier.

when you have control over those muscles. When I say that, that doesn't mean that you got to go to the gym and like hit heavy. And you know, it's all about, you know, developing good muscle, good quality muscle with I like, I kind of like body weight workout because that kind of gets you fine, you know, feel that proper, you know, muscles that you really require other than a lot of weight training and all of that.

Plus, I do lot of different functional training which also helps me in my dance. Yeah, it helps me build my stamina. You need a lot of stamina to dance long hours and practice. So yes, fitness is a very important thing that stretching, having a good mobility so that you can push more, have a better range of motion, especially for performers.

Victor (1:07:25)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Namrata (1:07:27)

And we do Semba shows so we really have to take care about all of those aspects also. And in general it's really good to take care of your body if you want to live long and have a good life, know, healthy life. With that being said, it's not only just walking out, it's also eating good, eating healthy, sleeping well. It's a combination of all of this which a lot of dancers don't really look, you know, don't take care about. And if you don't do that in future you're going to feel the change.

Like, even for me, there was a time I had a spine defect in my lower spine. It's a bone defect. So, because of that, I couldn't dance and workout properly for almost one and a half years. So that really took a toll on my dancing and not only dancing everything, know, my creativity, my mental health and all of it. That actually made me realize how important it is to take care of your body, take care of your spine.

take care of what you're eating so that you feel good. know, when you feel good, half of the game is done over there. And, you know, it's easier to connect with the music, easier to understand things. And, you know, the feeling is better. Yeah, you have a better feeling other than if you are not fit, if you don't have stamina. You are going to lose out on many, you know, many things, many experiences because of things like that. So...

Yeah, because of the spine injury and all of that, I felt, you know, all of those elements missing because of that break, which was there before, but then it stopped. And then I got back and then everything came back. You the beauty is a bit different when you take care of your body and you eat well, rest well and dance, you know, ⁓ almost 100%. Yeah, you get like a different kind of experience than when you're not that fit, you know.

Victor (1:09:09)

Yeah. All goes together. Yeah.

Yeah.

And sometimes we don't.

Namrata (1:09:17)

He's putting

it mildly but currently he's standing on a ball. I mean he's so annoying. When I see those videos I'm like are you crazy? He's taken a big ball and he's got such good control. He stands on top of that ball. I'm like what is wrong with you? Yeah! Yeah! I really love challenging myself and to see what all my body can do. He went into this phase where he was crazy about calisthenics.

Victor (1:09:31)

this is what I'm saying you need app control for that and you know he's got the app for that man

Namrata (1:09:44)

He would come back with all bleeding palms like bleeding because he used to be on those bars and trying all that. I'm like which girl is going to dance Kizomba with you when they hold their hands? They're like what am I doing? In fact that actually happened also you know at socials when was like every time they touch they're like damn and I'm like sorry. Please put some Vasile put some cream but he's like I'm here.

Victor (1:10:05)

me. Can I just say something? Can I just say something? Listeners

and people watching Elvis? Yep, let's not follow him to the extreme. Just go to the gym or do your exercises three times a week. Okay. This claim.

Namrata (1:10:16)

Yeah, let's just be normal. Just do your normal things. No, but

I'm actually working out on something, you know, to make a structure for dancers, know, exercises that will really help dancers. Depending on style, basically depending on style base, if a person wants to get into break dancing, these are the exercises that will help them understand and develop it quickly. So I'm trying to plan something where I can create something that will help Kizomba Semba dancers, you know.

Victor (1:10:26)

Fantastic.

Okay.

That is

great. That's a great thing. Yeah.

Namrata (1:10:42)

That's not a big time but I'm working on that. For example,

there's a lady who's... I mean, I wouldn't say her age but she's slightly older. And she has problems with her knees, both her knees. She has rots in her knees but she loves Kizomba Semba. And she's kept at it and we love her attitude because she has so much pain. She goes to physiotherapy. Her doctor sometimes tells her, stop dancing. She gets on to painkillers but she won't stop dancing. And Elvis does a few private sessions with her and he...

teaches her exercises to build her knee strength and you won't believe it. She's dancing Semba with the boys and it's amazing to see how she's developed in two years with her knee strength, with her confidence level and everything and it's just amazing. She's keeping at it so I'll give her credit but he really trains her to build her knees, to strengthen her muscle and give her exercises. Yeah, with that being said,

Victor (1:11:39)

Yeah, no, great.

Namrata (1:11:40)

Because I train in different workout styles. When I'm teaching people, I can literally look at them, the way they're stepping and give them proper feedback that you really need to stress a little bit more on your right side glute to understand. I can see all of that because of working out and understanding my body so much. Now when I look at people, I understand where they're messing up and what kind of muscle they need to work on to get better at.

this footwork or this body isolation and stuff like that. You know? Yeah.

Victor (1:12:14)

think it's really important.

whatever you're doing with that, Elvis, please continue that because I think that's going to help a number of people, really help them. And then on top of that, you've got the knowledge around musicality and all of that. So you can really help shape someone into being a very, very good dancer. So please keep that up. I'm going to be staying tuned with you on that.

Namrata (1:12:24)

Yeah.

Victor (1:12:39)

And if you're slacking in that area, I'm going to be saying, what are you doing? I was, you know, we're waiting for this. you said it now. So please up. All right. Okay.

Namrata (1:12:39)

in step function.

Let's go. She like

that student started recommending me to some other some of her friends who had injuries and all and they used to message me like I've got this recommendation that you can cure my... on her. I'm like damn. Do the Balan se.

Victor (1:12:59)

Well, Yeah,

exactly. Literally. Okay. So, all right. Great. Great conversation. Great insights here. just want to almost come into the end, but I just want to ask you a question around, you know, dancers, our listeners right now. You know, people love this dance and you both do it really well. Okay. Very, very well. Both got dance backgrounds. So what practical advice would you give to people?

who wanting to level up their dancing. we've well, we've probably just talked about physicality just now, but maybe what about technically or mentally or anything that you want to add, but I guess, you know, advice to people who just want to become better dancers, what would you say to them?

Namrata (1:13:45)

So what I would suggest first is listen to music as much as you can because that is going to help you that is like 50 % of understanding a dance if you understand the music 50 % of your job is done and it's going to be very easy to understand what dance you do whatever dance you want to

Victor (1:14:05)

So Elvis,

sorry, so when you say listen to music, right, people can say, okay, right, I can listen to music. Fine. what's the... Okay, sure, sure, Okay.

Namrata (1:14:11)

I was going to get into that, I didn't know what you were going ask

me. So when I say listen to music, mean like pay attention to what's happening in a song. What are the drums doing? What is the guitar doing? What are the keys doing? How is the phrasing working? How is the song building up? How are the pauses working? You know, all of these things are very important to understand when you're listening to music. To understand what music is and the power of music and what it can do.

to you mentally first and since you are dancing mentally and then physically it's like a different kind of drug it can cure a lot of things it can get you out of depression get you out of you know whatever problems you have if you really pay attention to what's going on in the music so dancers I would really suggest listen to songs like you know I like to call it call them tracks because it's

Like previously, know, there used to be like track one, track two, track three. That's how songs used to be named. It's literally, I didn't really take songs, these tracks like, you know, tracks that are going to take you to some destination. So you got to listen to that track and let it take you to the spot that you need to be. Okay. Again, to break it down, listen to what the instruments are doing and try to understand the rhythms because all of those rhythms are going to be connected to the steps that you're going to be doing. If you don't know what

what kind of rhythm the steps are connected to. It's not really going to connect when you're dancing to music. So you need to understand the rhythms first. Once you understand the rhythm actually, because most of these dances, the syllabus and the structure that the teachers have created is to the music. It's not random, like step one, step two, step three. It's all to the music. So once you understand the rhythms, it's very easy to figure out, this basic.

is making sense to this section of the music because this rhythm is right there. So yeah, listening to music is very important and basically, mindfully, listen to music mindfully and try to understand what's happening so that it's a conversation again, it's a conversation of music to you and then you, you know, sharing that conversation with your partner, you would have a different conversation. So take it as a conversation, like listen to music as it's like talking to you.

and understand the phrasing. You listen to it. Once you listen to music in this kind of approach, it will totally change the way you listen to music because then you'll feel the commas, you'll see the exclamations and you know, it will just change the way, connect it to grammar, know, something like that.

Victor (1:16:47)

I love that. I love what you said there. Listen

to music mindfully. That's yeah, mindfulness, mindfulness in music. So that's great. Now, Namrata, anything you want to add to that in terms of advice?

Namrata (1:16:56)

Yeah, for me,

I feel that what helped me to elevate my level was consistency. Like whenever I've seen my consistency drop, I've seen my dancing drop. Like any other athlete, dancers are athletes. So I feel like any other sport, the minute you lose out on your consistency of showing up every day is when you suffer. So I think it's a lot to do with your daily practice.

and how you practice and different aspects of what you practice that I've learned from him a lot because he has a very intelligent way of practicing. It's not just randomly playing music and practicing. It's you concentrate on, you make a structure and say, today I'm going to work on this, today I'm going to work on this, today I'm going to work on this, like attitude or musicality or style, whatever. But it's just about showing up every day.

and practicing and you know I know it's it's not easier said than done and it's sometimes not possible for you to show up every day and practice but I say even if you can manage 30 minutes it sees you a longer way so I feel consistency has really helped me in elevating my style yeah look for a good teacher a good mentor keep researching about them don't just go to anybody because you know

Victor (1:18:04)

Beautiful. Yeah.

Namrata (1:18:13)

they are big name or whatever, just research. Ask questions to your teachers, where did you learn from? Because a lot of people don't do that and they just go and then things happen. So it's good to ask questions. Basically what I mean is ask questions as a student, keep asking questions, look for a good teacher and yeah, because you need to know what you're doing and the teachers really work on that so that they help you. look for them. Dancing has so many aspects that...

Victor (1:18:36)

Absolutely.

Namrata (1:18:39)

I mean you have to really look into anything. It's from fitness to your mental health because also dancing helps you to be in the moment. So I feel it's such an effective way to conquer your mental issues as well. Like lot of doctors when you go to a doctor they'll be like, oh you must dance. But like we have this joke and we've also been to a doctor and we said, but we are already dancers, where do we go? And they're like, oops, okay. But yeah, I feel dancing really keeps you in the moment. It helps you focus. So there's so many things about dance that

helps your body in general. I mean, if it's benefiting you in so many ways, why shouldn't you do it every day? Or, you know, why shouldn't you give it that extra time to it?

Victor (1:19:17)

Absolutely. And great advice, 100 % great advice. So people listening, please listen to this advice, especially if you're new to Kizomba or you're thinking about doing Kizomba. Do you ever get bored of Kizomba? Both of you? Does it ever be like, ⁓ can't be bothered?

Namrata (1:19:31)

No.

No ways. know. Because for me whenever I'm listening to a song and whenever we're dancing, we're practicing or I'm dancing with some students, it's always a new experience. know, the song takes me... Even though know the song is always different. So I'm never bored because it's always a new experience for me. I'm not even bored of teaching.

Victor (1:19:48)

Okay.

Never never never never never never

Namrata (1:19:54)

No, no, I'm not even bored of teaching a beginner class. I mean, considering that Elvis and I have been teaching for so many years, somebody would be like, it must be so boring for you because you're teaching a beginner class four times a week. But I'm like, no, I love teaching a beginner's class. In fact, when Elvis and I travel a lot outside, we always try and do a beginner's class with another teacher to see their approach to teaching or breaking down from zero level.

So it's interesting and you always kind of end up learning something. no, I don't think we both are ever bored of Kizomba teaching or listening or dancing.

Victor (1:20:29)

And

I think that's really key. And you're the second person that said that, Namrata, because we had Sarah Amaro on the podcast. She's been on it twice. And the second time she came on, the whole reason I wanted her to come on was because in her first episode, she was talking about how she loved teaching beginners because she always learned something new. And in my mind, when I hear that as a teacher, because you do this all the time, you can easily get bored. But she said no.

Namrata (1:20:38)

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes. Exactly. Yeah.

Victor (1:20:57)

actually I'm learning something new all the time and it's a challenge. So you're saying exactly the same thing. So I think it's, I think it's wonderful.

Namrata (1:20:59)

Yeah, and also everybody has a different way of kind of receiving what you're teaching like the way in India you break down a movement as opposed to another country or you know like another audience everybody has a different way of receiving also so sometimes you even have to tweak how you teach you know a particular foundation step and that is what the

challenge for a teacher is so no beginners can never be boring. It's so wonderful to think of new ways to explain or bring down a moment.

Victor (1:21:31)

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. Listen, I just want to say thank you to you both. OK, I could talk to you for a lot longer. But all that means is that you just have to come back in the future, basically. So we'll see you back again here another time.

Namrata (1:21:42)

Yes, yes. Definitely. Thank you so much for having us. Your questions

were so amazing. we, it was so, we didn't even know that so much time has already elapsed, but it's been really, really wonderful.

Victor (1:21:54)

It's okay, no problem.

I'm just conscious. I'm really, really keen to let people know that Kizomba is global and in maybe countries that you don't necessarily associate Kizomba with and you both are people that we want to spread that with. So thank you very much for your time and keep doing what you're doing. Please, please, Okay. Before we go though, we have some other questions

Namrata (1:22:02)

Yes.

I have one more thing to do. Thanks. See you later.

the question.

Victor (1:22:18)

So

fun questions that we have and you see we have these cards. Can you see these cards here? So what we've done in the past is you know, we normally have three questions you answered some and I answered one but slightly different now so what I've done now because Some of our followers really like the podcast. I like some of the guests that we have So now I'm creating these questions with some of my friends and some of the followers So I say, okay, we have you know, these people coming on. What do you think we should ask them? All right

Namrata (1:22:23)

Yes.

Okay.

Victor (1:22:47)

So we've got a couple of questions here, all right? One from me and one from some friends or so. All right, so I'm going to get both of you to answer one of these questions, all right? let's do it this way, all right? So, Namrata, do you want the top one or the bottom one?

Namrata (1:22:48)

in British.

Okay.

Victor (1:23:05)

Top, right? Okay, so this is your question.

Okay so you may have answered this already but let's go with it. So it says if Elvis and Namrata were known for one sentence in the Kizomba world what do you hope people will say about your dance? So if somebody was to sum you both up in one sentence what are you hoping they're saying about you both or your dancing?

Namrata (1:23:29)

I want Elvis and I to be remembered as people who are honestly hardworking artists who have totally immersed ourselves in building the culture the right way and being consistent and passionate about what we do.

Victor (1:23:50)

Fantastic. Very well articulated. And I think job done on that one. Okay. So Elvis, you have the other question. All right. And this is an interesting one, my friend. So I he's, I hope you answered that right. So this is an interesting question. So Elvis, would you rather perform, right? An incredible Semba show in front of 10,000 people. Yeah. Or

Namrata (1:23:53)

Thank you.

Okay, let's go.

Bye.

Victor (1:24:18)

Have one magical, unforgettable Kizomba dance with your partner in a small social.

Be careful how you answer this one.

Namrata (1:24:25)

Thank

God I took that on. Other Kizomba dance.

Victor (1:24:34)

The small one, yeah? Okay. So what's

the reason for that one then, Elvis?

Namrata (1:24:41)

Because I feel that shows are going to happen and that kind of show will happen for sure. The Kizomba dance is more personal and you know, it's a better feeling. It's a better feeling than that ⁓ show with a lot of people watching us.

Victor (1:24:53)

Okay.

Fantastic. Well, because Nam r ata is there, think that's the right answer, my friend. yeah. right. Well, listen, thank you. Thank you so much for just a bit of fun at the end. So that's cool. listen, let us know what are your socials so people can find out about you.

Namrata (1:25:11)

First of all, Instagram, Rare Groove Dance is our page where we put up our socials. Our social dates keep changing at times. Right now, it's every last Monday of the month, which is called Azem Bora. And right now... And other pages are Elvis Namrata Official and then our private pages are Namrata...

RGDC and Elvis RGDC. No, no, Elvisism. Elvisism, sorry. And these are our four pages and we are very active on it. So again, Rare Grooves Dance, Elvis Namrata Official, Namrata RGDC and Elvisism. These are Instagram pages and yeah, we are pretty active on them. So yeah, socials right now, every last Monday of the month. It's called Azembora. We have our social called Azembora, our 100 % Kizomba Semba and

Yeah, it happens at car social right now. Yes car social

Victor (1:26:05)

Fantastic.

Great. People, be sure to check them out. And I really do check them out. Please go on Instagram, Facebook, wherever you can, watch some of this amazing dancing. Please do, because it's really, really super. Are there any projects that you want to shout out now that you're working on for the future that you might want to tell people about or anything that you want to share?

Namrata (1:26:24)

We will be in... Kizomba Treat. Yes, in Belgium. This May, so... We're excited about that. forward to be there. Then we're gonna be at CSA, which is another good festival out here in India. Yes, it's in September. We might also end up going to the ILKSF Valencia, because we are gonna be in Europe at that time. In June. That's in June, beginning. And of course, we have MASK Weekender, which happens in November.

And this year we have Fanio who we are very very excited to have. Yes. He's amazing. So yeah. We will also probably be back to Angola Kizomba Festival. Yes. That's one annual visit I'm always looking forward to. It's such a humbling experience to be there.

Victor (1:27:10)

Hey, so

from June onwards, you've got quite a lot going on. people just make sure you. So lots, lots going on people. Make sure you check them out. If you can't get to one of these events, you will not be, you know, you'll have a great time. Basically is what I'm going to say. All right. So Elvis, Namrata, I just want to say thank you very much for your time. It's been great speaking to you. Keep doing the great work that you're doing over there. Whenever you come into the.

Namrata (1:27:14)

we are back to Malaysia in April. Yeah, we're back to Malaysia in To phase two of our year.

Thank you.

Victor (1:27:38)

UK, obviously, you know you're to let me know first, all right? Maybe we can get you in the studio in real time and do something on that respect. yeah, it's really great. Keep up the great work, and we hope to see you soon. ⁓

Namrata (1:27:39)

we have. Of course.

Yes.

Thank you so much

for having us and we love what you're doing. This Kizomba Conversations is a very, very interesting concept and I hope you keep at it and it grows bigger and bigger. Yes.

Victor (1:28:03)

Thank you, thank you very much. We're just trying to share Kizomba, all right? So everybody, thank you very much for listening to another episode. We hope you've enjoyed the conversation. If you wanna subscribe, please do. But like I always say in the meantime, keep dancing and we hope to see you on the dance floor. Peace.

Namrata (1:28:06)

Yes!

Bye.