Brings cultures, nations, races and all ages together through Afro-Latin music and dance and celebrating the energy and regeneration of johannesburg, otherwise known as ‘jozi’
The term Afro-Latin broadly groups various genres of music and dance that have evolved from exchanged cultural expressions between people of Africa (particularly East and Central) and the South Americas. Afro-Latin influences are forged largely from the expression of cultural identity amongst Africans at a time when they were forced into slavery, particularly by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers and traders. With its roots therefore in Africa, Europe and South America, Afro-Latin eventually became a global phenomenon via integration into other artistic styles developing in major centers, especially the cultural melting pot of New York City. Its influences throughout international music and dance styles are vast. The Johannesburg Afro-Latin Festival focuses on street, club and social dance styles and African, Latin and Jazz music styles.
In Johannesburg and around the country and African continent there is a significant and growing Afro-Latin social dancing and music scene with many organisations and companies offering classes, events and performances as well as musicians, bands and specialist DJs. There is also an increasing international interest in Afro-Beat music that overlaps with the Afro-Latin umbrella.
Because we wanted something that was more than a dance congress, we launched in 2018 with a programme that included music and dance education workshops and seminars that offered knowledge, focused training and fun for dancers, music and dance enthusiasts and musicians, along with an exciting crash-course option for absolute beginners. We welcomed modern African dance into the mix as well as a community group from Alexandra Township, the Gumboots Foundation, and celebrated the history and evolution of dance and movement with African heritage. Our 2019 Festival continued to develop these principles, through working with SOS Children’s Village, Ennerdale, and the Music Enlightenment Project, Braamfontein, whilst collaborating with music industry experts and musicians as well as local and African regional artists in an effort to develop our industry.
The third edition, held in March 2020, presented an exciting partnership with Melrose Arch where we welcomed world-leading Tromboranga Salsa Orchestra to perform live for the public on the High Street as part of a family-friendly carnival-style event. We had no idea what the world was in for, and credit our dancer friends led by Pires from Angola for giving us the very first international public participation in the Jerusalema line dance before we all went into lockdown.
Watch this space to find out what’s next! We remain committed to celebrating and promoting Afro-Latin dance and music in Johannesburg and South Africa, and supporting and developing the industry. The event aims to be an enlightening and entertaining experience for local and international attendees, focusing on salsa, bachata, kizomba, tango, and African music and dance, including more in the Afro-Latin spectrum such as capoeira and Brazilian samba.
The festival typically takes places over four days from a Thursday to a Sunday and features parties, 35+ hours of dance and music workshops, local and international artists and DJs, city and national tourism opportunities and community projects.
Background : The Festival is co-founded by Catherine Hill and Olu Kongi who became friends in 2004, both owing much of their salsa education and passion to the city of Leeds, UK and some special mutual friends. They have travelled together both for and outside of the salsa world and have a shared love of Afro-Latin dance and music as well as the City of Johannesburg. Olu and Cat hope to create a legacy of an event that can do what Afro-Latin music does best: bring people together.
Biography: Olu Kongi
Olu Olu has been dancing Salsa for over 22 years but prior to that he was loosely involved with the UK Freestyle Jazz dance scene especially in London and Leeds. His salsa dancing started in one of the premier regular salsa nights in Leeds, the now-defunct Casa Latina which also happened to attract the jazz dancers of the day who viewed salsa music as Latin Jazz.
Olu Olu’s preferred salsa style these days is NY Style On 2 but he is equally comfortable On 1 or with the Cuban Style. His main influences and inspiration not only include Eddie Torres, Frankie Martinez and Santo Rico but also Susana Montero and Super Mario of London, UK.
Olu Olu also taught salsa for over 10 years having started with the Latin Quarter Dance Company in Leeds under the tutelage of Nicolai V and Alan. He has also performed with the Latin Quarter around the UK. He has taught for Manhattan Mambo in London, one of the pioneer On 2 teaching outfits in London.
Olu Olu has been a regular teacher at Mambocity 5 Star Congress in London since its inception but he has also given workshops in Leeds, London, Copenhagen, Shanghai and Qingdao in China. His dance style is best described as smooth and jazzy.
He has appeared as a dance extra for numerous UK Television dramas that feature salsa, most notably Fat Friends.
More recently Olu Olu has been concentrating on his other hobby, photography. He has been taking pictures practically all his life and has been dancing for almost equally as long so combining his passion for travel, dancing and photography he can be seen at many of the dance festivals around Europe capturing memories from the dancers' point of view with a keen eye for detail and an unusual perspective of the world at large. He has featured as an official photographer at many festivals and congresses: check out his photo page Olu Olu Snap Snap [https://www.facebook.com/OhMyLeftEye/] on Facebook.
Olu is a self-confessed social media addict and he can be found across many platforms either blogging (jazzman.blog.co.uk), sharing his photography on Instagram (@oak4jazz) or musing on Twitter (@oak4jazz). He is the host of the online virtual Coffee Lounge on Facebook where salseros and salseras discuss a variety of topics affecting the Afro-Latin dance community. He has hosted live Coffee Lounges at various festivals and events.
Olu holds dual British and Nigerian nationality, is a Civil Engineer, and enjoys spending time travelling and learning about the African continent.
Biography: Catherine Hill
"MamboCat" or "SambaCat" depending on the day!-- has been dancing within the Afro-Latin umbrella since 2002. Finding salsa via her best friend's Colombian family during her high school years in Fort Lauderdale, USA (gracias Beatriz!), she continued to dance whilst studying at the University of Leeds, UK, training and eventually teaching cross-body style salsa ('on1' and 'on2') with Nicky Lloyd-Greame and Gormack Dione (The Salsaholics). While in Leeds she also discovered Brazilian samba and reggaeton, learning and working with Ella Mesma and Elisa Aloe, and quickly developed a love for all things Brazilian.
Cat continued training and teaching salsa and performed samba, salsa, Latin Jazz, reggaeton and other styles with various Latin cabaret and Brazilian groups in London, including Samba Collective, Yes! Brasil, the award-winning groups Tropicalia and Oi Brasil and the London School of Samba. In 2008 she was invited to parade as a 'passista' (professional samba dancer) in Rio Carnival with the Gold Group-level samba school Alegria da Zona Sul. She has featured on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and performed at international samba festivals and parades, such as the Coburg International Samba Festival. In London she had the privilege of working and training with Cuban salsa and pioneering kizomba legend, Angolan/Portuguese Iris de Brito.
Cat returned to South Africa in 2010 where she founded the Johannesburg School of Samba (SambaJozi), and has taught and performed with various local salsa and kizomba dance companies including co-founding BailaAfrika in 2012 before taking a sabbatical for three years before reviving SambaJozi and then founding Candela Jozi Dance Company in 2016 as an Afro-Latin dance entertainment agency and studio.
Cat's first love is dancing and teaching New York style salsa, and she enjoys the choreographic process and crafting an entertaining dance story, but lives for the improvisation and freedom of dancing to live Brazilian batucada (drumming) and the samba schools’ baterias (drumming bands) of Rio de Janeiro (and her beloved London School of Samba, of course!). Her ‘heart school’ is G.R.E.S. Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, known for their highly awarded bateria, also the godmother school of the London School of Samba.
Since 2020, Cat has held the role of chief operating officer for the University of the Witwatersrand’s Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, based in Soweto, South Africa. The unit focuses on clinical epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases, working closely with Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital as well as throughout the community. Previously a consultant focusing on strategy, business-brand alignment and organisational development, she has a demonstrated history of successful leadership role with various international non-profit organisations including One Young World, Citizen Leader Lab and the Thuli Madonsela Foundation. She is married to Ryan Hill, and together they share a love for salsa and South Africa.