Little Miss Junior Idol 2022’s dance academy

NANCY RAMOKHUA

editors@thepatriot.co.bw

Kimberley Matheakgomo who was recently crowned Little Miss Junior Idol 2022 in Thailand has founded a local dance academy in Gaborone. The young queen won the best dancer award at the pageantry while in Thailand, a talent she grew up nurturing. The dance academy KatKim Delight Dance, is therefore an operational platform for kids who want to learn the art of dancing.

“This is a fun and friendly dance academy for kids. The name KatKim is a combination of the founder’s names, Katlego (Kat) aged 12 and Kimberley (Kim) aged 9. The two are sisters,” said the mother of the girls, Lebogang Matheakgomo. To become part of the academy, requirements include a registration fee of P150 which comes with a free t-shirt, however monthly subscriptions are made at P300. It’s target group is from 4 years to 18 and the academy offers various dance genres from contemporary to hip hop, afro pop and jazz. “We once joined Global Dance Supreme which was what inspired us to start this academy. We have also noticed that many kids are talented in dancing but lack skill in just a few aspects. As such, our goal is to provide a nurturing environment for beginners through  professional dancers inspiring passion  by developing skill,” Matheakgomo shared.

The dance studio is managed by the mother of the girls. She is therefore responsible for preparing and setting up classes, processing new registration requests, in charge of scheduling instructors for various classes and other related duties. The academy currently operates with two dance instructors, coach Seo and Aquino who are both pre-professional female dancers. “They are our mentors. They coordinate unique choreography routines and teach us more dance skills, observing our performance and providing suggestions for improvement, stated Matheakgomo. The young girls emphasised that focusing on pageantry and dancing is not easy and can sometimes be tough to balance the two. However, they try by all means to stay well-balanced on all sides, including deliberate focus on school work. They wish to find a path of life that will lead them to build a legacy that will make them and their supporters proud. Above all, the sisters want to lift up the country’s flag through their talent and become well known internationally for their hard work.

In dance we are both inspired by Nia Sioux Frazier from a reality show called Dance Moms. We look up to Nia because of her signature death drops, her stage presence, her determination to win, her bubbly personality, her flexibility, and her eagerness to learn new things. In pageantry, we are inspired by Mpule Kwelagobe, the first black African woman to win Miss Universe Botswana 1999. We look up to her because of the goodwill she has done, for being an intelligent and sophisticated woman, for her beauty qualities which inspired us to be where we are today,”explained Matheakgomo. She went on to also say that the journey is never easy, emphasising that if you reach an advanced level and stop practicing, you might find yourself back to being a beginner. Therefore challenges may be reduced by finding the right inspiration, being persistent and dealing with limitations. The academy is so far doing well especially because parents are fully supportive and bring their kids on time. However, the only challenge has been late payments for dance classes which was said to be affecting the internal proceedings of the academy.

According to the sisters, to have achieved this much at their age, feels great and gives them a common goal and purpose to archive even more. “We want to inspire other kids to gain self-confidence by instilling in them a sense of hard work. We both desire to be one day crowned Miss Universe and be part of Elite, which is one of the most famous international modeling agencies,” the girls declared. As skilled dancers, they have been featured in two music videos by artists, Zenade and  Rhyme Killa.