sonny varela

Sonny Varela – Professional Kizomba Dance Instructor – London, United Kingdom

Sonny Varela AKA Miss Ginga Boo is a Professional Kizomba Dance Instructor and Kizomba Embassy Ambassador currently living in London, United Kingdom.

Sonny was born & grew up in France but is originally from Cape Verde. She has been living in London since 2000. Whilst growing up dance was a common theme running throughout her family and culture.

She grew up dancing Passada, Funana, Batuku, Coladeira, Zouk, Kuduro, Mazurka, Coupe Decale and Ndombolo. In the UK she has danced Samba with Taste of Brazil, and African traditional and modern dance (Azonto & Afrobeat) with Yemaya Libota.

She began teaching and performing Kizomba with her dance partner in 2010 but later became a solo female teacher and artist performing not only in the United Kingdom but worldwide.

In 2015 she came in 1st place at the UK Kizomba Champions and in that same year, she came in 3rd place at the International World Kizomba Champions Africadancar.

In 2016 Sonny started her own event business company SVPromotions, now known as Ginga Boo UK with the aim of using local talent as well as international teachers & DJs to support the growing dance community in the UK. 

She eventually left her main job to focus on her passion to work and bring about change in the dancing field. In 2016, she started one of the first weekly and very popular Kizomba & Urban Kiz parties in London bringing in various International teachers.

In 2017 she organized a Kizomba Teachers Training and hosted the first-ever Urban Kiz competition in the UK. She collaborated on this Urban Kiz competition with the well-known Kizomba Artist Curtis Seldon. She also commenced an intensive teaching and training opportunity for teachers in both Kizomba & Urban Kiz, which included Edu Costa, Leny O’cassule, Lee Archer, Qas Hussain, and Joan Chance.

In June 2018, she held the first-ever Ginga Boo Kizz Festivals UK (GBKF) as well as a subsequent festival the following January, bringing International artists and many local artists together under the same roof, offering diversity, different dance styles, and different ways of learning to the local dance community. 

In September 2018, she initiated the first-ever monthly Saturday party event in London hosting two rooms, a Kizomba, Semba, and Afro room in addition to an Urban Kiz room, to accommodate the diverse needs of the dancers in the area.

This monthly event was a great success offering many workshops with international Kizomba Artists and international Kizomba DJs. She also created a website called “Kizomba Events in London” to help the local Kizomba community to find out what Kizomba events were happening in London & surrounding areas.

In 2019 Sonny hosted the first ‘UK Open 2019’ Dance Competition Kizomba & Urban Kiz creating opportunities for new talents wanting to expose their work and wishing to enter the dance scene field. 

She is also responsible for creating the Ginga Boo’s “UK Kizomba Awards” to give recognition and credit for the hard work and dedication Kizomba artists have given to supporting and building the Kizomba dance community.

Throughout her years of working in the dance field, she has accumulated a wealth of experience and accomplishments as a dancer, promoter, and innovator.  Sonny was crowned the Contributor of the year 2019 by “UK Kizomba Awards 2019”. Her vision and ethos is being passionate about teaching, promoting, and being an innovator in order to support the growth of Kizomba in the UK. 

You can book this professional Kizomba Instructor and choreographer from London, UK for upcoming kizomba festivals, corporate events, staged choreographed performances, online classes, brand promos, film, television, and music videos via the below links: