Born on June 30, 1980 as Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau in Lagos State, Kaffy has redefined Nigeria’s entertainment industry as a dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and fitness coach. Her story is that of transition from grass to grace through perseverance, hard work, dedication and self-drive. It is on this premise that I will be looking into the life of this accomplished and self-actualised young woman.
Kaffy attended Chrisland School in Opebi, Lagos and Coker Secondary School for her primary and post-primary education. Right from her childhood, she had always loved dancing and this made her to participate in a lot of sporting activities in her schools, including taking ballet classes. Though she was born into wealth, things took a downward trend for her family when her parents separated. Life became so hard that they found it difficult to eke out a living. The once prosperous family wallowed in wants and Kaffy took the pain of survival, taking gari (cassava flakes) for several months.
Her walk into fame was birthed when she resolved to help people lose weight. She joined an aerobics class and was always regular and punctual. This prompted her aerobics teacher to appoint her to lead the class whenever she was unavailable. Being a dancer, she infused dancing into aerobics and the class loved it, always wanting her to lead whenever the teacher was absent.
Fate thrust her into dancing when she was approached by a promoter for a modelling job. Part of the modelling activity was choreography. Even though she didn’t want to do the choreography at first, she later agreed and asked the promoter to allow her do a solo performance. Unknown to her, many artistes were present at the event and loved her performance. Some of the artistes, including Ruggedman and Adewale Ayuba, approached her after her performance, wanting her to be part of their songs’ videos. That was how Kaffy became famous and gradually stepped up the ladder to become a professional dancer.
Kaffy started professional dancing in 2002 and ever since she has been an inspiration and a positive role model to many, most especially, young people interested in dancing. She has co-ordinated many events, some of which are: Malta Guinness Street Dance, MTN Project Fame, and Silverbird Unplugged where she was either a choreographer, a fitness trainer or a judge.
She has also appeared in many top-rated music videos of top Nigerian artistes, such as Ruggedman and P-Square, among many others. She has coordinated and performed in a host of other events too many to mention in this article.
In 2006, Kaffy with her dance group achieved a rare feat of dancing for 55 hours and 40 minutes to claim the Guinness Book of Record for the longest dance party. This established her career as a dancer and helped portray Nigeria in good light.
Her desire to impact and groom the next generation of dancers led her to establish a dance company, Imagneto Dance Company. Many dancers, who passed through this training centre are doing great in the industry today. A lot of aspiring dancers today were inspired by her larger-than-life personae and success story. An example is Rita Adoh, a graduate, who trained with Kaffy at the her dance school. She sponsored herself through college from proceeds she got from dancing. She hopes to make a fortune from dancing. Rita is one among the many youths Kaffy is grooming to storm and take over the entertainment world.
Kaffy is an advocate for Nigerian dancers. She has, at various times, challenged musicians to treat dancers with dignity and respect. One of such was when she called out Davido for cancelling a performance with a dance crew at the last minute. Kaffy was not disrespected personally. But this was her business as the leader of the art. And in the absence of any legal channel to seek redress, Kaffy took it upon herself to pass across a strong and palpable message to the world. Dancers need to be respected.
Her advocacy has improved the way dancers are being treated in Nigeria and this won her the special recognition award at the 2018 edition of the Headies Award. Many people are now beginning to see dancers as professional artistes and not the last chain of command in the entertainment industry. Young people now pursue dancing as a career because Kaffy serves as their inspiration in the field.
Kaffy’s story encapsulates hard work, resilience, dedication, defiance to status quo and a desire to help others succeed; what other ways can one describe self-actualisation? She is not only self- actualised, but an inspiration to many and a symbol of the can-do spirit of a Nigerian.
