Biography of Kaffy
Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau popularly known by her stage name Kaffy, is a Nigerian dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and fitness coach. She is the founder and owner of Imagneto Dance Company. She rose to prominence on breaking the Guinness World Record for “Longest Dance Party” at the Nokia Silverbird Danceathon in 2006. The talented dancer led her team on a dance show that lasted 55 hours, 40 minutes on stage. She is widely known for her dance moves and energetic performances.
Early life and background of Kaffy
Kaffy was born on 30 June, 1980 in Lagos and grew up partly in Canada, New York City and Egypt before moving back to Nigeria as a teen. She had her primary education at Chrisland School, Opebi and her secondary school education at Coker Secondary School, Orile-Iganmu. The great dancer
actually grew up with the dream of becoming an Aeronautical Engineer but eventually had to study Data Processing and Computer Science at the Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Her Rise to Fame
Though Kaffy was born into wealth, she lived in poverty after her parents got separated when she was age 11. Life got so difficult that they couldn’t make ends meet. She had to do menial jobs to sustain the family. Being a fitness freak, she joined an aerobics class where she got noticed by her aerobic teacher. She was also a dancer. She do infuse dancing into aerobics; the class loved it and always wanted her to lead whenever the teacher was absent. She got promoted and began to train athletes.
During one of her weekends at the National Stadium for dance rehearsals and workouts, She was approached by a promoter for a modeling job. Part of the modeling 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 to do a solo performance. Unknown to her, many artistes were present at the event and loved her performance. That was how she started getting featured in videos.
In 2006, Kaffy led her dance group to break the Guinness Book of Record for “Longest Dance Party” after they danced for 55hours and 40minutes. She was one of the judges for Malta Guinness Street Dance Africa, a reality TV dance show.
Kaffy was also a faculty member for MTN’s Project Fame West Africa. She has done fitness instruction for 9ja Dance Burnout and Ijoda 9ja Dance Burnout respectively; the dance artist has also featured in award-winning musical videos for artistes such as Seyi Shay, D’banj, P-Square Lexy Doo, Ruggedman, Ayuba and some other international top acts to mention but a few. She was the creative director for Olamide’s music video “Science student”.
In 2017, The dance queen established “The Dance Workshop” a dance convention which aims at training and mentoring professional dancers as well as promoting cultural exchange within the Nigerian dance industry. Kaffy is currently a dance instructor who has developed innovative ways for teaching dance and dance fitness.
Kaffy’s Relationship and Family Life
Kaffy is married to Joseph Ameh, a music director and former drummer for Nigerian duo P-Square. They are blessed with two children, Sean and Eliona.
Awards and nominations
She has won numerous awards including:
2013 Creative Industry Awards for Performing Arts (Nominated)
2014 African Muzik Magazine Awards for Best Female Dancer of the Year (Won)
2015 The Beatz Awards for Best Choreographer of the Year (Won)
She won a Special Recognition Award at the 2018 edition of Headies, for her significant contribution to Nigeria’s entertainment.
Kaffy’s Net Worth
Kaffy have done well for herself with her dancing skills. Her net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million.
