Every Tuesday, Sylvia and her students light up the dance floor at Da Bar Club in Kisumu. Salsa is both an art form and a business for Sylvia, who enriches the cultural vibrancy of her city whilst earning a living doing what she loves.
Sylvia’s journey into the world of dancing began as a student, and it was her love for the art that propelled her to transition into a professional performer. Sylvia mesmerizes audiences by performing at events throughout the city and has transitioned into an instructor too.
Faced with challenges in finding suitable dance spaces in Kisumu, Sylvia works tirelessly to create opportunities for enthusiasts and increase the size of her fledgling dance school. But dance will always be more than just a business to Sylvia, who wants to cultivate a culture of artistic expression within her community.
Driven by an unwavering passion for her craft and an aspiration to make salsa a lifelong pursuit, Sylvia dreams of opening her own dedicated dance studio where aspiring dancers can train with her, also driven by a shared passion for salsa and a desire to expand the dance scene and industry in Kisumu.
The importance of the informal economy in Kenya cannot be overstated; it accounts for 24% of Kenya’s GDP and also employs five times more workers than the formal economy.
TRANSFORM has been working to understand the current realities and future possibilities for the millions of entrepreneurial Kenyans who hustle to sustain livelihoods across the informal economy (read more about the context of the work here).
Brink, Procol Africa, Busara, Laterite, Ideas Unplugged, and TRANSFORM have collaborated throughout to deliver this work, alongside hundreds of ecosystem actors and informal economy entrepreneurs.
These blogs offer an insight into the lives of some informal workers we spoke to over the course of the project, told through images.
