Kari began dancing Latin Ballroom at a young age. However, it wasn’t until she was introduced to salsa in 2004 that her passion for dance was reignited. She then spent 5 months living and travelling in Latin America and immersed in the roots of salsa with classes in son and rumba, later living in the Dominican Republic and falling in love with bachata with endless nights of dancing beach-side with the locals.
Since returning to Adelaide at the end of 2008, Kari began free-lance teaching at several dance studios as well as having private students. She further developed her love of dance by going on to complete internal training to become an instructor with Latin Dance Nation in 2008/9.
She continued to pursue her interest in latin dance, and was the South Australian overall salsa champion (as an amateur dancer) in the ASC (S.A.) 2008 and became South Australian Bachata Champion with her partner Johan Haris in 2009.
Since being exposed to zouk in 2008, Kari was lucky enough to learn from a number of incredible zouk dancers and instructors, including Kadu Pires, Gaspar Ribeiro, Larissa Thayane and Edelmar Pieternelle. She now teaches zouk for Latin Dance Nation, and continues to study the dance closely through private classes, inspired by the opportunity to incorporate a contemporary flavour into her latin dancing.
