Kabongo chronicles arts journey in new book

WRITER and dancer Deborah Kabongo (28) has said she is working on a book titled The Coffee Bean Series meant to educate society on the power of love through the experiences of a dancer living with epilepsy.

In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style, Kabongo described herself as an emotional and vulnerable being who wrote from personal experiences usually about themes such as love and pain.

“I am not a feminist, but my heart goes to women out there. My target audience is wide and vast, but the main goal is to educate society. The dance topic is personal for me as I am on the go in the arts industry,” she said.

“The forthcoming book, The Coffee Bean Series, is about the dancer and the filmmaker, and their alter egos called Mongy and Rangy who meet and begin to unravel each other, the good, the bad and the ugly of life.”

Kabongo, who has published Scented Coffins and an anthology titled I Am Obliage, said writing gave her the liberty to share personal experiences fusing them with research.

“Writing has been a great way to share the part of me I cannot speak about and being able to interpret them visually through dance. I am more of a shy person, so writing things help me break free from that,” she said.

Away from writing, Kabongo is also into modelling and music. “I passed through Afrikera School of Dance and worked in China doing performing arts for three years. Locally, I have worked as a dancer with big artistes like Jah Prayzah and Takura, while in my spare time, I also do modelling,” she said.

Being multi-talented, Kabongo says made it easy for her to weave all her works into one as she depicted sectors in the arts industry as a human body with many parts.

“Art is intertwined like the human body, the hand needs the foot which needs the nose. Dancers move to a beat, a sound and a beat makes you want to move, lyrics are interpreted through motion,” she said. “The whole mosaic of art is how I intend on tapping into all realms of who I am, withholding nothing. If I can do it, I will, as I have recently tapped into self-taught script writing and I am pursuing visuals.”

Kabongo said in the long run, she wanted to get into film. “A bestselling book would not be a bad goal either. Writing gives me peace of mind and a sense of purpose. God gave me these gifts and I believe it is my path to take, in order to say I came, I felt and I conquered,” she said.