Christina Monneron
Queensland, Australia
Mauritian-born Christina studied with a principal artist of Cuba’s National Folkloric Dance Group in Sweden in 1996, beginning a journey that included participation in an intensive Afro-Cuban workshop held in Denmark and joining a dance troupe and dancing Afro-Cuban and Popular Cuban rhythms (salsa, cha cha cha, mambo, conga) all over Scandinavia.
She joined a cultural exchange program in Havana in 1998 where she studied AfroCuban dance, Yoruba spirituality and Santeria religion which led to her full initiation as a priestess of Santeria.
Christina introduced the energy and passion of Afro-Cuban rhythms to Australia in 1999 under the banner Cuban Dance Academy in Melbourne, which included hosting Cubamemucho, Australia’s first International Cuban Dance Congress in September 2009 and organising annual Culture, Dance & Music Tours to Cuba.
In 2010, Christina followed a call to community development work in arts & culture, especially fostering cross-cultural relations, first on the mid north coast of NSW, where she was named Coffs Harbour’s inaugural International Woman of the Year in 2015 for her work empowering women and young girls through the medium of dance. It was there she also co-founded Afrekete in 2012 with Cuban-born dance artists, maestros Adrian Medina and Israel Ortiz. After 7 years in South-East Queensland, she is now based on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island), off Townsville North Queensland, developing her unique business and continue her ongoing commitment to enhance wellbeing & happiness, through holistic wellness practices as well as the culture and rhythms of Cuba to people of all ages and abilities throughout Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world.
