Chiki Kuruka opens up on pressure to deliver for Sauti Sol
Choreographer Chiki Kuruka admits she felt the pressure to deliver on Sauti Sol’s last performance to justify why she deserved to be hired for the gig.
Chiki who is married to Bien Aime Baraza one of the now defunct band says she had to bring her A game to Sauti Sol’s final dance after 17 years of performing as a group.
The bubbly soul and her team worked on Sauti Sol’s choreography for months to deliver an outstanding performance in the band’s last outing, which attracted 15,000 spectators at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi.
“I will always feel pressure to deliver because when you are married to one of the artists, you never want it to feel like you got the gig because he is your husband. For me I always try to push myself even more to ensure the results are unquestionable to avoid the perception that is because it’s his wife (that’s why she got the gig)”, Chiki explains.
Also read: Kakamega politics: Khalwale defends Peter Salasya in tussle with Governor Fernades Barasa
Actress Trisha Khalid speaks on claims of dating Hassan Joho
For her part, Chiki says she and her team started planning on the dance moves.
“After SolFest one and two, SolFest three was going to happen because the boys were going on a hiatus. I started choreographing the show with my assistant four months ago and then we had the boys in rehearsals for the last three months with the dancers. Last week we had an intense rehearsal at Carnival with the band just so we could have enough stage experience. But the boys had so much to do because everyone had their department mine was Choreograph and performance,”
There was also the production team, organizing team, and security team, among other departments that made the show a success.
After the show, Chiki who also manages her husband describes him as a superstar.
“Bien is a superstar. To do what he did and the fact that he has an album coming out on the 17th of November (2023) ‘Alusa Why are you Topless’, I think the fact that he balanced both things at the same time is incredibly difficult because of the album processes and still coming through for the boys at Sol Fest,”