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About Pieri Montes
This artistic journey started in St Marteen in 1973 with the birth of Pieri Montes. He is also known as MontesKizomba, and he comes from a deeply musical family. Son Raymond Montes and Marie Jodelle Cherival, his musical and dance training started at the tender age of 7. It was rigorous and touched all avenues, from classical vocal training in opera to folkloric and contemporary dancing (Konpa and haitian folkloric dancing). Paired with this strict artistic upbringing was the equally passionate talent of a young man expressing himself through various musical outlets; singing, dancing, musical instruments.
In 1994 the United States of America became his home. Music and dance continued to play an important role in his life. By 2011, Montes found his way to Kizomba when he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He was introduced to this dance by Adeline Vales who insisted on him learning it in its totality; integrating all aspect of the dance (social, cultural and musical) in order to become a well rounded and accomplished Kizomba dancer. Moving to Tampa exposed him to more Urban Kiz, being that the leading teacher on location, Maria Ivanova, predominantly teaches this specific style.
Montes Kizomba dove even deeper in his learning by investing countless hours of training, practicing, immersing himself in the dance, the culture and the music. He worked with an array of teachers in the industry (Alain Fokam, Benie Duvallaire, Maria Ivanova, Eddy Vent, Lana Zamora, Paulo Cruz & Brayo Judah, just to name a few), strongly believing that the diversity in different teaching style will open his horizon to a better learning curve. His total immersion culminated with the intensive training by Mestre Petchu in Portugal, where he received the only recognized certification in the industry. In addition to Kizomba, Pieri Montes is an accomplished and well rounded Konpa dancer, being trained at a young age in a multitude of styles that influenced Konpa. Having attained a level of comfort in his skills with years of documented and constant training, Pieri Montes, AKA MontesKizomba, brings passion paired to professionalism to the table being equipped to both instruct and dance accurately, and relay the information to assist anybody who is willing to put in the work, to become a confident Kizomba and/or Konpa dancer.