An amazing dancer and a great teacher. I was lucky enough to get to study a little with Kiva while she was in Arcata. Good luck on your future endeavors in Texas you are missed in Humboldt!

The first thing to know about Kiva is that she moves like a Latin born. This girl has salsa in her blood and it shows not only in how she dances but in how she approaches teaching this dance. Kiva is a highly knowledgeable and experienced teacher and she has the talent to make the student feel at ease and have fun while challenging you to the next level. Kiva is dynamite and pure delight. If you want to learn real salsa, she is the person to go.

Wow, where to even begin! The words I post will never be enough to describe the feeling and fantastic experiences I have had with Kiva. Only you can bring yourself to experience such life. As a fellow student, assistant teacher, and performer with Kiva, it is always a blessing to be in her presence. Energetic and extremelly fun, Kiva is the essence which calls one to dance. The flame which burns in all of us, is purely what Kiva calls to ignite. Dancing with Kiva changed my life, and will change yours too!

Ive been content most of my life to do the 1960s shuffle that I perfected in, well, the 60s. I love watching salsa dancers but since I can never get the steps right even in aerobics classes in gyms, I never thought Id get the complexity of salsa down. When I moved to Austin late last year I met Kiva accidentally when she was dancing for fun at a music club. It was mesmerizing watching her and then after taking only a few classes from her one on one, I was amazed - and stunned that so quickly she showed me how to overcome my fear and actually made me look like i knew what I was doing. She is an amazing person to work with, very intuitive when it comes to sensing your feelings and has really turned this guy from the 60s into a decent and getting better by the minute , salsa dancer.Great teacher, great person and a lot of fun!

I met Kiva when I as a beginner and after 6 months of free informal lessons out on the dance floor, I took her intermediate salsa class and her spin technique class. Dont be fooled by her size, she may be little but she will kick your butt for an hour non stop. For spin technique she came out in combat shorts and had us doing ab workouts for 15 minutes just to warm up our cores (believe me it helps). All of her classes are packed to the brim with instruction and practice and sweat sweat and more sweat. She pushes you hard, but at the end of the day you learn a lot more in one hour than in most other dance classes. She has the skills and experience of a world class teacher, but she teaches locally and I highly recommend latin dancers of all skill levels in Austin to take advantage of that. She is also just a great person. Dont miss out!

Ive been partner dancing for six years now. Ive spoken with at least ten different instructors over this time on the topic of what makes a good lesson?. These discussions can last through the night. The thing that sets Kiva apart is her deep interest in the experience of the students. From my point of view, as a student, Im not coming back if I dont enjoy the class. Kiva gets this. Her classes are always interesting and fun. Im sure each student has their own criteria for what makes a good class. The bottom line on this issue is simple however: One class, no matter how well put together, is not going to teach a dancer how to dance. Implicit in this discussion, however, is the notion that the students have to also improve their dancing skills, too, as well as have fun doing so.Kiva puts together classes that are fun. And intersting. And informative. Her classes grab the students, and keep them coming back.It helps too that she is a tremendous dancer herself.Kurt Schasker

Favorite dance class I had in arcata, c.a. super fun, professional, and best yet very natural. The classes were progressive and increased my fundamental skills with salsa. Highly recommended. Also Im a guy and hadnt taken many dance classes before this one and found it to much less awkward then other classes, mainly because kiva is a dynamic and entertaining teacher.

Good salsa dancers and teachers are hard to come by in Humboldt County. Most talented dancers that want to expand their dancing horizons or make a livelihood of dancing soon leave for greener pastures and Kiva is the latest of our losses. I started salsa dancing here about 20 years ago and Ive seen a few good ones come and go; actually Kiva was the best of them all. She has studied intensively with a performing group in Guadalajara and has a lot to share. She understands both the lead and follow parts well enough to dance and teach both very competently. She keeps the class moving, explains things well without talking too much, and is good at identifying and correcting problems in her students. She uses appropriate music for teaching and it will make you want to dance. Her classes are great and in fact were the most popular salsa classes Ive seen in this area. Good luck Kiva!

My wife and I took beginner/intermediate Salsa dance lessons from Kiva in Arcata California and loved it! She is an excellent dancer, is patient, and extremely knowledgable. A great teacher. I cant recommend her enough! Austins gain is Arcatas loss.