Hidden away in a small, anonymous corner of SW Eighth Street, also known as the Calle Ocho section, is the dance studio of Colombian dancer Zizi Zabaneh and her troupe.
Zabaneh is the creator of a new style of dance that she calls Fusion Gitana, which in English translates to Gypsy Fusion.
The dancing is a mixture of styles that form a dramatic and sensual display of flamenco, belly dancing and gypsy dancing. She uses all of her extensive experience to create Fusion Gitana.
She started out as a Latin dancer with salsa dancing at age 15 with the group, Grupo Arara. After that she experimented with other styles and began her interest with flamenco, but she felt that there was something missing.
“My body was becoming very stiff,” she recalled.
She remembers that she wanted to pursue other styles.
Zabaneh had been working with events supporting Telemundo’s widely successful and acclaimed Latin soap El Clon in 2010. It was then that she found belly dancing. She fell in love with the costumes, the music and the traditions. That is when she developed her own style of dance.
Now she is a widely sought after performer, along with her troupe of dancers. Recently, they were seen at the Hispanic Cultural Arts Festival, at Futurama on Calle Ocho and in the Manuel Artime Theater.
She gives back to her community by means of her non-profit, Fusion Gitana Cultural Dance Exchange. As a part of this venture, once a week, she trains young girls in the art of dance.
“She has gained so much confidence that now she is the last to leave the dance floor,” said Loanna Martinez of her daughter, Valeria Florentino, who participates in the exchange.
One of Zabaneh’s other students, Marielena Ramirez, was leading the dance number that the girls were practicing for their next scheduled performance in April. She exhibited great self-control and poise as she held her poses for long periods of time without moving.
“I was trying to forget everything but the dance,” she said.
Zabaneh passionately advocates the use of dance instruction for young girls’ development.
“It’s so important what dance does to the needs of a child. What it does for their self-confidence is so beneficial. They transform from being shy to being confident,” she said.
She also cited a study that said that girls who were taught dance out-performed others in mathematical skills. She knows that there is more to dancing than shimmying and fun, although there is plenty of both.
The costumes associated with the dancing are beautiful and intricate. They mix the flowing skirts of the gypsy robes with the tinkling waist adornments of the belly dancers. Instead of wearing the hair tightly as in the flamenco style, the ladies wear it down and wild like gypsy dancers. But, they use the hand poses of the flamenco style. They perform barefoot unlike the flamenco dancers, but with all of the drama of the Spanish dance.
The studio is located at 1501 SW Eighth St., second floor.
