Shake it like Shakira

Think you could never pull off shimmies, hip drops, or chest circles like Shakira?

Miami-based belly dancer, teacher, and female empowerment coach Rubi Mendez begs to differ — and her recent series of step-by-step viral tutorial videos are not only teaching thousands of women to let their inner Shaki run wild and free, but also to bring that panache and confidence into other areas of their lives. 

“Some dancers are chasing better technique or seeking to win competitions or want just to make money,” Mendez tells New Times. “Which is fine. But that’s not really my thing. I am here to heal hearts and empower and inspire. I am here for the people who not only want to dance but need to dance. Because that is how I feel.”

Mendez intimately understands the power of exposure and representation: She first encountered the beguiling art of the belly dance as a young Egyptian history-obsessed girl in the farmlands of central Brazil through the popular early aughts telenovela, O Clone. Thematically, the show explores some fairly complex territory — “A young man who has been secretly cloned by his godfather scientist falls in love with a Moroccan girl from a rigorous family,” the IMDB logline advises — but what captured Mendez’ imagination was the aforementioned Moroccan girl Jade’s epic belly dance sequences. “I said, ‘Okay, my name’s Rubi, I can be the other jewel,’” she recalls. “And my family everybody else in town was looking at each other like, ‘Where did this girl come from? She’s so different than anyone here.’”

Although belly dance in Brazil is more popular in southern cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio because of the Lebanese diaspora — there are actually more people of Lebanese descent in Brazil (7-10 million) than the entire population of Lebanon (fewer than 6 million) — Mendez nevertheless found a teacher in her town to train her. She embraced it on both an artistic and philosophical level. “One thing I love about belly dancing is that it is seductive, but not in an over-the-top way,” she says. “True belly dance is supposed to be elegant — magical.” Still, Mendez did not have an opportunity to pursue dance in a professional way until she moved to Atlanta to work as a pharmacist and discovered a thriving Arabic community in the city. She began dancing in restaurants and, a bit later, dipped a twirling toe into hosting events.

Eventually, Mendez made her way to Miami and founded Rubi Entertainment, a platform from which she offered everything from belly and gypsy dance classes to fire shows and Bollywood-themed luxury extravaganzas. 

Yet while Mendez loves performing, she found herself increasingly gravitating towards a style of female-centered teaching that was more transcendent than your average dance class. “When God gives you a gift and you share it with people,” she says, “that’s like giving back to the universe.” Mendez approaches each student as an individual — some learn visually, some verbally, some just by having the music play while she physically guides their hips. “I saw a lot of women who were very insecure and reserved at the beginning of class, like, ‘Oh, I can’t do this, I feel so weird,’” Mendez says, “but by the end were just in joyous states — moving and expressing themselves in ways so free, so beautiful.”

Mendez has subsequently expanded that palette to encompass more holistic events such as her upcoming Femme Experience at the Fort Lauderdale “wellness sanctuary” Casa Selva, which is billed as a “feminine two-hour journey to reconnect with your body, awaken your inner confidence, and remember the essence of your feminine energy.” In addition to “ancient eastern dance and somatic connection,” the event will also include a tea ceremony, guided meditation, and immersive sound bath. 

An antidote, essentially, to our tech-addled, anxiety-inducing modern life — which, Mendez says, all-too-often encourages women to “take care of everybody else while rarely stopping to take care of ourselves.” 

“When women come together in a circle and dance and activate the feminine within,” Mendez, who credits her own dance practice with helping her navigate a divorce and manifest her current dream life, says, “it is a moving mediation that can be extremely powerful and even life changing.”

As for the Shakira tutorials, Mendez posted the first video on a whim after Shakira’s World Cup halftime performance blew up. “As a professional belly dancer, I can point out certain corrections in form,” Mendez says. “But she’s having fun, mixing ideas and presentation like any true artist. She’s a queen. I love her. People sometimes forget being yourself without limits in front of the whole world is more impactful and inspiring than anything else.”