Dancing With The Gypsy Sisters

Feature By Ruchi Mukherjee

More than 200 hundred dance enthusiasts gathered at Café Byblos on Saturday July 30, 2011 for the launch of local prominent belly dancers Sahira and Silvia’s first DVD project together: Spanish Gypsy Passion: A Skirt Choreography for Solo or Duet.

The ‘Gipsy Sisters’ Silvia and Sahira both have released several other dance DVDs of their own. “When we began working together as a duo about three years ago we at first did not have a joint DVD project in mind. But students requested DVDs from us all the time, and they are a great learning tool for dancers,” explains Sahira. “Silvia has been teaching Spanish-style partner dances for several years now, and it just made sense to release a partner DVD together,” she added.

Sahira has been studying dance since 2000 focusing mostly on Egyptian as well as American Tribal styles (both belly dance). Both Silvia and Sahira started working together as a duo in a Modern Fusion context and have been taking their shared dance backgrounds of Middle Eastern and Modern, and Spanish dance history and fusing them together into a new spin on ancient folkloric dances. “She and I both travel internationally to teach and perform, and we thought this choreography would be well received in the workshop circuit,” says Sahira with her mesmerizing smile.

The event on Saturday was a spectacular series of dance performances by student and professionals from all around Houston. The evening came to an end with an outstanding performance (watch the video) by the most talked about duo. The performance titled: Respira which means to breathe in Spanish, and like the title of the piece the dancers most certainly infused a breath of fresh air into the ancient arts of flamenco and middle eastern dance.

About the DVD: It has incorporated movements from Spanish and Flamenco dance into one other choreography. According to the artists this dance is incredibly different and innovative.