Shirronda has studied dance on and off most of her life such as tap, jazz, and ballet as a child. Once out of college,  she explored other dance forms for fun such as Salsa. In 1999 she was introduced to bellydance by a co-worker, Sara Jo Slate (Zweena bint Asya), at a youth retreat and fell in love with the dance! Shirronda has studied Middle Eastern dance locally with Amira Jamal, Lisa Tiemann, Lorraine “ La Reina”, Melina and Shadia Tohme. She has also attended special dance workshops hosted by Dunya, Delilah, Morocco, Dalia Carella and Fat Chance Belly Dance. In the fall of 2006 she began studying tribal with American Tribal Style (ATS) with Alyssum Pohl and joined OmBellyCo.

When Shirronda is not dancing, she works as the Director of Membership Initiatives for the Mass. Association of CDCs. She periodically works as a diversity consultant for Center Focus International. She holds a Masters degree in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Simmons College in International Relations and Spanish. Shirronda’s professional background includes training, facilitation, capacity building, youth development, and developing programs for helping collaborative community initiatives.

 In 2005 Shirronda traveled with her mother to her family’s homeland, Cape Verde, to find her relatives. The trip was the first her family made back to the islands since 1917 when her great grandmother left the small island of San Antão. She has also traveled extensively in France, Ireland, India and Spain. In her free time she enjoys reading and staying connected to local community and youth related efforts. Shirronda lives in Jamaica Plain, Boston.



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