Shari Chevérez Speaks on her self-love journey
by Amaany Clarke
To know Shari Chevérez is to understand her journey of self-love and healing through dance, movement and culture. She was born to an African American father and a Puerto Rican mother with the Taino maiden last name, Chevérez.
Music and dance were a part of her childhood, inspiring her to enter into the world of arts and culture as an adult. “I Salsaed my way out of the womb!” she says.
Her Pan-Africanist father taught her to Salsa and established in her a rich, diverse African Diasporic cultural foundation, giving her a strong sense of pride and identity.
But when she moved from New York to Atlanta, Ga. as a pre-teen, she began to feel marginalized for her culturally diverse background. Atlanta in the 90’s was a far cry from the culturally buzzing streets of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and like most young adults of mixed heritage, she had trouble gaining social acceptance in some circles. But true to Shari form, she continued to educate herself both professionally and creatively, and eventually began to discover new parts of her identity that would mold her into the woman that she is today.
She became fluent in various dance styles such as traditional Bachata, Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Afrobeats before the style became a contemporary phenomenon. In college she began studying spiritual systems and mythologies, including Yoga and its Egyptian origins, Hindu philosophies as well as various African spiritual systems. She later became a certified practitioner of BUTI Yoga. BUTI is a Marathi Indian word that means “to uncover the cure hidden beneath the surface.” With this new education, Shari uncovered the cure she didn’t know she needed.
“The practice of yoga transformed me,” she says describing the very moment she realized that the missing piece of her identity was self-love. She knew that she loved her culture and loved to dance, but did she know what it truly meant to love every aspect of herself.
Shari observes that there is an inherent bias against Black bodies in the dance community, even among some Black and Latinx groups. Throughout her career, this phenomenal dancer, teacher and performer has been underestimated, overlooked and sent to the back of dance formations because her body type or skin tone didn’t match a certain aesthetic. Early in her work, insecurities began to surface about her life path. She felt torn between dealing with the challenges of pursuing her creative work in dance and seeking a status quo career. It was her Yoga practice that helped reveal all of these burdens she carried within herself.
“My Yoga practice helped me heal, find my balance and find my voice.”
This revelation ushered her into a deeper relationship with dance. She says dance is the ultimate connection to the divine source and often tells students that one can’t connect if one is not fully aware and accepting of self. If you take one of her dance classes, she will tell you that the most important thing is to honor yourself in every movement.
Shari has been a part of the Cumbe family as a staff member since 2019 and started teaching with us in March. For her, she says Cumbe is the perfect marriage of what she wants to be doing in life – community, education, learning, culture and dance.
“I feel like I can honor my ancestors by being a part of an organization that not only teaches dance, but also our culture. It’s about uplifting our people and educating our people and helping us return to ourselves. There’s this beautiful resurgence of the Pan-African movement that started back when my father was coming up, not too far from Cumbe studios in Bed-Stuy. I’m doing my part to keep that going. It comes full circle.”
And for Shari, the journey has only just begun.
You can mediate with her Wednesdays at 9:00am ET for Midweek Meditation on IG Live and Tuesdays at 6:00pm ET for some Afro-Latin Fusion choreography.