Artist Spotlight: Beatriz Simbiya Ricco

The success of Havana Habibi is built through a powerful and loving tribe of incredible professionals dedicated to their respective arts. We want to take time to show our gratitude for the support of our friends and family, and through our Artist Spotlight features, we’ll shine a light on a few who have given so much over more than a decade of developing the festival and producing the documentary.

Beatriz Simbiya Ricco

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: BEATRIZ SIMBIYA RICCO

Born in Brazil, this talented multimedia artist has lived in the US, where she received an A.S. in photography, and in Egypt, where she travelled many times to study Dance and Culture. Beatriz is a mother of a beautiful boy that has a talented Egyptian Dancer as a father as well. She lived in Egypt for a while with her family learning more about the everyday life and traditions and worked as a dancer on the shores of the Red Sea, always photographing dancers everywhere she went.

She has travelled extensively for studies and work, including holistic retreats she helped to organize in places like Colombia and Jamaica.

The name Simbiya was given by the Haitian Artist Jude Papaloko when Beatriz used to perform in his band in Miami, Papaloko and Loray Mistik. Simbi is a Haitian Lwa, which is the same as an Orixa, or African deity.

Since a young age, Beatriz has always been devoted to mystical and holistic arts. A Reiki Master, Yoga instructor and Holistic Therapist, she is also known as  MAMA CHAKRA, a moniker which was given by her students during one of the retreats she organized in Jamaica about the Chakras,(energy centers) for her motherly energy.

She developed RAKS CHAKRA combining Oriental Dance with Holistic knowledge, using Bellydance in a more spiritual and energetic way. Being a light-worker, photography is one of her tools to capture people's light and souls in her images. 

In 2004  at a  Miami Bellydance Meetup, she met Tiffany 'Hanan' and was absolutely thrilled by her project Havana Habibi. She started taking Hanan's dance classes and collaborated ever since in Miami with the MidEastern Dance Exchange events and fundraisers. In 2015, she travelled to Cuba for the first time with Hanan and fell in love with the island and its the people, and even more so with the Havana Habibi project after meeting and photographing the main characters. Some of these images were used for the 2016 movie’s main poster and in the 2016 exhibition MIAVANA at O Cinema during the first screening of the movie. The image of moving veils, featured on the Havana Habibi website, was also captured by Beatriz during the first festival in Havana, December 2015.                   

Since then, she has been present for all the festivals and the in-between travels to Havana, as a photographer and supporter in different ways. Everywhere she goes, Beatriz gets deeply involved with the local culture and its people. True to form, in her most recent travels, she recorded a rap song with Cuban artists and is conducting deep research of the Afro Cuban Culture to explore the similarities between Brazil and Cuba.

“Havana Habibi has changed my life.” Beatriz declares. “When I was living in Miami, I only heard that Cuba was hell, but something inside of me always wanted to check it out for myself. Life is definitely not easy, perhaps these challenges are what make this place, and its people, so special. Art, Culture and Music have an incredible role on everyone's life there,” she continues. “Also, they are all educated and willing to give their best in whatever they put their mind to. I am fascinated by the short distance between Miami and Cuba; their differences and similarities.”

The Brazilian native explains, “Everyone in Cuba loves Brazil, so for me was always easy to make friends and find open doors. I have witnessed how Tiffany has changed these Cuban's girls lives and at the same has touched the lives of Americans who travelled to be a part of this festival. Besides Americans, I have made great friends from China, Japan, Panama, Jamaica and more. Havana Habibi is an event where art removes any borders and political differences, bringing unity in the heart, tears to the eyes, and water to the mouths of some Cubans - delighted to be trying Arabic food for the first time!”

Beatriz believes that bellydance is only one tool from an incredible vast world that has opened between Cuba, the Middle East, and the US, with the development of Havana Habibi. According to her, “Tiffany has the power to challenge people in order to bring out the best in them; we work a lot during the festival, but it is very rewarding and definitely fun. It gives me the chance to be in an environment with everything I love, an event led by powerful, fierce women focused on Oriental Dance and Culture, where I get to use my photography skills - all in one of the most beautiful and inspiring cities in the world."

Currently Beatriz lives in the beautiful town of Paraty in Brazil, where she continues working with  photography, teaching Oriental and chakra dance classes, yoga experiences, retreats, holistic therapies and also has a program in the local Radio Station and newspaper. She also volunteers as a teacher for communities in need in Brazil.

You can find and follow her on Instagram @Simbiya and on Facebook as MAMA CHAKRA and Simbiya Travels.