Shakira Gatlin: A Tribute to the Young Dancer Who Lit Up the Stage

Olivia Wilson

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Who is Shakira Gatlin?

The late American dancer and social media personality Shakira Gatlin, was born in Jackson, Mississippi USA, on 19 January 2003, meaning that Capricorn was her zodiac sign. She was quite popular for her dancing skills, and was often featured in the YouTube videos uploaded by the dancing crew Dancing Dolls for Life (DDFL), which she was a part of; Shakira was also popular on various social media networks, and her death in 2022 came as a shock to all of her fans.

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Education and early life

Shakira was raised as an only child in Jackson, by her mother Erica Robinson who had to work multiple jobs to financially support herself and her daughter, as Shakira’s father died when she was around 10 years old.

She was five years old when she became passionate about dancing, which was also when her parents enrolled her at dancing school. Shakira continued dancing upon enrolling at a local high school, and soon joined the dance group DDFL, which was launched by 24 college students back in 2010. She was interested in several other activities during her teenage years, as she did gymnastics, ran track, and appeared in a couple of school plays.

Shakira matriculated in 2021 and had plans to attend college.

Dancing Dolls’ YouTube channel

The YouTube channel “Bring It! Dancing Dolls” was launched on 18 September 2016, and is today subscribed to by close to 300,000 people, while all of its 2,900 videos combined have been watched close to 150,000 times. Nearly all of these videos feature the group’s members dancing, while Shakira can also be seen featured in a number of these; we’re going to mention the group’s three most viewed YouTube videos, which’ve helped them gain recognition on the internet.

The #1 video “Bring It Dancing Dolls A Tale Of Two Dollhouses Part 13” has been watched close to three million times since 1 August 2018, and features several seven-year-old girls dancing.

The second most popular video “Bring It Dancing Dolls # Clapback S04E19 Part 13” has been watched more than 1.6 million times since 10 December 2017, and features the girls dancing at a basketball game’s half-time.

The #3 video “Ravens Home Raven Dances To Moesha Theme” has been watched more than 1.5 million times since 12 August 2017, and features a character from the family comedy series “Raven’s Home” dancing to Moesha theme song.

Presence on the internet

Shakira was active on various social media networks, and most of her accounts are still open on the internet, serving as a memory of her. Her Instagram account numbers more than 1,300 followers, while she posted 14 pictures and videos onto the social media network, with most of these featuring her dancing.

Shakira launched her Twitter account in December 2012, but today there’s only a single person following her; there are no tweets posted onto Shakira’s account, and it’s believed that these were deleted following her death.

Shakira’s Facebook profile can still be found on the internet, and it numbers 707 friends. She enjoyed uploading pictures which featured her spending time with her family, and her final update was on 21 January 2022, when she uploaded a picture which showed her spending time with her late father.

She launched her TikTok account only around a month before she died, which is why it’s today followed by only 69 people, while both videos uploaded onto it number 98 likes, and which feature Shakira dancing at her home, showing off her skills for her fans.

https://www.facebook.com/IllicitDeeds/posts/pfbid0gaWhy2kEJhg9NaDBM3uXStXeDrgnjABEZNWvyiiEdLwaLG4WRvJHNJ9fA4bxQknNl

Death

Shakira was killed on 3 February 2022, when a teenager mishandled a gun, and accidentally fired it, hitting the girl. He was taken into custody straight away, but it was determined that the shooting was indeed unintentional; it remains unknown if the person who shot Shakira was sentenced to spend time behind bars.

At the time of her death, Shakira was a drillmaster and head co-captain at DDFL.

Love life and relationships

Shakira was quite secretive when it came to speaking about her love life, and never mentioned the boys, or perhaps girls whom she had dated.

Some of Shakira’s fans believe that she was lesbian, and was in a relationship with a fellow DDFL dancer; a fan, who claims to be a member of the dance group believes that he/she saw Shakira and her girlfriend kissing a number of times, but no evidence has been provided to support these claims.

There are also those who believe that Shakira was focused on her education and career as a dancer, and was thus not looking for a relationship, while others claim that she was dating her high school sweetheart; none of this has been confirmed either.

Shakira was single at the time of her death, didn’t marry and had no children.

Interesting facts and hobbies

Shakira was a highly sociable girl and had numerous friends at school; she also enjoyed helping teach whomever was interested in learning to dance.

She practiced dancing several hours every day, and also did gymnastics at school and yoga at home.

Shakira loved to listen to music; her favorite singer was Shakira, to whom she started listening mostly because they shared the same name, and some of her favorite songs were “Whenever, Wherever”, “Rabiosa” and “Déjà vu”.

She was into philanthropy, and often volunteered at a local animal shelter; Shakira’s favorite animals were dogs and rabbits, and she had two pet dogs while growing up.

She was a huge fan of the film industry, and some of her favorite actors and actresses were Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, while some of her favorite films were “Her”, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and “Match Point”.

Height, eyes and wealth

Shakira was 19 at the time of her death, and would’ve been 20 today. She had brown eyes and hair, was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and weighed around 115lbs (52kgs).

Shakira’s net worth was estimated at over $50,000 at the time of her death.

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