Zambra Mora History! 

A Multimedia Online Experience
that You Can't Get Anywhere Else!

¡Hola! I am Puela Lunaris, the founder of Dances of the World Society. I am delighted to share with you the history of my cultural heritage.

The first time that I heard a Zambra, I was in the cradle. I was born and raised in Montánchez, an ancient village in Southwestern Spain with an impressive Morisco castle, which used to be part of al-Andalus. 

I grew up listening the women in our village singing Zambras. I remember how much I loved this singing when I was a child. I would dance the Zambras daydreaming that someday I would become a professional dancer.

While the Zambras fell into oblivion as Flamenco turned into a footwork-based dance form, I became a professional dancer devoted to researching, reviving, and passing down the Zambra tradition.

I have been asked many times to share my 25 years of extensive research by teaching a course on the history of Zambra.

But I always hesitated because it is a painful history of prohibitions and persecutions that my ancestors endured and I wish I didn't have to remember it.

However, Zambra is also the history of the triumph of the human spirit and how dance & music can help us not only survive, but even thrive, through the worst of times!

So, the time has come for me to share the history of Zambra, my cultural heritage, and the extensive research I conducted while earning my BA in Dance Education and Spanish Language & Culture from the State University of New York. I also hold a Master in Digital Media from New York University, so rest assured that this will be an engaging multimedia experience including videos, fascinating interviews, music, art work, rare photographs, old film, and more! Join me in this unique multimedia experience and let's get in touch with powerful inspirations about renewal, resilience, and reinvention. 

Real Stories

Deep, detailed understanding of the dance...

"For dancers and dance teachers who desire deep, detailed understanding of the dance (culturally, choreographically, historically, etc.), Puela Lunaris provides more comprehensive and accurate instruction than any other dance teacher I know in this dance form.  Anyone who takes her courses will find a wealth of information at their fingertips...! "

D Nicole English, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Fort Hays State University

...Access the rich ancestral memory of the dance

"Studying Zambra dance and history with Puela has been not only eye opening, but also liberating. It has been liberating because it goes beyond conventional flamenco and it has helped me access the rich ancestral memory of the dance. It has also helped me to feel a part of Spanish /Andalucia history and culture, as a non Gitana.

Puela's style of teaching is very accessible, engaging and thoughtful. She is teaching something that is authentic, with deep roots, and her teaching of the history is helping stop confusion of what Zambra is."

Maureen Theresa
Dancer, soloist; writer/blogger
Walsall, United Kingdom

I am tremendously glad I took the six-week course by accessing the recorded live lectures...

"This course finally shed light on the mystery of Zambra Mora! The way Puela guided us through music history was special and something one could not get by individual study. The selection of historical information and video samples was very effective. Every moment was so rich! I relied on being able to watch segments of the lectures multiple times. I spent about twice the time of the live event on each lecture, and I took 24 pages of single-spaced notes.

Puela is a scholar-practitioner with deep scholarly and experiential knowledge. That is very rare. She is so kind, encouraging, and yet honest. She generously shares her own history and identity, and truly want to empower her students to become teachers and leaders. Puela is such a treasure!"

Masha Leona Ph.D.
Dancer & University Professor
Arizona, USA