When Shakira was four, her father took her to a local Middle Eastern restaurant, where Shakira first

heard the doumbek, a traditional drum used in Arabic

music and which typically accompanied belly dancing.[21] She started dancing on the table, and the experience made her realize that she wanted to be a performer.
She enjoyed singing for schoolmates and teachers (and even the nuns) at her Catholic school, but in second grade was rejected for the school choir because
her vibrato was too strong. The music teacher told her that she sounded "like a goat".[21][22] At school, she says she had been known as "the belly dancer girl", as
she would demonstrate every Friday at school a number she had learned.[21] "That's how I discovered my passion for live performance," she says.[19][23]

To instill gratitude in Shakira for her upbringing, her father took her to a local park to see orphans who lived there. The images stayed with her and she said to
herself "one day I'm going to help these kids when I become a famous artist."[19]