NEW YORK, NY December 23, 2008 —Djoniba Drum and Dance Center has been teaching dance in its seventh floor studios since 1992.

But the studio was hit with a huge rent increase and with fewer students able to afford class, it has to shut its doors by the end of the month.

MiMi Guyer is one of nearly a hundred students who jammed into owner Djoniba Mouflet's final class for "African dance" this week.

She says she came to the studio three years ago as a beginner:

MOUFLET: You know, I was a little apprehensive - white girl from Queens, you know 55 years old -a little chunky, never danced before in my life - you know what was i going to find here? But you know, you cross the threshold and there's no color, there's no race, there's no anything. You know and not only did I learn to love dance, I learned to love the people I danced with, I learned to embrace my own internal rhythm -the last thing i want to do is lose this boy."]

REPORTER: Djoniba is currently fundraising and looking for a new home. The multi-ethnic non profit studio teaches thirty different styles of dance from around the world.