Italian dancehall queen, Dominique. - Contributed

We've heard of the invasion of the Japanese at the local street dances, but it isn't often that you come across an Italian in the dancehall.

From the country of Italy comes the Italian dancehall queen, Dominique Folino, who is now a regular at almost every street dance or stage show.

Dominique won the Italian Dancehall Queen competition in 2009 and has since appeared in several music videos such as Bounty Killer and Elephant Man's This is How We Do It, Bridgez and Bounty Killer's Roll Out and a soon to be released Lady Saw video.

She entered the International Battle of the fives on the popular 'Dancin Dynamites' competition as a part of the JapItalian dance group with her male Japanese counterpart, and she also entered the recently held International Dancehall Queen competition. And although she did not win, she is adamant that next year will be her year to take home the crown.

Having started dancing three years ago in Italy, Dominique came to Jamaica in February 2009 to learn more dance moves and to improve her dancing skills.

According to Dominique, "Dancehall music gives me vibes, makes me crazy, mad. I love dancehall music much more than the hip hop and RnB. I can express myself through dancehall music."

"Vybz Kartel is my favourite Jamaican artiste. Mi rate the others, but him a mi artiste. Gaza mi seh! In terms of who gives me the vibes, it's Kartel," she added.

Her interest in dancehall music was sparked by attending the Rotterdam Reggae Sunsplash back home in Italy. The Rotterdam Reggae Sunsplash is one of the biggest festivals in Europe. It was for a number of years held in Italy but was recently moved to neighbouring Spain.

"In Italy we have one of the biggest festivals. Many dancehall and reggae artistes come to Italy for the festival. I went to the Rotterdam festival and fell in love with reggae music. Big artistes like Sizzla, Capleton, Beenie Man, Mavado, Mr Vegas and Morgan Heritage perform in Italy."

Dominique can be seen showing off her dancing skills at street dances such as the popular Passa Passa, Weddy Weddy and Uptown Mondays and her favourite dance moves include Move Dem Up, Stay Clear and Dominique Swing, which was created by her.