FAQs
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
If a customer is looking for ballet or yoga private lessons, I usually talk with them on the phone first to find out details about what they are looking for, the level of their experience, any body challenges or injuries they might have, what their goals are and what they hope to gain from working with me. This gives me a good idea of how I will approach their first session. Once I see them in person I can assess where they are at. I take in all the information we discussed on the phone and what I see in person. I can see what their strengths and weaknesses are and what we need to work on. By the end of the first session I know exactly how I'm going to work with them and what I'm going to focus on.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I started my ballet dance training when I was 7 years old in New York and became a professional ballet dancer at the age of 17. I danced professionally in major ballet companies for 10 years in the United States and Europe and toured internationally. After that I travelled to India, where I trained to be a Hatha Yoga instructor. When I returned to the U.S. I continued my yoga training while I was teaching, as well as continued to expand my dance teacher training. I took teacher training courses in Creative Dance for all ages with Anne Gilbert in Seattle and took many courses in the Somatics, Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies, Feldenkreis, etc. I later became a certified BeMoved instructor, which is a low impact dance fitness class for adults. I also experienced a lot of injuries as a ballet dancer so I had a lot of physical therapy. I use many things I've learned from healing my own injuries to help my clients.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I started dancing when I was 7 years old. My mother took me to a recital at a local school and the minute the dancers came out on stage I stood up from my seat and remained standing for the rest of the performance. I became a professional dancer when I was 17 and when I was about 23 I noticed that I had a good eye for correcting dancers. I also was a good communicator and it came naturally for me to give someone a correction in a positive way that made them feel excited about applying what I said. I realized I was a natural teacher. Later in my 20's I started getting interested in yoga. It made me feel more peaceful and I started to understand my body in a different way and the postures helped me with my dancing. I later decided to become a yoga instructor as well as a dance teacher.