Hi, I'm Andrea!
A dedicated student of Dance Alive, I am happy to announce that I will be teaching "Inner Rhythms" classes in 2017! I am also honored to be the Dance Alive Creative Music Direcor, weaving together the musical soundscapes for Dance Alive movement classes.
A little bit about me...
I grew up training and performing from a very young age as a ballet dancer at a small, highly creative and rigorous dance studio, the Evergreen City Ballet, near Seattle, WA, under close personal tutelage from master ballet teachers. I also attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet in NYC and at the Kennedy Center in D.C., where I was exposed to a wide range of training from world-class instructors. I went on to study at the San Francisco Ballet School for a year, and then joined the San Francisco Ballet Company at age 16, where I performed for 4 years in the “Corps de Ballet” dancing in numerous productions.
Upon the completion of my career as a ballerina, I left the cities for the next 5 years and dove into a whole new chapter of learning and expansion, working as a writer/researcher and event producer for several years with the world-renowned health and nutrition expert, David Wolfe. Drawn into the healing vitality that comes from direct connection with the Earth, I found home in deeper closeness with nature, living up and down the West Coast, Canada, Arizona, and Kauai.
These re-formative years began a deep journey into the somatic & healing arts as I started to unravel the multitude of injuries and intense physical patternings present from my ballet career. I discovered Continuum Movement in 2008, shortly after leaving the ballet, and studied with it’s founder, Emilie Conrad, which completely changed my perspective on movement and the body. Her transmission was a profoundly somatic fluid-body imprint which ignited a wave of exploration, healing, and self-discovery that has shaped itself into a unique personal practice which continues to unfold and significantly guide my work. I have also studied with the somatic & biological breath pioneer, Cass Phelps, since 2009, who continues to be a deeply impactful and inspiring mentor.
It was through the Continuum Studio I that came into contact with Dance Alive over 3 years ago. I immediately recognized the brilliance and value of Mariane’s broad-spectrum coaching, and have been committed to learning and moving with the team ever since. Through Dance Alive, I am finding how to bridge my inner movement with the greater movement in the world at large, bringing my unique gifts of expression, intuition, and guidance fully through to share with greater and greater skill in embodied communication and team play. I love showing up to class, where I always find the continual encouragement inside & out, to dive further and further into the world of my body, moving with the life that is present, pressing through the edges of my breath, uncovering and expanding new spaces inside. It is this passionate active exploration of what is possible within the body that I am thrilled to share with you as we dive in to "Inner Rhythms" together, surfing the long, slow tides of the resonant fluid system through our breath, sounding, and physical imaginations.
I became a Licensed Massage Therapist in 2012, and have my own thriving private practice of bodywork, "Andrea's Hands". I am also a certified personal trainer in both the GYROKENESIS® Method and the GYROTONIC® Expansion System, in which I teach both regular group classes as well as privately train clients. Through this extensive focus of studying the unwinding of both my own, and others' bodies, I have formed a deep and intrinsic understanding of the physical, and am thrilled to be sharing my passion for movement and the body with the world. I have lived in Los Angeles for the past 3 years, where I also train as a modern/contemporary dancer.
A lifetime mover and lover of all things somatic, I am deeply connected to how the power of sound shapes and inspires movement within the body. I bring this wholehearted kinesthetic awareness and sensitivity into each new "mix", dropping in through my entire body-system to the inspiration of the present moment. This process of crafting the sonic architecture for the “Ride the Wave” Circuit Training and “Inner Rhythms” Body Journeys is my honor and pleasure to contribute.
Music, to me, is an original, living, breathing, beating medicine; a tool for drawing out new movement, for diving ever further into the dance that lives innately within us all. My fascination with the art of sound is as expansive as it is eclectic. I have been “collecting” songs ever since a young age from all across the world--music spanning a wide array of genres and ages--I am drawn to what moves me. I deeply enjoy the process of sharing the vast range of musical expressions I have come to know and love, and participating in and witnessing the movement they inspire.
I am happy to be a part of the Dance Alive team; bringing my unique somatic experience and expression through as I guide you deeper into exploring the "Inner Rhythms" of your physicality as well as sharing my love of music and how it deeply touches and inspires the individual and team movement!
I look forward to moving with you in class soon!