Eve Agush teaches our classical Spanish flamenco dance classes.  Eve has been teaching flamenco, tap and yoga in the Boston community for the past eighteen years, specializing in teaching children. She has been on the faculty at many local studios, including Boston Ballet, Dance Complex, Acton School of Ballet and the Northeast Youth School of Ballet.  Ms. Agush began her professional career as a tap dancer at the Leon Collins Tap Dancer's Paradise. She was first introduced to flamenco by Ramon de los Reyes and then went on to both perform and teach in his company.  Ms. Agush is a familiar face on the Boston dance scene, contributing her considerable experience to events such as Dance Across the City Day, The Children’s Dance Festival, City Dance and the Boston Children’s Museum Outreach Program.  Eve Agush is the founder and Artistic Director of the Always Be Dancing rhythmic dance troupe, which performs flamenco and traditional jazz tap.

Michael Alba teaches our Dancer Yoga Work-out and Vinyasa Flow classes.  Certified in the vinyasa and Hatha traditions, Michael enjoys inspiring students to grow and challenge themselves through yoga.  His teaching combines focus, movement, precision and gentleness in a natural and unrushed manner.  
Michael first came to yoga when he took a corporate yoga class at a small law firm.  He built on his earlier gymnastics training to pursue this endlessly stimulating and nurturing discipline.  He has studied extensively with David Magone, Kara Jasinski and Mimi Loureiro and completed his certification at Frog Lotus Yoga, under the instruction of Jacqueline Heisel and Jenn Yarro.   For more information on Michael, visit www.michaelalbayoga.com.

Ann Marie “Ama” Allara teaches our pre-school classes Post-Partum Pilates and Pilates.  Ama has been teaching dance, gymnastics and fitness for 20 years.  Founder and owner of Rock City Body Pilates Studio, she is a Stott Certified Pilates instructor through the advanced level.  Ama is also certified as a personal trainer, and as a yoga, kickboxing, aerobics and gymnastics instructor.  She also has special training in pre- and post-natal fitness, and Preschool & Children’s Gymnastics and Yoga.  Ama began her dance and gymnastics training in preschool, and rose to become a nationally ranked rhythmic gymnast.  Her gymnastics career took her to competitions across the country, Canada and the former Soviet Union.  In addition to her experience in dance & fitness, Ama holds a Masters Degree in Social Work, and has experience working with children, women and families in crisis.  She believes that movement and fitness can help people to express and process emotions, and discover and strengthen all aspects of their being.

Amelia views her mission as a yoga instructor is to create a safe atmosphere that is relaxed, non-competitive, supportive and fun.  She shares with her students the traditional practices and wisdom of yoga, offering Kripalu – Vinyasa – Hatha yoga instruction.  The focus of her instruction highlights techniques that will bring attention to student’s mind/body connection, release and strengthen muscle groups and introduce paths to learn how to release tension and stress in students’ daily life (yoga off the mat).  Her classes are a mixture of centering techniques, deep breathing and mindfulness, core, stretching and strengthening postures, ending with a brief meditation. Amelia has been a student of yoga for over 25 years and has been an instructor of yoga asana for 11 years and meditation for 3 years.  She holds Registered Yoga Teacher’s (RYT) Certification, Kripalu Yoga Teacher 200-hour Basic and 500-hour Professional Level Certifications, which she maintains with 12 Annual CEU credits.  She also earned Structural Yoga Therapy – Workshop Certification.  She is a Phoenix Rising yoga therapist-in-training (completion April 2010 – 700 hour certification) and has clinical hours ongoing.  Amelia also holds a Masters in Education and an MBA and can be reached at ayogamind@yahoo.com.

Anita Botnen Fisher's KinderGym classes will emphasize "FUNdamentals" of fitness including balance, agility, flexibility, and strength.  Her Gymnastics Stretch for Dancers class is a unique program she developed with Parren and Trinidad, blending stretching and exercises to promote good posture, flexibility and strength. Her Rise and Stretch class educates adults on correct form and methods to promote overall flexibility and performance, as well as injury prevention principles and individual issues. Anita is an Olympian gymnast who represented the Canadian gymnastics team in 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1988 was voted NCAA Division 1 Senior Gymnast of the year while at the University of Florida.  Her dance training for gymnastics was under the direction of Cirque du Soleil principal choreographer, Debra Brown. Her commitment to high-level sport and training naturally lead her to study movement and injury prevention through a degree in physical therapy.  She practiced as a sport- and orthopedic-based physical therapist at both Boston University and University of Florida.   She has taught preschool through to elite level gymnasts periodically for over 30 years.  Now a Brookline resident and mother of three children, she has renewed her appreciation of children's motor development.  She marvels at the pure joy and confidence children gain as they master body control and coordination.  Anita feels that early childhood is the essential time to teach gymnastics to nurture development and achieve key milestones as cornerstone for ballet and other dance, sports and all physical disciplines, promoting life-long enthusiasm for movement!

Annie’s Zumba! class includes Latin steps, jive, jazz and hip hop.  Annie says of her teaching approach: “I empower people to make positive changes in all aspects of their lives.  No matter their age, body type or fitness level, I believe exercise can be fun and enjoyable!” Annie has been studying all forms of dance since childhood.  She has been a member of a performing tap group in recent years.  She has also participated in a variety of sports and activities including, triathlons, body building and skiing.  Annie has a long and wide range of experience in the health field.  She has been a group fitness instructor and personal trainer, as well as a practicing psychotherapist, specializing in food and weight issues, for 20 years.  She has completed personal training and group fitness certifications from Zumba!, Les Mills, AFAA, IFPA, NESTA & Expert Rating.  She also is a Certified Nutrition Counselor and has Red Cross CPR/AED certification.  Annie can be contacted at anniebo54@hotmail.com.

Marianne, who teaches our African Dance classes, danced with the Art of Black Dance & Music, Ballet Theatre of Boston, Danny Sloan Dance Company, Dance Collective, Brasiliero, Inc., Grupo Bandança Afro-Brazilian Dancers & Drummers, Under the Sun Dance & Drum, the Spirit of Africa, Impulse Dance Company and others. She has taught dance at Radcliffe College, Boston University, Dean College School of Dance, Wellesley College, and at public schools, private schools and dance studios in the greater Boston area. She has guest taught and performed in Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New York, Oregon and in France, Switzerland and Jamaica. Marianne was a 1996 recipient of the Dance Belt Award and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Dance Alliance. She currently teaches at Wellesley College, the Cambridge School of Weston, Shady Hill School, Ballet Arts Centre of Winchester, Generation Excel and the Dance Complex, and choreographs and performs with Beat Tree and Benkadi dance companies in Cambridge.

Ross teaches a challenging Vinyasa flow style of yoga, with meticulous attention to alignment and safety.  A Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200), Ross received yoga teacher training from Rolf Gates and Baron Baptiste (among others).  He teaches weekly yoga classes at Prana Power Yoga,  Exhale Spa and elsewhere in the Boston area.  Ross also practices Thai yoga bodywork.  Describing his philosophy, Ross writes “For me, yoga is the convergence of a lifetime of separate endeavors in self-exploration, self-healing, and self-improvement -- from martial arts to philosophy and religion, from Al-Anon to Outward Bound.  Yoga integrates all aspects of my life, helps me find clarity, gratitude and compassion, and offers a growing community of like-minded souls.  Teaching yoga is an opportunity for me to share with others what I have learned so far, to spread the joy and healing that I have found, and to deepen and strengthen my own practice.”  In his spare time, Ross is a software consultant specializing in Java and server-side technology.

Joanne teaches Toddler’s Yoga. Her yoga training includes the Radiant Child Yoga Program with Shakta Kaur Khalsa, and through Karma Kids Yoga in NYC.  She has taught yoga classes at Boston Children’s Museum, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, Brookline Center, and in local family and corporate daycare centers in the Boston and surrounding area.  Joanne is a social worker and currently works as a psychotherapist in Brookline. For more information on Joanne’s philosophy, approach and classes go to Yoginikids.

To Be Provided...

Liz Roncka has been teaching Pilates in the Brookline area since 2003. She is certified to teach Mat Pilates, as well as Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and Barrel. Liz has had the opportunity to teach Pilates in a variety of settings from private studios to universities to a physical therapy clinic. In 2007, Liz opened her own studio Axis Pilates, LLC. Liz’s teaching style is greatly informed by her experiences as a physical therapist and a professional dancer. Liz received her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from Boston University in 1997 and spent over ten years in clinical practice before focusing exclusively on Pilates training. Liz’s knowledge of anatomy and physiology allows her to give her students a deeper understanding of their own body. For over a decade Liz has been performing modern dance and improvisation both locally and internationally. Her current performance projects include directing her own company lizroncka/Real-Time Performance Project and generating work as part of the Mobius Artists Group. Liz has experienced first-hand how the Pilates method can enhance dance technique, increase endurance and lower the risk of injury. She is thrilled with the opportunity to share this knowledge with young dancers and non-dancers alike. In addition to training on the equipment noted above, Liz has completed continuing education on a variety of subjects including Prenatal Pilates, Pilates for Breast Cancer Survivors, and Pilates for Individuals with Osteoporosis and Scoliosis.

Sydney Schneir will be teaching in the Youth Ballet Program. She began her ballet training at the School of American Ballet in 1994. She performed various children’s roles with the New York City Ballet including, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coppelia and Jerome Robbin’s Circus Polka. In 1999, Sydney continued her training at Ballet Academy East and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with Lourdes Lopez, Darla Hoover, Alan Hineline, Stacy Caddell, Johan Renvall, Peter Frame and Francis Patrelle. During this time she performed soloist roles in Swan Lake, Coppelia, and Serenade. Sydney started dancing for the Richmond Ballet in 2003 under the direction of Stoner Winslett. She performed roles in The Nutcracker, Concerto Barocco and was featured in Swan Lake. Sydney was the Ballet Mistress at Mid-Atlantic Ballet from 2007 to 2009, working closely with Artistic Director Patrick Korstange. She staged pieces from Giselle, The Nutcraker, Le Corsaire and her own contemporary works.   Sydney holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware in Political Science, International Relations and French. She has studied abroad in London, Martinique and Turkey, and has worked at Oxford University the past two summers. Currently, Sydney is a Master’s degree candidate at Northeastern University in Comparative Politics.

STEPHANIE SHERMAN holds an MFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU (2009), and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa and High Honors in Hispanic Studies from Vassar College (2001).  In 2005, she received a Fulbright scholarship to create mutual understanding across culture through her socially aware choreography in Quito, Ecuador.  She received her early training from at the Jeannette Neill Dance Studio in Boston, and eventually went on to dance with Prometheus Dance Company from 2002-2005.  In 2003, she founded and ran the Dance Renewal Project, which sought to revitalize the Boston Dance scene through international and interdisciplinary exchange.  She has danced in the works of Donald McKayle, Stephen Rooks, William Forsythe, and in the American Dance Festival's International Choreographers' Commission Project with Sukarji Sriman (Indonesia), among others.  She has taught and choreographed in New York, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Boston.  Many of her students have gone on to dance in Ecuador’s National Ballet's Contemporary Company, and other professional companies in Ecuador.  She is currently directing Project Babelbaile, an international dance summer intensive course in Ecuador.  She is also a Yoga Alliance certified yoga instructor and a published bilingual poet.

Margaux…