My journey …

So, how did a kid from the heart of America end up as an adult in the beautiful Canterbury plains under the gaze of the majestic Southern Alps introducing others to the joy of movement through dance?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Yes, I was born in Kansas (USA) and no, I did not meet Dorothy!

Having been brought up in a family that was into dance, it was no surprise to anyone when I started dancing from the age of four. Since then, I trained at dance schools in Kansas, New York City, Chicago, and Las Vegas. When I was 18, I moved to Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) to start my professional dance career, performing at the prestigious Westward Ho and Union Plaza hotels on the Las Vegas Boulevard and downtown Las Vegas. As you can imagine, this was quite the adventure for an 18-year-old!

Fast forward to 2002 and I’m in Auckland (North Island, NZ), far away from family and friends, ready to begin my next adventure. A lot of life happened between my Las Vegas days and Auckland, but one thing that remained constant in my life was dance. I continually found myself getting lost in music, even just a song on the radio, and mentally interpreting and coming up with choreography, no matter where I was. In fact, most of my choreographing is done in the shower!

I slotted dance around my day job – or was that the other way around? I taught American Jazz at City Dance studio. I performed in and later choreographed for musicals too. Some of the ones I was involved in were A Chorus Line, Westside Story, Copacabana, Big River, Paris, Fame, and Tommy. In between all of these projects, I also worked with older school-aged dance groups, teaching them and creating choreography for performances. Life was busy but I enjoyed it! I realised that when people came together to learn choreography, dance, or perform, the day’s stress washed away replacing it with the all-important human social connection as we worked towards some goal.

In 2007, I moved to Christchurch (South Island, NZ) and started the next chapter of my life. I was already taken by the sheer beauty of this country, but also the difference in landscape in all directions. We made the long drive south from Auckland to Christchurch, which included a 3hr ferry trip across Cook Strait. The trip felt much longer because we had two cats in the backseat, who weren’t terribly impressed with the decision to move cities!

When looking for dance opportunities in Christchurch, I saw an ad for a Nia class. I had never heard of that, but it sounded very interesting and quite different to anything I was used to. I decided to give it a try and that night, I was smitten.

I loved the diversity of the music, the different modalities wrapped up in one, the body-positive philosophy, the fact that you didn’t have to be precise with following a particular move and rather you moved “your body’s way”, and most of all, the non-judgemental atmosphere.

It was also danced barefoot! I was incredibly blessed that I had Helene Purcell as the teacher too! That was the beginning of my Nia journey up to where I am today. I trained for my White Belt in 2009 under Ken Gilbert followed by the Green Belt Intensive, a belt specifically designed for teachers focusing on the craft of teaching Nia, with Nia co-creator, Carlos AyaRosas in 2010. From here, I trained the Blue Belt (2011), Brown Belt (2014), Black Belt (2016), First Degree Black Belt (2018), and Second-Degree Black Belt (2019), all at Nia Headquarters in Portland (Oregon, USA). I was very humbled to receive the invitation in 2019 to become a Nia Third Generation White Belt Trainer under the masterful direction of Nia co-creator, Debbie Rosas. This allows me to lead White Belt trainings.

In the midst of all of this, I trained and began teaching Group Centergy, one of the fitness programmes created by MOSSA based in the USA. Group Centergy is a delightful fusion of yoga and Pilates fundamentals and is a beautiful complement to my Nia practice. In NZ, Group Centergy is offered at CityFitness Gyms. Today, I am one of MOSSA’s official testers, critiquing new routines before they are released. I am also the Group Fitness Coordinator, overseeing the various group fitness programmes at the gym. I also founded Plensory Movement, my small business from where I offer classes.

Group Centergy triggered my desire to deepen my yoga practice and after rigorous study over two years, I attained my Yoga Teaching Diploma through the International Yoga Teachers Association (New Zealand). Over the years, I have learnt just how much teaching dance is my passion, right from when I was very young and teaching kids in my parents’ studio. I love to see people grow, weaving together their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs and wants.

Sadly, all too often, the world judges us for what it deems imperfections, in the way we move, behave, and look. At a very young age, we learn that we need to live up to everyone else’s expectations (having the perfect body, graceful movement, being the correct gender, sexuality, and colour, and the accepted way of behaving) while never having a hope of ever attaining them. We starve ourselves, repress our feelings, and stop ourselves from doing things (like dancing!) that are natural, all to avoid failing in other’s eyes, all the while ignoring our mental and physical health.