About
I started exploring movement as early as 5 years old through figure skating, followed by dance, synchronized swimming, martial arts, gymnastics, and (after recovering from injuries) circus arts.
My curiosity for movement and dance brought me to study various forms of dance in their cultural contexts:
- In Egypt, with well known choreographers Mahmood Reda and Raquia Hassan.
- In Ivory Coast, with a dance company who was awarded the Unesco Award.
- In India, where I lived and studied Kathak, a North-Indian classical dance, under Dr. Shashi Sankhla, from Jaipur Kathak Kendra.
My studies in contemporary dance and contact improvisation (inspired by the martial arts), my injuries, and my numerous visits with movement specialists over the years, finally guided me towards the Pilates and Feldenkrais Method®. This helped me cope with my pain and start a path towards recovery. These practices also taught me how to listen and learn how to move in a sustainable way, so that It could prevent injuries in the long run.
I moved to California from Montreal in 2006, where I continued studying dance, Pilates, and Feldenkrais®.
I specialize on form, alignment and rehab. This focus lead me to work in the Sports and Dance Medicine department at St-Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. I worked with athletes from Cirque du Soleil at their Performance Medicine and Rehab Center in Montreal. I also had the honor to work with San Francisco Giants baseball player Hunter Pence.
Since the pandemic hit, I have been working online and I am astonished by the adaptability of all my clients and students, witnessing their evolution through distance learning. I have deep empathy whenever I see someone achieve what they set their mind to, and sometimes even beyond. When they succeed, I rejoice with them!
My Passion
I am passionate and fascinated about all aspects related to movement. That of human being in its environment, throughout history and its huge adaptation capabilities. I love the fact that we can spend a lifetime learning about human brains, bodies, and mind and the new discoveries are endless.
Nothing is permanent. Even when we stop in stillness, there are a multitude of micro-movements. Therefore living in the present is very helpful, perhaps even necessary to get to know ourselves better. This quest can reveal parts of self that were unknown, or simply change our perspective which will reveal something new in the world we experience. Training, as much as rehabilitation after an injury, can be a very profound journey.
As we proceed on this adventure that is life, we accumulate unnecessary baggage, habits that perhaps were useful in the past, but no longer are. These habits can sometime inhibit us from moving forward, or slow down our progress towards better performance and well-being. Like an explorer realizing that the extra load on his backpack is slowing him down, weighing him down or is diminishing his enjoyment.
To perform at our highest peak, retrieving simplicity is often the key, leaving behind the unnecessary, to excel at what we do without pain. Aiming for what’s essential in movement as well as in our life.
Photo Credits: Oda Aase Johnsen
