Feeling connected and powerful in our bodies is healing.
Having new physical experiences is healing. Overcoming self-consciousness, shame, and embarrassment about our bodily existence is healing.
Achieving these things happens when we move, feel, and experience ourselves in new ways. We must come up against our physical limits and gently move through them, expanding our range of possibilities along with our confidence, self-possession, and ease. Our bodies are the ground from which our thoughts and feelings bloom; if we want to change our thoughts and feelings, we must work from the bottom-up.
I am a licensed therapist and dance-based artist, born and based in Walla Walla, Washington. I love helping others connect more deeply with their bodily intelligence, especially through movement.
I offer an alternative approach to talk-centric therapy. I’m interested in moving beyond insight to shift how we feel about ourselves and experience life. I incorporate movement, physicality, and an emphasis on here-and-now mindfulness of sensory information to help do that.
I am a licensed mental health counselor with 11 years in the field and 20 years of dance training and performance. I believe wholeheartedly in the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits that each field can give us when applied well. My aim is to offer a therapeutic practice that is more than “just” physical training and more than “just” talk therapy. If you have talked enough and you’re ready for something different, let’s move.
Dance with me this summer!
Join me at the Walla Walla Dance Company studio, 129 E. Alder in downtown Walla Walla! Classes are open to all—no prior dance experience necessary. Drop-in classes are $15 or $40 for a 3-class series.
Series 1: Intro to Afro-Caribbean Dances
Friday, June 19 @ 12 pm
Wednesday, July 8 @ 7 pm
Friday, July 10 @ 12 pm
This 3-class series will give movers an introduction to Afro-Caribbean dances, focusing on rhythm, suppleness, and strength in the spine and pelvis. We will begin with a thorough warm-up and learn movements that travel across the floor.
Series 2: Intro to Dance Technique (Simonson Method)
Friday, July 17 @ 12 pm
Friday, July 24 @ 12 pm
Friday, July 31 @ 12 pm
This introductory 3-class series is great for absolute beginners as well as more experienced dancers looking to hone foundational technique. Class will focus on helping movers develop deeper body awareness in order to understand and work with their individual anatomy and alignment.
Class will progress through a series of exercises to promote balance, stability, mind-muscle connection, and expressivity. Some classes will include a short choreographed phrase to put technique into practice.
Whether you have been dancing for years or never set foot in a studio, come stretch, strengthen, and deepen into your body!