Studio Sephira

Aside from experiencing my spirit soar while dancing or meditating, two of my greatest joys are spending time in nature and I spending quality time with friends. My work-life covers 2 areas: facilitating women heal from the pain caused from violence against women and facilitating women learn self expression thru the art of middle eastern dance.

I've been working part time at a local not for profit agency, Support to Single Parents Inc., since the Spring of 2005. I am the coordinator for the Peer Support & Social Action program. It's a volunteer driven program that offers one-on-one support to women victims of violence and raises awareness on this issue in the community. I also co-facilitate a group called Changing Patterns for Rebuilding a New You for women who have experienced an unhealthy abusive relationships. I am grateful for my experience working with people in this environment: those who work at the agency, the volunteers, the people in other agencies in the community and the ones who come to us for support.

I discovered the beautiful art form of Belydance in 1997. I've spent a lot of time lurking in the virtual wold of this dance and even more time learning and teaching in the Maritime provinces. I specialize in improvisational choreography and enjoy a wide variety of music to express my dance. I love dancing drum solos and interpreting orchestrated pieces but my favorite style to share with the public is veil dancing. I work with regular veil, circular veil and Isis wings. I also sometimes work with candles, swords and canes, live musicians when I am blessed enough to do so, firepoi, and the darabouka (I am still struggling painfully with my zills - grin). I founded my school in the Spring of 2000. I am very grateful for my experience working with people in this art form: my teachers, my students, those who have trained to become teacher and/or performer with me, those who helped me build the school in big and little ways, my peers in the bellydance world and in the larger dance community, the vendors and everyone who helps to create the marvelous events where I learned my art and created connection with other who do the same.

Before the dancing came into my life I spent quite a number of years being a university student where I studied sociology & history until the sudden, violent, death of a close friend. This is what changed the course of my life. It opened up a world where I slowly discovered an array of alternative healing modalities, including those I discovered thru the dance and my work at Support to Single Parents Inc. as well as meditation practices such as Ascension and QiGong. In the next couple of years I would love to start bridging the knowledge gained from my former studies of history and sociology, with the world of dance, the work I do in the non for profit sector and the various paths to alternative healing I've explored. I am looking forward to the continued journey.