Meditation with Gigi O.

Hello and welcome. My name is Gigi. I have been teaching dance, dance fitness, and meditation for 30 years. I love the personal relationship with each student as together we bring forth skill, style, self confidence, expression, well being, and peace. My primary dance training was received from the Mid Hudson Ballet Company, with teaching certification from Music in Motion, Inc. My meditation training is rooted in 7 years of monastic life and 30 years of integrating the principles and practices into my being. I am a very compassionate, friendly, intuitive person who teaches with warmth, sensitivity, patience, and attention to detail. I look forward to bringing all of the above into sessions with you to help fulfill your personal goals and interests. My relationship with dance began at the age of 3, when my mother enrolled me in my first ballet class with the hope that it would help me gain the confidence to come out from my hiding place behind her back. Not only did it encourage me to overcome my excessively painful shyness, but it grew an everlasting love and shelter for me. I went on to receive the foundation of my training at Estelle & Alfonso Performing Arts and the Russian Ballet School of the Mid-Hudson Ballet Company. During my adolescent years, I became a teacher at the school and a performing member of the company. I also received the honor of performing in Harlequinade with the New York City Ballet, studying at the Craft of Choreography Conference on scholarship, and attending a variety of ballet, jazz, and modern dance classes by notable teachers in multiple schools and venues in the northeast. In my adult years, I've enjoyed performing on many occasions, especially as a guest artist with Dog-Eared Dancers and in choreographic partnership with Anna Mayta of Anna Mayta Dance Fusion. I'm grateful to have expanded my modern dance and teaching experience with Laurie Sepe Marder, and to have studied Kuchipudi Classical Indian Dance with Kantham Chatlapalli, as well as ancient and modern Hula with Kumu June Tanoue. Under the mentorship of Barbara Thuesen, I received my certification in ballet teaching and choreography from Music in Motion, Inc. I was then accepted into the dance department at the West Australia Academy of Performing Arts, but chose to remain close to home and open White Lotus Ballet in 2004 instead. Since then, I have had the ongoing pleasure of teaching dance to dozens of children and adults in my space, as well as at preschools, daycare centers, yoga studios, and special events. My teaching style and content continue to evolve with the gathering of insight, compassion, and experience. In addition to traditional dance, that evolution has also expanded to include teaching meditation and healing dance. I am a very devotional soul and a natural intuitive empathic healer. So, i find all the gifts, talents, inspiration, and wisdom I receive come together in a variety of forms and ways I teach to touch the heart and desired interest of each student. Again, I look forward to creating lessons that fulfill you in that way.