Frank Duncan, Owner/Director
DanceSynergy
An aerobics
instructor locally for twenty years, Frank became a certified
professional trainer in 1986, and co-founded Motivation Plus
Personal Fitness in Aptos in 1997.
Frank began dancing at a very early age. He danced professionally
on a local television show in Ohio as a teenager, studied
ballet and Jazz dance while in college in Cincinnati, and
subsequently toured the country for two and a half years in
a Las Vegas show group as a singer and dancer. Frank has appeared
in the Richard
Simmons video, "Sweatin' to the Oldies, III". With the opening
of DanceSynergy, Frank is realizing his longtime dream of
directing his own dance studio.
Classes: Dance Workout, Dance
Circuit, Cardio Dance
Mindy
Pedlar/Instructor: Ballet
Mindy Pedlar enjoys sharing her passion for ballet with her
students. Originally from the Los Angeles area, much of her
ballet training was at the acclaimed Stanley Holden Dance
Center where such notables as Gelsey Kirkland, Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Juliet Prowse and Mary Tyler Moore studied. Mindy was first
introduced to Stanley's school in 1975 when she was working
as a singer and dancer in Juliet Prowse's night club act.
She still performs locally as a singer, dancer and actress.
SeSe
Geddes/Instructor: Intermediate BellyDance
SeSe began bellydancing in Santa Cruz under the technical
expertise of Jamra El Lamia. She then went on to study with
other Bay area artists such as Allegra, Caroleena and Cella.
Under the direction of Dunia of San Jose, SeSe gained intensive
performance experience as both a soloist and member of Dunia’s
award winning dance troupe Bahar. Dunia’s influence fostered
SeSe’s later success as a competition soloist. She was named
1994 Bellydancer of the Year and in 1995 won first prize in
the Complete Dancer category at the Bellydancer of the Universe
Competition in Long Beach. As troupe director and choreographer,
SeSe is best known for her work with the highly acclaimed
Cairoettes and continues to promote new artists with the creation
of performance groups such as Baktiari, The Bellydance Basics
Dancers and Intisar. Today SeSe’s main focus is teaching.
She founded Bellydance Basics in 1987 with the goal of making
this ancient art easy and accessible for everyone.
Jeevan
Kracht/Instructor: Iyengar Style Yoga
Jeevan Kracht has a back round in body work, dance, marathoning
and multi-sport events. He began practicing yoga in the Iyengar
Yoga tradition in 1995 and began teaching in 1998. He opened
the Aptos yoga studio Yoga Within in 2001 until going abroad
in 2005. Jeevan's main influences have been Rena Dubin and
Kofi Busia. His classes are focused on a steady, safe and
methodic increase in flexibility and all round body strength.
Injury prevention and the natural therapudic and strength
restoring qualities of yoga are a natural base of each class.
Matt
Reyes/Instructor: Cardio Kickboxing
Matt Reyes, Cardio Kickboxer, Sweat Factory Matt, an independent
fitness instructor, has been teaching cardio kickboxing around
Santa Cruz since 2004 and even nabbed a Best Aerobics Instructor
nod from Good Times readers in a Best Of Santa Cruz County
poll. A Santa Cruz native, he spent a seven-year stint in
Los Angeles, where he took Tae Bo classes from its creator,
Billy Blanks, and quickly became addicted to the high-intensity,
instant gratification nature of cardio kickboxing. "It's a
great whole-body workout," the 36-year old Reyes explains
of his class, which he's aptly dubbed Sweat Factory. "You're
kicking and punching and engaging your whole core abdominal
region, constantly moving for 45 minutes to an hour."
Caitlin
Fahey/Instructor: Beginning Hip Hop for Adults/Beg. Jazz for
Adults.
A dance teacher for over 12 years, Caitlin began taking classes
at the age of 5, first studying ballet and later adding jazz
dance, hip hop, belly dance and modern her repertoire. She
is a former member hip hop crew "Total Khaos", under
the direction of Harold McCord. SeSe's Bellydance Troupe Baktiari,
and the cast of Cabrillo Stage's 2009 production of "Wizard
of Oz", as a featured dancer and flying monkey. Caitlin
loves to teach people of all ages and abilities including
children, teens, adults and special needs students. In 2011
she was asked to develop and direct the dance program for
local non-profit Santa Cruz Performing Arts, which she is
thrilled to bring to DanceSynergy. Winner of the Metro's Best
Personal Trainer Award 2010, and a certified personal trainer
since 2007, it is her passion to help people enjoy healthier
more vibrant lives and it is her belief that dance is the
best excersise of all!
DanceSynergy invites qualified local instructors, representing
any style or tradition of dance to contact us to discuss how
we might work together to meet the needs of the local dancing
community. DanceSynergy instructors are usually independents,
with their own student following, who "rent time" at DanceSynergy.
Interested parties should contact Frank Duncan at:
info@dance-synergy.com
to set up an interview/discussion.
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