The First Step

According to my mother, I danced one day and walked the next. I am very fortunate to have parents who love music, dance and cultural diverisity. Our household was very international. My father grew up in Indonesia with a Dutch, French, German and Indonesian background. My mother, who studied Hawaiian dance as a young woman, has a Dutch and English background. My childhood was off to a rather eclectic start. This setting was rounded out by regular visits from exchange students from the University of Miami, who came by to appreciate an Indonesian home cooked meal. These students came from, Indonesia, various parts of Africa, Japan, India, Holland and other places. Inevitably, these evening visits would evolve into an impromtu performance of cultural song and dance. My parents and I would sing, play and dance Indonesian and Hawaiian music.

My father taught me to accompany him on the ukulele while he played either the acoustic or steel guitar. With his Indonesian friends, he taught me dances of his native Sumatra. My mother taught me Polynesian dances and we performed together at shows throughout my teen years. As a young teenager I was introduced to International Folk and Middle Eastern belly dance. At the age of 17 I took my first formal dance lesson in ballet.

In the years to come I performed with the University of Florida International Folk Dancers. I eventually became their Performance Director for five years. I also performed as a soloist for many years at Luaus, parties and other special events around town.

In 1992, I had the great honor of being asked by Kim Tuttle, Artistic Director of DanceAlive! (a world renown Professional Ballet Company) to choreograph a few short pieces in her production of Dracula. This called for the UFIFD to perform the pieces. We performed in this production two years in a row. The following year she asked me to perform in her production of Tom Jones: A Bawdy Ballet. This was in 1994 and I was still recovering from knee surgery. A challenge to say the least.

In 1994 I began performing with some wonderful young women and we eventually formed our own group called the Sahnobar Dance Ensemble. We are still performing together. We perform mostly around Florida at various festivals and private events. We have also performed at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, Universal Studios, St. Petersburg's Florida International Museum for their grand openings of "Splendors of Ancient Egypt" and "Alexander the Great". We are also called upon by the ethnic communities of Florida to perform at their private functions such as weddings and parties and sometimes they have asked us to represent them in performances. We added four musicians to the group and do a few performances a year with them. To learn more about us, you can visit our web site at: sahnobar.com

In 1995 I moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. I was asked to be the Dance Director for the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society's (SPIFFS) International Dancers. I did this for three years.

In 1998, I had the opportunity to travel with Manase Latu and the Polynesian Connection out of Orlando. We toured a large portion of the United States in an RV performing Luaus at Country Clubs and other such venues. It was great fun. They even let me play bass for a song or two in a couple of the shows. I mostly danced though.

Presently, I am teaching Belly Dancing at the Right Step Dance Studio at the Parkside Mall in St. Petersburg, Florida. I perform as a soloist in various places in the Tampa Bay Area and with Sahnobar.