teachers at work and play

Healing Dance® Instructors Alexander Georgeakopoulos Inika Sati Spence Mary Theri Thomas Ashaman Gray Rutherford Hayes Ayal Shifron Suzanne Shifron Erez Beatus	Junior Teachers Jacqueline Lootsma Lilia Cangemi Har Kaur Khalsa Georges Amir Kunzler Katja Grace Alexis Lee
Alexander is the originator of the Healing Dance. He is one of WABA's senior instructors; since 1991 he has led over 200 week long 50-hour intensives in Anatomy, Massage, Barefoot Shiatsu, Watsu, Healing Dance and WaterDance. Alexander presently leads trainings in the US, Europe, Israel and Brazil, teaching in English, German or Portuguese as required. His trainings are known for their humor, humanity and technical expertise. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Inika has been an aquatic body worker since 1996, working intensively at Harbin Hot Springs as a Watsu, WaterDance and Healing Dance Practitioner. She has over 2800 hours of training and over 4500 hours teaching aquatic bodywork. Inika has been teaching Watsu and Healing Dance since 1999. She brings grace to the water and conveys that grace to her students through her knowledge of movement and experience in yoga, tai chi, dance, meditation. Aquatic bodywork is her passion. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Mary Theri Thomas has been everything from a corporate trainer to a martial arts national competition competitor and coach. She currently is the owner and manager of the Aquatic Bodywork Center and has been a practitioner and instructor in the areas of massage, martial arts, yoga, Nia, fitness, core awareness, nutrition, hypnotherapy and holistic health over the past 29 years, 20 of which have been in San Diego. She has trained with Alexander, the creator of Healing Dance, Harold Dull, the originator of Watsu, with Jahara the creator of the Jahara technique, as well as with and with Peggy Schoedinger P.T. the originator of Adaptive Watsu. Mary Theri is one of Healing Dance's Senior Instructors. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Ashaman has been dancing through the water since 1999, inspired by his trainings with Alexander. He brings a passion for movement and connection to his water work, continually fulfilled and renewed through aikido practice and music. “Teaching for me is an expression - the conscious formation of something from within given life by the listening of students. It’s a transmission, a birth process where students are offered a form through which their inner fire can burn. Teaching is a vehicle for harmonization, a space held for inspiration to explode and new galaxies to begin.” (more bio and pictures)
In Jacqueline's words: "In January 1998 I had my first Watsu session during my holiday on Maui. It was very healing for me and right then and there I knew this was it for me: I wanted to learn this beautiful healing work. I went to Harbin (CA) to learn Watsu, Waterdance, Healing Dance and Jahara Technique. Now, seven years later, I am an Aquatic Bodyworker, Healing Dance Practitioner and Junior Teacher, and a certified Watsu Basic Instructor. This is very powerful and deep work, a very personal, loving way to be with others." (more bio and pictures)        Top
Ayal Shifron brings to aquatic bodywork a unique background, perspective and capacity. Although still a young man, Ayal is an internationally recognized artist. Since 2001, Ayal has organized every course taught by Alexander in Israel and grown into a mature practitioner of Watsu, WaterDance and Healing Dance. Ayal's sessions are both sensitive and creative, whether working with clients in heated pools or in the Mediterranean during the Israeli summer months. Ayal and his equally gifted wife, Suzanne Abudraham, work together in all they do, organizing, giving sessions, creating art, and most recently holding the first Introduction to Healing Dance in Israel. (more bio and pictures)       Top
Suzanne Abudraham Shifron combines in her life the roles of mother, wife, artist, aquatic practitioner, organizer and teacher. In her words, "Working in water heals myself. It reminds me of a deep memory in my body. I was in the water since I was young. To be in water and to treat people were what I wanted to do. Today, giving sessions of aquatic bodywork combines both of these desires. I have a feeling of destiny about this work; it is what I want to do. It provides an excuse to give love; people need love." (more bio and pictures)       Top
Rutherford’s enthusiasm for aquatic bodywork is marked by over 1500 hours of training since August 2002. He now lives at Harbin Hot Springs, working on the Health Services staff. His strongest influences have been Watsu, Waterdance, Healing Dance, Swedish and Esalen massage, Polarity therapy, and Chi Nei Tsang (internal organ massage). His focus, both in and out of the water, lies with fluidity, balancing polarities, and presence. Rutherford’s experience in communication and his love of theater and dance improvisation help him to foster a clear and fun learning environment. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Lilia Cangemi, LMT, is a Healing Dance Therapist, Watsu and Waterdance Practitioner, as well as a Watsu, Healing Dance and Dolphin Dance instructor. Six years of Medical School and her life-long research in massage, breathwork, movement therapy, shamanism and soul counseling brought her to develop Quantum Leap Healing. Herself a dancer and choreo-grapher, she was impressed with Healing Dance’s grace and inspired in developing her exploration, Dolphin Dance. For her teaching and practicing are arts of midwifery, holding space for human beauty to unfold naturally and integrate at the level of the soul, thus creating an ecstatic awakening of mind, body and spirit. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Har Kaur has been an Aquatic Bodyworker through WABA since 1998. She is currently a Junior Healing Dance Instructor and a Watsu Instructor. She brings patience to every class and helps each student discover their own natural wisdom in the water, as well as the body mechanics to support their movements. The full spectrum dynamic play of Healing Dance, coupled with it’s organic nature, encourages us to find freedom and understanding in the movement and sanctuary spaces of our body and in those of our floating partners. Healing Dance enlivens any therapy we do in the water. It is a brilliant water modality. Come join us. (more bio and pictures)        Top
I have been in the water since I remember myself. My earliest memories are of me, playing in the water – dancing, diving. I got into Aquatic bodywork at 1999 during my Hydrotherapy studies at the Wingate Institute in Israel, where I was exposed first to Watsu, and then to WaterDance. I worked as a Hydrotherapist for 2 years at Tel-Hashomer hospital, where I used WaterDance to work with people with special needs. The results were amazing. These 2 years taught me that there is no limit to our potential, and that Aquatic bodywork is definitely a part of me. I have been assisting Alexander in his WaterDance and HealingDance courses over the past 5 years. My passion in water continues with Freediving Breath-hold diving. I have been doing this sport/art professionally over the past 9 years. I held the world record for the deepest dive with no aids. (more bio and pictures)        Top
Georges Amir Künzler is a practitioner in the techniques of Shiatsu, Watsu, Waterdance and Healing Dance and was mainly trained in California. Since 2002 he has worked in Lavey-les-Bains, Switzerland, where he offers classes and sessions of Watsu, Shiatsu and massage. He is a Watsu teacher certified by the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA) since 2003. With a great interest in meditation, he realizes the importance of finding the depth of being. Besides the technical aspects, his classes allow for deep self-exploration and encourage a richer understanding of our relation to others. (more bio and pictures)        Top
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