Synergy Rhythm and Dance Instructors
| Sahira Zedare | Aliah |
| Tanya Picard | Inaya Nawar |
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Sahira Zedare has taught bellydance in Bloomington-Normal since summer 2005. She has over twenty-five years of training and performance experience in a variety of dance forms, from jazz and tap to bellydance and modern. Since 2003 she devotes most of her dance energies to bellydance. Sahira's bellydance classes focus on technique, fitness, and grace. Each session
is taught cumulatively. Different sessions include veil, zills, and a variety
of bellydance styles. |
Aliah has been involved in several dance classes at the Synergy RAD studio since 2006. One of her favorite sessions was the Drills class; now known as BellyFit. She has participated in all class levels and is currently part of the Synergy Sirens. |
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Inaya has been studying bellydance at Synergy RAD since January 2007. She taught her first class at the studio, a four week tribal fusion styling clinic, during the summer session in 2010. Inaya has studied various styles with Sahira, but her favorite is Tribal Fusion. Because of this, her personal dance style often focuses on Tribal Fusion. She is currently a member of the Synergy Sirens. |
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Tanya has been studying tap with nationally renowned tap dancer Jimmy Payne, Jr., of Chicago, and was delighted that the members of Impulse Tap Ensemble were able to spend some time taking several master classes from Payne and his sister and dance partner Sarah this spring. Payne created and choreographed a piece for Impulse that they call Jimmy’s Beat which premiered in their June concert. Tanya is excited about working with the members of Impulse Tap to create their 2011-2012 season. Her favorite quote is: “To dance, put your hand over your heart and listen to the sound of your soul.” |
Aliah
Tanya Picard is a choreographer and teacher from the Chicago area who took her first tap class at the age of 6, her first Luigi class at the age of 10, and has never stopped moving since. In New York, in addition to studying jazz with Luigi, she has studied modern at the Martha Graham Dance Center and tap with Bob Audy and Charles “Cookie” Cook. She is also a lifelong student of Gus Giordano, and last summer was awarded scholarships for 3 of her students to take master classes at the Giordano studio. She did her graduate work at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis where she served as Artistic Director of Pasticcio Dance Ensemble, a contemporary regional company. While in Minneapolis, she also worked as choreographer for the Renaissance Faires in Chicago and Boston, creating the original “Gypsy Dancers.” In Chicago, in addition to teaching technique classes and directing an adult tap ensemble, she received grants to produce two original works: Amelia and Leonardo and Elements; and in 2009, she organized a two-day Luigi workshop and produced “Never Stop Moving,” a special performance honoring Luigi’s influence.