Faculty
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Disciplines
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DanceJasmine Clarke
Bio Forthcoming Dance Troupe Antonio Raimundo Dos Santos
Bio Forthcoming Capoeira Ramona Lewis-Richardson
Ramona co-teaches Belly Dance at Sitar Arts Center with Janella Franklin. She has studied with many famous bellydancers and is a member of the Raqs East student performance troupe at Sahara Dance in Washington, DC. She is thrilled to be teaching at Sitar! Belly Dance Madeline Glyde Duff
Madeline has been dancing ballet for eleven years, and has loved every minute of it! She began volunteering at Sitar Arts Center in 2008 because it was the perfect way to blend her background in dance but also give back to the community. Her other favorite hobbies include playing the piano, reading, and watching movies. She currently attends the Washington School of Ballet where she mostly studies ballet, but also dabbles in some jazz and modern through various classes at her school, National Cathedral School for Girls. Sitar Arts Center has been one of the most rewarding experiences she has ever had, and she is very excited to continue assisting in classes. Ballet Danielle Eure
Danielle has been dancing for eleven years. She began volunteering at Sitar Arts Center in 2008 because she wanted to share her talent with budding young artists. She is also interested in acting and photography and has both performed and shown her artwork in the DC Metro area. Step Dance Asia Felder-Watkins
Bio Forthcoming Adult Ballet Janella Franklin
Janella has studied both classical Egyptian and tribal fusion belly dance since 2001. She is currently the company manager for Raqs Caravan West, a Sahara Dance student company specializing in American tribal belly dance for the stage. Janella performs regularly with Raqs Caravan West and Tribal Remix. Janella completed the Sahara Dance Foundations Teacher Training program in 2007 and was certified in Journey through Egypt 2 in 2009. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Xavier University and a Masters of Community Planning degree from the University of Cincinnati. Janella began co-teaching a beginner belly dance class at Sitar Arts Center in September 2009. Belly Dance Chaka Freeman
Chaka has a B.A. from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and teacher certification from Trinity College. He teaches Capoeira at Sitar Arts Center and many other locations. Capoeira Erica Froyd
Erica’s dance background began with ballet lessons at age five. She performed in numerous productions, including the Nutcracker and Don Quixote as part of the Virginia Ballet Company. She continued dancing in college and expanded into modern, jazz and hip hop dance, while teaching free form jazz dance to youth ages 8 to 12. She also taught jazz dance at the Rhythm Street Dance Studio in Reston, VA. In addition to teaching at Sitar Arts Center, she attends classes and performs at the Joy of Motion Dance Center in DC and Maryland. Hip Hop Takada Harris
Bio Forthcoming African Dance Saki Kawakita
Saki Kawakita is from Hyogo, Japan and came to the United States to study Performing Arts at Southern Utah University, where she was in more than 20 performances, including Cabaret, Lyric Kings, and Oliver. While attending SUU, she was the president of Orchesis Modern Dance Company, an Arts & Entertainment Delegate in the student association ballroom tour team, and was the representative of the Multicultural Center where she shared Japanese culture and tradition. She worked with Ms. Suzanne Farrell in the summer of 2008 at The Kennedy Center and now works for The Washington Ballet as an Instructor/DanceDC program assistant. She is happy to be part of the Sitar Arts Center family. Ballet Gari Mayberry
Gari has been dancing since her teens and has performed with several dance troupes, including ones at Wesleyan University, Michigan Technological University, and Joy of Motion Dance studios. She has taught African, Jazz, and Hip Hop dance to children and adults in Michigan and Washington, DC. Hip Hop Amanda Nagai
Amanda has been taking dance lessons since she was a child and loves music and rhythm. She is currently dancing samba with her students at Sitar Arts Center, a dance which she practiced and choreographed in college. She hopes to inspire her students with the beat of samba music and its energy. When she's not dancing, Amanda likes to meet up with friends, cook, and exercise. Samba Susan Ryan
Bio Forthcoming Yoga Deidra Squire
Deidra has been tap dancing for thirteen years. She began volunteering at Sitar Arts Center in 2008 because she wanted to help youth and adults learn about percussive dance, arts, and history. She is also interested in writing, drumming and choreography. She has both performed and produced artistic shows for several years. Tap Betsy Small, RYT
Betsy Small taught folk guitar at the Western Pa School for Blind Children during college, and later studied classical guitar and lute with John Marlow at American University. From 1979-1997 she was director and lutenist of the Washington Camerata and currently teaches guitar and lute in her home studio and sings with Collegium Cantorum, a chamber choir specializing in Medieval and Renaissance sacred music. She has BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has written and performed folktales with Renaissance and Medieval music for children (as director of Story Minstrels --1992-2005), stories for piano and narrator with her husband, (pianist/composer and Sitar volunteer Haskell Small), and a full-length musical for young audiences, Crystal’s Journey (1990). As a yoga instructor Ms. Small is certified to teach Hatha Yoga, and LifeForce Yoga® for anxiety and depression, and Radiant Child Yoga. Youth Yoga |
