Instructors

Michael Alba teaches our Vinyasa Flow classes.  Certified in the vinyasa and Hatha traditions, Michael enjoys inspiring students to grow and challenge themselves through yoga.  His teaching combines focus, movement, precision and gentleness in a natural and unrushed manner.  
Michael first came to yoga when he took a corporate yoga class at a small law firm.  He built on his earlier gymnastics training to pursue this endlessly stimulating and nurturing discipline.  He has studied extensively with David Magone, Kara Jasinski and Mimi Loureiro and completed his certification at Frog Lotus Yoga, under the instruction of Jacqueline Heisel and Jenn Yarro.   For more information on Michael, visit www.michaelalbayoga.com.

Sara first came to yoga through a desire to connect with and strengthen her core physically, mentally and spiritually. She began with the Hatha and Vinyasa styles and quickly became a dedicated and enthusiastic student. Sara has been a yoga practitioner for seven years and has over 500 hours of yoga teacher training, is certified through Yoga Energy of Flow, and is registered nationally with Yoga Alliance. She is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and graduated from the School of Ayurveda at the Kripalu Center for Yoga in Stockbridge, MA. Sara has studied with senior teachers such as Daniel Orlansky, Liz Owen and Scott Blossom. She graduated from the 200-hour Yoga of Energy Flow Teacher Training (taught by Daniel Orlansky, Carrie Tyler, and Aaron Cantor) and has completed teacher trainings with Alice Senko (Hot Hatha) and Josh Summers (Yin Yoga). Sara views yoga as a playful journey and a place for loving self-acceptance as well as a tremendous force of healing that has helped her overcome supposed “permanent” physical injuries and chronic pain.

Peter Donohoe brings a unique blend of Core Strength/Conditioning and Pilates to his Students. His philosophy is reflected in his endeavors as an Athlete and his Skills as a Coach, and he has brought this training methodology to the Boston Ballet dancers. Having come from a dance family, immersed in traditional Irish Step Dancing, as well as a career in Athletics, Peter came to the Dance Community as a Strength and Conditioning expert to enhance performance and to prevent injury

A World Class Athlete for almost 17 years, Peter competed in 2 Winter Olympic Games, and also competed on the International circuit as a track and Field Athlete. Peter recognizes that dancers and performers are Athlete’s and that building a strong body and Core, helps to produce a great performer.

A major part of Peter’s Olympic training was maintaining a balance of highly individualized personal training with the goals of the team as a whole. The combination of regular and consistent core exercise supplemented with a more personalized training program enabled Peter to achieve and maintain exceptional levels of performance. As an individual, he found the training strategy prepared him for the most arduous of physical and mental challenges he encountered. Peter uses that training strategy with all of his athletes, dancers and clients today.

Today, Peter continues to coach and train World/Olympic class Athletes. In addition to his coaching commitments, Peter has been Fitness & Conditioning Specialist for the Boston Ballet since 2007, and currently coaches Athletes, dancers and Race Car drivers.

Peter holds fitness certifications from NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine and ISSA (International Sport Sciences Association), is Nationally Certified as a Race car Instructor with the Porsche Club of America, is currently President of the Belmont Aquatic Team and a former member of the New England Health, Racquet & Sports Club Association Health Club Owner’s Round Table (NEHRSA). In his spare time, Peter can be found racing Porsche at tracks throughout the country.

Anita Botnen Fisher's KinderGym classes emphasize "FUNdamentals" of fitness including balance, agility, flexibility, and strength.  Anita is an Olympian gymnast who represented the Canadian gymnastics team in 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1988 was voted NCAA Division 1 Senior Gymnast of the year while at the University of Florida.  Her dance training for gymnastics was under the direction of Cirque du Soleil principal choreographer, Debra Brown. Her commitment to high-level sport and training naturally lead her to study movement and injury prevention through a degree in physical therapy.  She practiced as a sport- and orthopedic-based physical therapist at both Boston University and University of Florida.   She has taught preschool through to elite level gymnasts periodically for over 30 years.  Now a Brookline resident and mother of three children, she has renewed her appreciation of children's motor development.  She marvels at the pure joy and confidence children gain as they master body control and coordination.  Anita feels that early childhood is the essential time to teach gymnastics to nurture development and achieve key milestones as cornerstone for ballet and other dance, sports and all physical disciplines, promoting life-long enthusiasm for movement!

Jeannine’s love of exercise began in 1999 when she tentatively entered an aerobics studio to take her first kickboxing class. She was intimidated and self-conscious, but found she thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of release that flowed out of her during the class … although she couldn’t move for a week after it!   But she came back the next week and found her rhythm, added more power and confidence each week after that, and was soon hooked. Wanting to stay in shape and keep up with the high energy level of her two young daughters, Jeannine began to teach.  She holds certifications in Personal Training, Group Exercise and Kickboxing, as well as Zumba and Zumba Basics 2. Her goal when teaching is to create a class atmosphere that is fun, energetic and challenging, where everyone enjoys themselves. She loves to laugh, sweat and shake her classes into shape – the time flies by and you’ll see the results!

Fawn Heart Cronin is an accomplished and versatile dancer and business owner with over 14 years performing and teaching experience. She has studied with the likes of David Howard, Tommy Retter, Michael Rooney, Sally Whalen, Joe Schek, Chris Judd and Eddie Garcia, perfecting the craft that she loves. From 1994-2000, Fawn Heart was a company member with The Monroe Ballet Company (MBC), Ann Arbor Civic Ballet, and performed for choreographers Lynn Tabor and Veronica Green of Ann Arbor, Michigan. During the summer of 1999, she studied the Cecchetti Teaching Method in a month-long Summer Program in the UK. In 2001 Fawn Heart relocated to Los Angeles for a 3-year modeling contract with Next Models. While in LA, she studied at Edge Performing Arts Center in Hollywood and The Performing Arts Center Annex in Van Nuys, where she had many opportunities to perform, including a spot on the hit TV series, Ally McBeal. In 2002, she became a principle dancer in the Southern California Dance Theatre, performing the solo roles of Snow Queen and Arabian in their 2002 performance of The Nutcracker. In 2004, Fawn Heart relocated to Boston, MA to attend Berklee College of Music as a Piano Performance Major. While in school, she stayed connected to the fitness world and in 2006, returned to her passion of working with the body. Fawn Heart Cronin is now a NASM-certified personal trainer, specializing in pre- and post-natal training and youth fitness through her business, Fawn Heart Cronin, Certified Personal Trainer for Women (www.fawnheartcronin.com).

Joanne teaches Toddler’s Yoga. Her yoga training includes the Radiant Child Yoga Program with Shakta Kaur Khalsa, and through Karma Kids Yoga in NYC.  She has taught yoga classes at Boston Children’s Museum, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, Brookline Center, and in local family and corporate daycare centers in the Boston and surrounding area.  Joanne is a social worker and currently works as a psychotherapist in Brookline. For more information on Joanne’s philosophy, approach and classes go to Yoginikids.

Kate Neal began ballet at the age of 3 and continued to dance throughout her childhood, adding tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, and pointe. She attended Walnut Hill School, a boarding arts high school in Natick, Massachusetts for 2 years training with Michael Owen, Samuel Kurkjian, Leigh Spencer, Kathy Kozul, Monica Lender, Diane Arvanites, Bonnie Spillane, and William McLaughlin. Kate continued training at the Boston Conservatory for 2 years under the instruction of teachers including Leslie Koval, Donna Silva, Leslie Woodies, Luis Fuente, San Peng Polo, William McLaughlin, Jennifer Scanlon, Emi Tokunaga, Diane Arvanites, and Tommy Neblett. Kate then transferred to Mount Holyoke from which she received a B.A. in dance with a minor in Biology. She then returned to her hometown of Casper, Wyoming where she taught various styles of dance for ages 2 to 35. Kate recently returned to Boston where she is dancing with the company, Prometheus. Kate has performed choreography by Mark Morris, Anne Sokolow, Sean Curran, Jose Limon, William McLaughlin, Tommy Neblett and Diane Arvanites, and Jim Coleman and Terese Freedman.

Margaret Richard's Body Electric program first aired on national television in 1984, and is now celebrating its twenty-sixth year on PBS. Margaret’s signature body sculpture technique (multiple repetitions with light weights) promises to create toned muscles, denser bones, better balance, and increased vitality.
The ever-expanding Body Electric catalog includes more than 500 Body Electric television programs, 40 videos and DVDs, and Margaret’s recent book, BODY ELECTRIC: Strong, Toned and Sexy in Just Three Hours A Week (McGraw-Hill; 2008).
Margaret’s 1999 testimony before the United States Senate’s “Special Committee on Aging” helped to highlight the importance of exercise to our health. Her Senate appearance also resulted in a video collaboration with the National Institute on Aging as a companion to their book, Exercise: A Guide from the National Institute on Aging. The National Fitness Hall of Fame inducted Margaret into its 2006 class along with fitness notables Kathy Smith, Jake Steinfeld, and Richard Simmons.
A recent transplant from Buffalo, NY, Margaret invites you to join her at The Brookline Ballet School, beginning Tuesday, November 9. For more information please visit her website at http://www.bodyelectrictv.com

Skye’s ballet and body conditioning work spans over four decades, incorporating time-honored principles of classical ballet technique to create beautifully toned, lithe, graceful, intelligently strong, muscular bodies. She has studied ballet from childhood, both in Boston and her hometown, New York. She is well acquainted with both cecchetti and vaganova syllabi and her teaching is a classic American mixture of both. She performed in chanber companies in Boston and NYC, but ended that part of her professional life after the birth of her children. She says “One of my major ‘eureka!’ moments was the discovery that tip-top fitness can be achieved simply by doing housework on the demi-pointe.” She has taught ballet and floor barre conditioning to all ages, from pre-school to pre-professional. She additionally holds a graduate degree in special education with a specialty in dance therapy, which she practiced for four years in Massachusetts public schools.

Margaux Skalecki Medicine Dancer, BFA in Dance, Boston Conservatory, MA in Personal and Global Transformation though Performing Art Education, Lesley University, is the founder of Being Seen Being Heard®, an inter-generational, multicultural performing ensemble that includes people with different abilities. She is a registered yoga teacher, certified Roth 5 Rhythms® teacher, as well as a Reiki master, master dancer and teacher, performing artist, singer/songwriter and author of children’s books. As an advocate for children (and the inner child), Margaux has created workshops and teacher trainings, including A Teacher's Path, Magical Movement for Children that support the growth and empowerment of children and the adults who teach and love them. Her CD is Light Workers of the Dance. Look for her new release of Dancing on Holy Ground in 2010. Margaux has been teaching in the Boston, Brookline, Cambridge areas since 1991. She continues to teach throughout the New England area including Kripalu, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in New York and Internationally. www.margauxskalecki.com

Shannan Smith is a performer, teacher, and choreographer from Miami, FL.  Shannan completed her dance training at the Ailey School, received her B.A. in Theater and Dance from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and her M.A. in International Affairs from The New School University in New York City. Shannan’s choreography has been featured on the Fox Sports South network as part of the Southern Sports Awards for the WWE Champion John Cena and in 2006, Shannan appeared in “Missa Brevis” with the Limon Dance Company for their anniversary performance at Emory University. After moving to New York in 2007, Shannan danced as a member of Forces of Nature Dance Company, Steps on Broadway Ensemble, Lumbe International Group, Xodus Dance Collective and nathantrice/RITUALS. She is excited about moving to Boston and having the opportunity to share her dance experience with young students, and is also currently teaching Creative Dance at Tony Williams Dance Center.

Sandra Stone has recently moved to Brookline from Martha’s Vineyard where she has taught Zumba, and Zumbatomic (kid’s Zumba) for the last two years. Sandy makes learning Zumba steps easy with her experience of teaching dance to all ages for many years. As a former dancer of the Paul Taylor Dance Company she toured the world dancing for twelve years, and later staged Mr. Taylor’s works on several Ballet Companies as well as directing Taylor’s Junior Company Taylor 2. She is on the dance faculty of the Boston Conservatory, and is excited to be a part of The Brookline Ballet School.