Instructors

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!

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.

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.