Rachel

Rachel was raised, from a young age, to be an artist. Mostly trained in theater and visual art, it was not until she met master teacher Valeria Bogokina Myers that she began to express herself as a dancer.

After being entranced by the music and movements of the dances of Eastern Europe, she could not help but spend eight years training with and unknowingly helping to form the Red Shoes Dance Company.

Rachel began taking lessons with Valeria at age 19. By studying with The Red Shoes, she went from having no dance awareness, to being so skilled in dance that she was able to choreograph dances of her own.

In 2007 Rachel received her bachelors degree in studio art. In her late twenties, Rachel delved into the genre of Raqs-al Shaqi, or what is also known as belly dance. She studied with Sabah, a Raqs-al Sargi master teacher but was also influenced by many others. In 2008, She collaborated with another dancer to form"Lotus Fire", a belly dance duo based in Scranton, PA. Lotus Fire combines traditional and modern belly dance movements, music and props to create original choreographed and improvised dances.