Hello! I’m Maren…

Dance liberates me. I have devoted my life to studying the body in motion through dance, stillness, breath, spirit, and play. Anytime I dance, I come alive. My favorite places to dance are in the studio, in the kitchen, outside in and with Nature, and with a partner to groovy music.

My experience with the body is woven through life-long training including:

  • Classical dance: ballet, jazz, tap, modern dance

  • Partner dance styles: Swing (East Coast, West Coast, Lindy Hop), Salsa, Brazilian Forró, Two-Step, Ballroom dances

  • World dance forms: West African dance, Afro-Brazilian Dance, Samba

  • Somatic* education: yoga, Body-Mind Centering, Alexander Technique, massage therapy
    *somatic means connecting with the physical body through awareness of sensations

I also carry these additional trainings:

  • licensed massage therapist

  • certified in permaculture design

  • arts & science collaboration facilitation

  • countless movement, healing, anatomy, and leadership workshops

I have taught hundreds of people to dance from scratch and some have trained with me for years.

Over the past 15 years, I have evolved into an environmental educator through my nature-connection workshops and ongoing projects including Global Water Dances and Colorado Water Stories. These initiatives have sprung from my passion for the natural world and the urgency I feel to contribute to positive change. I bring nature-imagery into studio classes when it fits, and an environmentalist’s perspective to my business decisions daily. My work in the larger projects has called me into leadership roles in my community through producing the Longmont Water Fair and internationally, through serving on the Global Water Dances Steering Committee. Read more about my environmental work on the Colorado Water Stories website.

My purpose is to support, guide, educate, inspire and lead people to know, appreciate, and connect with their body in the present moment.

My core commitments are:

  • Cultivate a safe space for every-body to grow, learn, and develop

  • Respect each person’s pacing for their embodied discovery

  • Invite connections with the natural world

  • Engage play and fun regularly

  • Act with integrity in all relationships 

All my offerings, whether choreographed or freeform, in the studio or in Nature, solo or partnered, weekly or pop-up, seek to engage the body in movement that supports experiences of joy, connection, belonging, and wellbeing.

I have been told that I am a patient, kind, clear teacher and that class is fun! I have a warm personality to welcome you. I teach to who is there in the room and aim every day for people to leave my offerings feeling better than when they arrived.

I can't wait to meet you on the dance floor, in the wild, or in community.

My officially official degrees:

  • Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance Choreography & Performance, University of Colorado, Boulder, secondary area of emphasis: Somatics

  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Anthropology with minor in Geology, Haverford College, magna cum laude

  • Licensed/Certified Massage Therapist (NY, CO)

  • Certificate in Permaculture Design, Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute (NY)

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