THE SYZYGY DANCE PROJECT TEAM

To make all this dancing happen, Syzygy Dance Project relies on the generous support of a diverse and global community of people. The team is comprised of dancers who are also therapists, MFT interns, IT consultants, business people, 5Rhythms teachers and more.

​What brings us together is our passion for the transformative power of dance and the vision of Syzygy Dance Project. We currently have twenty ongoing volunteers who dedicate their minds, skills, time, heart, energy, and financial resources. We create experiences where everyone contributes to making this world a better place through dance.
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​Sylvie Minot

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Trainer, Teacher

​Sylvie Minot received her BA in Dance from San Jose State University and is a certified 5Rhythms® Teacher who was also trained in the Heartbeat (emotional) map by Gabrielle Roth.

Sylvie has studied psychology, indigenous healing rituals, energy medicine, and sound healing and is inspired by the teachings of Angeles Arrien, Carolyn Myss, and Tito La Rosa.

​Since 2000, Sylvie has taught weekly dance classes and workshops for a variety of populations. Sylvie is often described as a catalytic shape-shifter because of her ability to meet people right where they are and move with them into new possibilities.

​Wendy Heffner
Co-Founder, Trainer, Teacher

Wendy Heffner is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 25 years of experience in private practice. She has completed an extensive training in integrating the 5Rhythms with psychotherapy.

​Wendy has been using dance as a practice for over 20 years and believes deeply in the power of dance to create positive change. She also serves on the board for SDP.​

"​When we cultivate a clear seeing, kind presence with ourselves and our vulnerability, along with the ability to connect with and listen to our embodied wisdom new possibilities emerge, intimacy deepens."

​Kamala Tully
Teacher

Kamala Tully has over 20 years experience in nonprofits, program development, communications, and events. She was responsible for managing SDP's outreach programs, fundraising and marketing from 2015-2020.  

She previously worked in diverse fields from integrative medicine at the Institute for Health & Healing/Sutter Health, to dotcoms including women.com and thrive, to book publishing at Nolo Press.

Kamala’s BA degree from UCLA was in English Literature with a Minor in Business. She has also studied psychology at the graduate level. Kamala has been dancing with Sylvie Minot for 10 years. She’s studied 5Rhythms® Movement and trained as an Outreach Facilitator with Syzygy Dance Project in 2015.

​Aviva Grossberg
​Teacher

​Aviva Grossberg is an Open Floor International dance instructor and has completed the outreach facilitator training with Syzygy Dance Project.

Aviva also has a BA in Performing Arts and is trained in the Hakomi Method. Dance has provided her an outlet for healing and creative transformation that continues to inspire her daily. She is committed to bringing her passion for dance to all those who cross her path.

Aviva has been part of Syzygy Dance Project's mission of bringing healing movement practices to communities that do not normally have access to these opportunities. She faithfully believes in kindness, miracles, prayer, and love as the fundamental catalysts for change in the world.

​Tamara Reimer
​​Teacher

Tamara Reimer works as a psychotherapist, offering somatic psychotherapy, private sessions, and dance and movement therapy classes in the Bay Area. She received her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from the CIIS and a Bachelors Degree from Wesleyan University.

Through clients work with Tamara, they report feeling an increased sense of self confidence, compassion for oneself and others, the ability to clearly communicate, and the capacity to meet life’s challenges as they arise. 

Tamara also trains and practices in the work of Stanley Keleman in Formative Psychology, Mary Starks Whitehouse in Authentic Movement, and Rosangela Silvestre in the Silvestre Technique. 

​Cherie Felzer
Teacher

​Cherie Felzer, LMFT, has assisted and taught SDP’s Outreach Programs since 2012.  

Cherie has 20 years of dance experience, namely the Open Floor and 5Rhythms movement meditation as her main spiritual practice. Throughout her many years of traveling through countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, she has learned so much from life, different cultures, and teachers of indigenous traditions.

Cherie is a Marriage and Family Therapist and Open Floor teacher. Her solid presence guides people to their inner resources, weaving together movement, therapy, mindfulness, and play. She considers herself a dancer, mentor, therapist, daughter, sister, tree hugger, herbalist, and  lover of life

​Janet Bernet 
Teacher

​Janet Bernet has participated as a teacher for SDP’s Incarcerated People Project and she is profoundly inspired and moved by the transformative power of dance that she witnessed and experienced at the jails.

​Janet has also had strategic, project management and financial roles in corporate, consulting, and nonprofit settings. She has an MBA from the Wharton School and a MA in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Somatic Psychology from CIIS.

She is currently the Senior Project Manager for Northeast Valley Health Corporation.

​Sandi Esquivel
​​Teacher

Sandi Esquivel is a Marriage and Family Therapist in Berkeley, California, Sandi has experienced deep transformation and healing from the embodiment practices of  Yoga and Dance.

In addition to psychotherapeutic work, Sandi values work that expands awareness around the needs of diversity, inclusion, and social justice.

​Sandi completed the SDP facilitator training in 2017 and facilitates the classes offered for female inmates at San Francisco County Jail. ​

​Charlie Korda
​​​Teacher

Charlie Korda has always been fascinated by the healing power of the Arts and has worked therapeutically with dance and theatre throughout her life, serving diverse populations. Charlie has worked with SDP since 2012, both at the Women’s Jail and at Options Recovery Services.

​Charlie holds a Masters in Drama and Movement Therapy and is a 5Rhythms teacher. She is an adjunct professor on the Expressive Arts Counseling Psychology program at CIIS in San Francisco.

Charlie offers Movement Therapy sessions at Bayside Marin Rehab and a Recovery in Motion community group for Women.

​Jennie Deal
​​​​Teacher

​Jennie Deal has worked as a women’s substance use disorder (SUD) counselor at Options Recovery Services in Berkeley. It was there that she first met Sylvie Minot and the rest of the Syzygy Dance Project team.

After witnessing the positive impact that the dance classes had on the clients at Options she was offered a chance to attend the facilitator training in 2019. Jennie has assisted and facilitated the classes that Syzygy Dance Project offered at Options Recovery in Berkeley.

​More on SDP Founder Sylvie Minot

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Sylvie Minot is the executive director and founder of Syzygy Dance Project. She embodies the transformative power of dance as a teacher, choreographer, and the creator of Medicine Circle.

Sylvie discovered dance at the age of 29, and has not stopped dancing since. After studying psychology and receiving her BA in Dance from San Jose State University, she became a professional dancer and teacher.

Sylvie is certified to teach Heartbeat, and was trained by Gabrielle Roth. She co-founded the Saturday Sweat Your Prayers in Marin in 2002, and is on the teaching staff of Open Floor in Marin County.

​Her weekly 5Rhythms Waves Journey class in Sausalito began in 2004. Sylvie has taught movement classes and workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and throughout the United States.

The elements, natural world, energy, spirit and sound healing are a few of her influences, especially in the Medicine Circle, which she created in 2008. Sylvie’s work is inspired by the teachings of Angeles Arrien in indigenous healing rituals and Carolyn Myss’ energy medicine. She has studied sound healing with Tito La Rosa in Peru.

Sylvie’s passion for dance also includes being a choreographer. Recent pieces she’s created were inspired from the outreach projects with women in the jail and in recovery, and veterans returning from war.

Outside of the dance world, Sylvie has worked as a drug and alcohol counselor within the jail system, and an activity director at an in-patient lockdown facility for geriatric patients.
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Sylvie is often described as a catalytic shape-shifter because of her ability to meet people right where they are and move with them into new possibilities. She takes you to the edge, and helps you fly. She has lived in Asia and Europe, and now resides in Marin County, California.

If you would like to contact Sylvie Minot, please email info@syzygydanceproject.org.

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​Syzygy Dance Project Board of Directors

The SDP board is made up of dancers, teachers, choreographers, counselors, therapists, consultants, and business people. Board members believe in the transformative power of dance.

• Ann Jackson
• ​Emily Randall
• Janet Bernet
• Nadine Greenwood

• Rekha Thangellapalli
• Sylvie Minot
• Wendy Heffner

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SDP Volunteers

• Ann Jackson
• Catherine Hughes​
• Chele Beers​
• Dani Worth​
• Emily Randall
• Erica Fox​​​​

• Heather Smith
  
• Jim Homa
• Judith Rosenberg
• Sandi Esquivel
• Steve Voien 
• Tina Valentine ​​ ​​​ 

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“It just amazes and inspires me that strangers that seemingly would never meet do so through the simple but profound act of dance.”
- Janet, Teaching Assistant

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