About the Dance, 4 Approaches to the Dance
•	Dance as Exercise, Aerobics, Fitness
•	Dance as Culture, An ancient ritual dance form (before the influence of the church and missionaries) 
•	Dance as Culture, Neo-Traditional Dance Form (secular, sanitized, & most popular today) 
•	Dance as Culture, Improvisation (dynamic, growing dance form; part of pop culture there)
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•	About My Background
•	My Mother, Gloria English:  
•	My mother was a classically trained ethnic dancer, who specialized in Modern, Oriental, Spanish, Latin, and Tropical dance forms; 
•	Studied under many teachers, including Serena, Jose Limon, Jose Greco, Katherine Dunham, and La Meri.  
•	Performed with the Kansas City Civic Ballet and Baroque Modern Dance Co.  
•	Danced professionally in Chicago, NY, but most of career was in Mexico City, Acapulco.  
•	Taught professionally and academically.  
•	Later she had her own professional company, the Gloria English Dancers, and we had our own dance school, the Nikoria Academy.  
•	About Me:  
•	Grew up with dance.  Was classically trained as an ethnic dancer, who specialized in Mid-East, Modern, Oriental, some Spanish, Latin, Polynesian, and Tropical dance forms; 
•	Studied under many teachers, including Serena (NY), Jose Limon, Jose Greco, and Ibrahim Farrar (NY).  
•	Danced with the UMKC Conservatory and Baroque Modern Dance Co.  
•	Danced professionally in Chicago, NY, SF, Las Vegas, but most of career was in KC. 
•	Taught professionally & academically.  In academia, became my mom’s Dance Assistant.  
•	Taught various workshops around the country, including MI, AL, Chicago, and Las Vegas.  
•	Choreographer, teacher, performer, and Dance Mistress for the Gloria English Dancers, and co-founder of the Nikoria Academy.  
•	Started as semi-professional performer at 12 yrs old, & professional dancer at 15 yrs old. 
•	Still perform and teach.  Grad student/instructor at UMKC, in computers, psych, sociology.  
•	Polynesian Experience:  
•	Been doing Polynesian dance since 12 yrs old.  
•	One of our teachers was a Polynesian girl, who taught our company the Hula.  
•	Took various workshops during teen years, as an ethnic dancer with my mother.  
•	Began performing Hula in late teens as a professional, as part of my ethnic dance skills.  
•	Performed as dancer on same bill with the Dick Dale Show (he is Lebanese.  His wife was Polynesian, and a professional Polynesian dancer).  
•	Performed w/ a professional Polynesian dancer from Hawaii, transplanted by Navy marriage to KC sailor.  Presented professional Polynesian shows in full regalia for luaus in the regional area.  
•	Still perform and teach for local luaus, parties, and restaurants in the KC area.  
•	Learned dance both as strict dance form and as dynamic dance form.  Ancient & new.  
•	Currently teach Hula at City In Motion Dance Studios, 39th & Main, KCMO.