DanceVersity - Jade Itiene
Jade is an experienced dance teacher of children of all
ages. Her mission is to share her love of world dance and
culture and the many positive benefits of this life path
with the youth and her community.
She feels that being a dancer is one of the greatest
blessings of her life, bringing physical fitness, creative
and emotional expression, connection to the inner spirit,
and world cultures, as well as many friends and a sense of
belonging to a global community of artists. These are gifts
that she has received and loves to share with children.
Jade has been studying and performing many styles of dance
for over 25 years. Her dance journey has taken her through
study, training, and experience of ballet, modern, jazz,
hip-hop, African, Brazilian, Cuban, Haitian, Hawaiian,
Tahitian, East Indian, Middle Eastern and Central Asian
dance as well as yoga and qigong.
Jade performs at Bay Area schools from Marin to San Jose as
a member of “Samba Samba Productions” doing performance
workshops and assemblies for kids of all ages. She has
taught classes at L’Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley ongoing for
the past four years and has been a guest teacher and done
series of classes at many schools, libraries and community
centers throughout the S.F. Bay Area for over ten years.
During the summer months she has taught dance at camps such
as “Danceversity” and at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in
Sausalito and Stern Grove in San Francisco.
Jade has been a member of many cultural dance groups since
the 1980’s, performing everything from West African,
Brazilian, East Indian, Middle Eastern and Central Asian to
hip-hop and modern dance. She has danced professionally with
local Bay Area dance companies including: “Unity Groove”
hip-hop in San Francisco, “Kendra Kimburough Dance Ensemble”
and “Nuba Dance Theatre” ethnic/modern companies both based
in Oakland, and with cultural dance company “Ballet Afsaneh”
based in Berkeley. She is currently a member of “Shabnam’s
Shalabiya” belly dance troupe based in Oakland.
Jade has toured India and Nepal performing a sacred dance
offering “The 21 Praises of Tara” at many temples and
monasteries. This tour, under the organization “Tara Dhatu”
included a performance in Dharamsala, India before the Dalai
Lama.
Due to her eclectic dance experience, Jade is very good at
improvisational performance of her own world dance fusion
style. This ability has allowed her the pleasure of
performing professionally with live music bands for
concerts, conventions and at festivals in California and
Hawaii since 1995. She has been a dancer for bands of
various world fusion vibes from Afro-pop, Reggae, and
Brazilian beats to Indian Kirtan dance bands.
Although she is an eternal dance student, Jade is also a
professional dance artist who has a wide range of creative
expression to offer. She creates performances tailored to
occasions or events, often involving her own poetry, story
telling and audience participation. She loves costumes and
props and considers them very important in performance. She
is also a professional belly dancer currently performing in
restaurants, at weddings and parties.
In addition to dance, Jade has incorporated qigong practice
into her life and is a Level III certified qigong instructor
with “Supreme Science Qigong Foundation”. Qigong deepens her
understanding of energy flow in movement and the importance
of proper alignment and form in dance. Qigong practice
supports and enhances her ability to teach with patience,
compassion and energy.
When teaching children, Jade offers a style she has
developed called “Global Groove” emphasizing a solid basic
foundation of dance technique, which she has found to be at
the root of universal movement styles. Her classes introduce
children to the music and basic dance of many world cultures
as well as encourage their own creative dance expression.
She uses the format of “dance class” to help develop
children’s self esteem and confidence as well as other
important qualities and concepts such as perseverance,
positive attitude and unity. She feels this awareness will
serve them in many aspects of their lives.
Jade is very grateful to Hannah Romanowsky for developing
such an amazing program for youth and is honored to work
with her, and all the wonderful world dance teachers of
Danceversity, as the Camp Counselor!
Jade_itiene@yahoo.com
(510)757-4735
