Sara is a choreographer, teacher, and dancer born and raised in San Francisco.  She started her professional hip-hop career at sixteen, dancing with Culture Shock S.F. and L.A. and guest performing with independent artists throughout the Bay Area.  While earning her dance degree at Loyola Marymount University, Sara expanded her training to include ballet, modern / contemporary, and dunham technique, and also began a focused re-engagement with salsa and other Latin dances connected to her Puerto Rican heritage.  It was during this time that Sara truly honed in on her passion for choreography and teaching, and the ways in which the intelligence of different dance techniques could cross pollinate for the benefit of the artist.  During her hip-hop performance career Sara worked alongside notable artists Allan Frias and Jesse Lee Santos, and did commercial work with musical groups Blue Boy and Spanish Fly. Locally Sara has performed and presented work at Dance Mission Theater and ODC, and is blest to have trained with exceptional Bay teachers such as Janice Garrett, Robert Moses, Robert Dekkers, Brett Conway, and others.  Currently Sara is choreographing the Center Repertory Company’s Spring 2023 musical production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights.

 

Sara strongly believes in the joy of dance, and is dedicated to fostering a safe and playful space where students can work on sound dance technique while feeling motivated to grow.  When Sara is not in the studio teaching or choreographing, she is experimenting with dance for film, and running her online dance merchandise store ObjectsForArts.  Besides dance, Sara is an ardent, 20-year practitioner of Iyengar yoga, and a strong believer in massages and chocolate.