According to her mother, Chicago area resident Micki Leventhal began dancing before she could walk.   She was a 'baby ballerina', beginning her studies at age three. Her first performance - at age five - was on the stage of the Chicago Opera House in a ballet school recital.   After that things went downhill career-wise.   She continued ballet classes until age 14 and then added Jazz and Modern, continuing those forms on and off into her 40s, at some point pretty much coming to terms with the fact that her path did not include a professional career in dance.

Micki came to Yoga in the mid 1990s (at her 'midlife crisis') as an alternative to studio-based dance and as an outgrowth of her Buddhist studies.   After practicing Hatha and flow yoga for nearly a decade, including workshops with John Friend, Sara Powers, Erich Schiffmann, Rod Stryker, Rama Birch, Stephen Cope and many others, Micki was called to teach and took her certification training at the Chicago Temple of Kriya Yoga.  

Her practice of Yoga helped Micki begin to approach dance and movement as an experience of pure joy and an authentic expression of BodySpirit. This attitude adjustment led her to become a certified teacher of JourneyDance www.journeydance.com This form incorporates guided sequences with improvisational movement, so that everyone can tap into their 'inner dancer.' Micki is also an InterPlay www.interplay.org leadership graduate, an improvisational movement and vocalization form grounded in the values of community and the integration of body, mind and spirit.

Balancing Yoga, JourneyDance, belly dance and modern dance classes with a full-time career in higher education communications, Micki teaches part time in Chicago and the near-west Chicago suburban area.   She can be reached at 773-484-3533 or mickile@sbcglobal.net .

JourneyDance TM   Special Workshop

Dates TBA

Chase away the winter blahs with a journey to your inner dancer! No prior dance training is required for this joyously expressive experience that combines guided sequences and visualizations with improvisational movement. You'll access your chakra energy, intuition, and creativity as you move to the world-beat music. Read all about JourneyDance at www.journeydance.com

JourneyDance will be taught by certified instructor Micki Leventhal.

Workshop fee: $25. Pre-registration is required. Call 773-484-3533 or write micki@miriams-dance.com