Meet Our Talented Trainers

  Efe Alibo

Efemena Alibo was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Efemena began formal dance training at Westchester Community College and at the Alvin Ailey School. She has danced with various companies in the city, Purelements Dance Company, Emancia Dance Company and is currently working with Michael Mao Dance. She is a BA graduate of New School University.Efe discovered the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM 4 years ago and was determined to incorporate it to her life style. She has studied extensively and varsely under certified pre-trainer Blanca Cubillos and under  master trainers Billy Macagnone, Juergen Bamberger, Hillary Cartwright, Leslie Davenport, Leeann Morris, and Erika Hassan . She a certified level GYROTONIC^® and GYROKINESIS^®instructor. Efe loves practicing and teaching these form of exercise, as it is a very important part of her life. She looks forward to teaching everyone who chooses to experience this expansion system. Love, Light and Happy spiraling!!!!!

                                                        Sevin Ceviker

Blanca Cubillos-Román

Blanca is a professional modern dancer from Bogotá, Colombia.  Blanca holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Education from Ohio State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.  She studied intensively ballet technique at the School of Cleveland San Jose Ballet and modern technique at the Cunningham Dance Foundation.  As a dancer she is very familiar with the complexities and wonders of the human body in motion.   While dealing with injuries, the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^® has helped Blanca deepen this knowledge, as well as to rediscover the efficiency, adaptability, sensitivity and toughness of the human body.  Blanca is a certified Level 1 Gyrotonic trainer and Level 1 GYROKINESIS^® trainer.  She is also certified in specialized equipment including the GYROTONER^®, Jumping Stretch Board, and the Ladder.  She is also a Gyrotonic pre-trainer.  Blanca studied under Juliu Horvath, Billy Macagnone, Hillary Cartwright, Debra Rose, and Juergen Bamberger.

                                                                  Virginia Horne

Virginia is from Honolulu, Hawaii, where she began dancing in ballet, tap, jazz, and hula.  She continued on with classical ballet, and has danced with Ballet Hawaii, Colorado Ballet and Konstantin Uralsky’s Ballet New York.  Virginia has also performed as a guest artist with the Northeast Youth Ballet, Neglia Ballet Artists, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico and the New England Dance Theater, as well as many independent choreographers in New York City.  She tapped her way around the country in the role of Winnie in the National Tour of 42^nd St the musical, and has done several international projects including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, MTV Italia in Rome, and as a guest principal dancer in Guatemala City.  Virginia discovered the  GYROTONIC^® method in 2002 and the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^® has allowed her to sustain a career in dance by improving the quality of her movement, as well as prevent and rehabilitate injuries. She is currently a Soloist at Connecticut Ballet and a Principal dancer in her 7^th season with Thomas/Ortiz Dance.

  Melinda Lee

Mel believes fully in the restorative, transformative possibilities of the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^® and brings knowledges of both esoteric and functional anatomy from teaching certifications in yoga and Pilates. Trained under Authorized Master Trainer Billy Macagnone, she infuses her GYROTONIC^® teaching and practice with body-mind/release-based principles from work in postmodern dance and improvisation, notably with luciana achugar, JoAnna Mendl Shaw (dancing with horses), Donna Uchizono Company, and for her own work; Mel has been an Artist-in-Residence at Dixon Place, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Field, creating work for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Puffin Room, Dance New Amsterdam, Esplanade Studio Theater.  Believing equally in the achievement of artists as small business/entrepreneurship models and vital components to healthy, diverse communities, Mel has also worked as a community organizer and non-profit administrator, raising funds and awareness campaigns for organizations such as Earthdance, Forest Ethics, Palissimo Company, and individual artists.  Mel was born in Singapore, has a degree in Sociology/Anthropology and Theater from Swarthmore College, and is happy to be here.

                                                     Pauline Sylviane Legras

Born in Paris, Pauline began her dance training in France.  Studying at the Geneva Dance Center (Switzerland) for her professional training in ballettechnique, she received a scholarshipfrom the Foundation of Princess Grace de Monaco at the Monaco Dance Forum.  Later on, she went to Mexico to perfect herknowledge in contemporary dance in the Colegio Nacional de Danza Contemporanea and was a ballet teacher at Proart Center, Mexico. Then, Pauline joined the Martha Graham Center in NYC, and received her certificate of recognition as a teacher of the technique.

Pauline is currently teaching for the Young Artist Program, performing for Edgar Cortes Dance Theater, choreographing in collaboration with the Movement Workshop Group, and is the artistic director of Caliince Dance. Pauline was introduced to GYROKINESIS^® and GYROTONIC^® movement in the Spring 2010 and since then is greatly committed in learning and teaching the GYROTONIC^® method alongside her dance carreer.

  Chie Mukai

                                                                    Katie Moorhead
Katie is from Oxford, Pennsylvania, where she began dancing ballet, tap and jazz.  She started choreographing at the age of 8 and knew dancing was her life.  She trained with Oxford Center for Dance where she performed in Disney World and live Philadelphia parades.  She continued training with First State Ballet Theater and graduated with honors from the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC.   She  enjoyed her time at Arts Ballet Theater of Florida where she toured to Poland and Denmark. In 2003 she was the first American dancer to receive an Honorable Merit Diploma from Terpishora Foundation of St. Petersburg Russia.  Since moving to New York, she has danced with the beloved Some Dance Company (D. Fernandez), Staten Island Ballet, Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theater, and Janusphere Dance to name a few.  In 2011 she toured to Italy with Giada Ferrone for the Florence Dance Festival.  She's performed in many dance festivals and showcases in NYC such as Ballet Builders, Career Transition for Dancers at City Center, and APAP ReverbDance.  She enjoys subbing for the amazing Kat Wildish at the Alvin Ailey Extension Program.  She is currently with American Repertory Ballet and free lances with various choreographers in NYC.  Katie is also very proud to be the rehearsal director for Untitled Collective in NYC, a new emerging ensemble of artist.

The GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^® has changed the quality of her movement in all aspects of life.  She proudly states she sleeps and walks better after long hours of rehearsal or performing on hard stages and craves less sweets (although she can't promise that will be the effect on you).  This system helps her prevent and rehabilitate any injuries she's had during her career.  Katie says she didn't chose to learn about GYROTONIC^® ... GYROTONIC^® found her.  Starting training in 2010 she has learned more about her body then ever could be explained.  She has shared the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^® with many friends, family, and clients that have become friends and can't wait to continue.  She was trained by Young-Ah Kim, Sebastian Plettenberg, and Billy Macagnone.  Katie is very excited to join the family of BE!

  Hiromi Naruse

Hiromi earned her BA in Physical Education from Ehime University, Japan. Since moving to NY 1993, she had danced professionally with several contemporary dance companies as well as in the musical theater for 14 years. Previously, she had taught dance and body conditioning classes as a faculty of Physical Education at International Pacific University, Japan from April 2007 to March 2011. She has taught a lot of Body Conditioning Workshops for secondary education students, teachers in Physical Education, older people, dancers and athletes. Her teaching focuses on releasing tensions of the body to utilize the strength of the skeleton balance and learning how to move with the breath efficiently. She is trained in Modern/Jazz/contemporary/Hip Hop/Theater dance, Ballet, Taichi and Yoga. Since 2001 she has been teaching GYROTONIC^® in NY and Japan. She is also certified in GYROKINESIS^® and Pilates.

                                                Patricia Stewart

Patricia has been active throughout her life—she played several team sports growing up and has participated in golf, squash and figure skating both as a youth and as an adult.  She took up a serious practive of yoga in the mid-1990s and taught both mat and equipment-based Pilates for 5 years before becoming a certified GYROTONIC^® instructor. In 2007, after three years of intensive self-study and private lessons in NYC, Patricia completed the GYROTONIC^® Foundation course.  Since then Patricia has travelled the world to study this methodology exclusively and continues to seek out opportunities to further educate herself in the work.  Patricia is certified in GYROTONIC^® including the Jumping Stretching Board, the Archway and the Leg Extension Unit.  She is also a certified Level 1 and Beginning Level 2 GYROKINESIS^® instructor. Her studies have included GYROTONIC^® Level 2 teacher training and Therapeutic Applications for the Pelvic Girdle and last year she attended Juliu Horvath's Gyrokinesis Rejuvenation Workshop in Germany.  Patricia has had the great privilege of completing formal studies with Juliu Horvath, Billy Macagnone, Erika Hassan and Sebastian Plettenberg and she feels blessed also to have had the opportunity to learn from many other talented master trainers over the years. Patricia is grateful for what she learns daily from colleagues and clients and loves to share the work to help people to experience harmony and flow and to feel at home in their bodies.  She truly believes that GYROTONIC^® is for every body and that it is the best practice by which to experience the joy of exploring one's potential as a mover and, ultimately, as a spiritual being.  With an MA in Education, including Special Education, Patricia is happy working with children and teenagers.  She is also skilled at taking into account different learning styles and in helping all clients with goal-setting.  Coursework:  2012: GYROTONIC^® Level 2: Erika Hassan, 2011: Rejuvenation in Munstertal: Juliu Horvath, GYROKINESIS^®  Level 2 Beg: Erika Hassan (Aug, Nov), Therapeutic Applications for Pelvis: Uwe Herbstreit, Archway: Erika Hassan. 2010: GYROKINESIS^® Foundation (cert): Juliu Horvath, GYROTONIC^® Level 2 (and prep): Billy Macagnone. 2009:  Archway: Sebastian Plettenberg, Jumping Stretching Board: Billy Macagnone 2008, GYROKINESIS^® Foundation: Erika Hassan, Leg Extension Unit: Sebastian Plettenberg, Therapeutic Applications for Pelvis: Paul Horvath 2007: GYROTONIC^® Foundation: Sebastian Plettenberg.

Maki Somekawa

Maki is from Tokyo, Japan.  She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Montclair State University. She studied intensively ballet technique at the Matsuyama Ballet, Ono Masako Ballet Studio and modern technique at Taylor school and Peri dance school in New York. While dealing with her lower back injuries, she discovered the GYROTONIC^® method. She is certified in GYROTONIC^® level 1, level 2, GYROKINESIS^® level 1, and specialized equipment Leg Extension unit where she was trained under the Master Trainer Young-ah Kim and Authorized master trainer Billy Macagnone. She has also completed GYROTONIC^® Principles in the context of Osteopathy. She is so proud of been a member of Body Evolutions and hunger to share the method with clients who has been dealing with injuries and disabilities.

                                                                      Neena Tilton

Originally from Hiroshima, Japan, and later raised in Southern California, Neena has alwaysbeen surrounded by the movement of the ocean.  Before discovering the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM^®, she spent her time working as a singer and a dancer.  However, due to a herniated disc that even doctors recommended having surgery on, she was determined to find a method to overcome the injury without surgery.  In the process of healing, she found help through physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractors, Pilates, and countless other methods.  Finally in 2006, she discovered the Gyrotonic method in Tokyo and was convinced that this was the only method that provided a permanent solution to recovery and prevention of any injury.  To feed her hunger for more movement without limitations, she came to New York to further her study of the GYROTONIC^® and GYROKINESIS^® method.  Since then, she has had the privilege to train under Pre-Trainer Jackson Kellogg, Master Trainer Sebastian Plettenberg, and Authorized Master Trainer Billy Macagnone.  She has also completed the Neck and Shoulder Girdle Workshop with Paul Horvath.  Through practice of this method daily, she has overcome the pain and has gone unimaginably beyond the limits her body had even before the injury.  It is her passion and mission to introduce and strengthen others to achieve their body’s fullest potential through this method that has transformed her body and her life.

We are proud to offer several expert trainers.  Please give us a call and we can help you find the trainer best suited to your needs and goals.