Rachel Brice has been studying Yoga and Belly Dance since the age of seventeen. She began teaching Yoga in 1996, after 7 years of Yoga practice and then training with Erich Schiffman. Also in 1996, she became a Certified Massage Therapist, and was a Chiropractic Assistant for three years.
Rachel Brice fell in love with yoga in preschool, and belly dance in high school. Belly dance was the form that seemed to tug at her hem, so since 2000 she’s dedicated her life to practicing, sewing, touring and collaborating.
She’s been on tour so long she couldn’t even tell you where she’s been. First she toured internationally with Miles Copeland’s illustrious Bellydance Superstars from 2003 to 2007, and now she’s thrilled to be driving coast to coast, crammed into a little black schoolbus with Mardi Love and Zoe Jakes while touring their full length show Le Serpent Rouge. She’s currently settling into her favorite place to be, Portland, Oregon, and hopes to someday have a dog and a garden.
She first fell in love with Belly Dance after watching the famous Hahbi'Ru at the Northern California Renassance Faire. Immediately she began taking classes with Atesh, director of Atesh Dance Troupe in Orange County.
Soon after, she discovered a video of Suhaila Salimpour's, and began to coach herself by watching Suhaila frame by frame, and video taping herself for analysis.
After performing for a few years, Rachel gave up dance altogether to pursue Massage Therapy and Yoga. Four years later, a move to Santa Cruz, CA, and an accidental discovery of the performing arts community there led her to "What is Art?" (a small experimental performance space), and back to Belly Dance.
With a renewed interest in dance, she decided to study full time, and relocate for the University program in Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State. The Bay area is home to Master Teachers Carolina Nericcio, Director of Fat Chance Belly Dance, and Suhaila Salimpour, which was also influential in Rachel's decision to relocate. While in the Bay Area, she teaches Yoga and Belly Dance for Pixar Animation Studios, and 7th Heaven Yoga, and takes classes with Fat Chance Belly Dance.
Currently, Rachel's is finishing her Bachelor's Degree in Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State University, where she's studied Kathak (North Indian Classical Dance), Flamenco, Afro-Haitian, Dunham Technique, Modern Dance, and Choreography. She's also touring with members of the Indigo and the Belly Dance Superstars project, and teaching Yoga in San Francisco.
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