Teachers
Dina Abbondante
Dina Abbondante is an experienced registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance (ERYT), with 1800 hours of teaching experience, and began offering classes in 2003. She was introduced to yoga 13 years ago while studying movement therapy in college. Dina has received over 400 hours of professional training from Soma Yoga of Newport, Patricia Walden, Master Iyengar teacher and Elise Browning Miller, Senior Iyengar teacher (specializing in yoga for back-care and scoliosis). Dina is influenced by the flow of Vinyasa Krama; sequencing breath with asana, bandhas (unfolding energy locks) and moving with conscious action. She has studied Japanese Acupuncture through NESA and is a Usui Reiki Master, offering an integrated support of hands-on assists during class. Dina’s intention for practice and teaching is to nurture an innate curiosity towards self-awareness and pratyahara (senses with attention). It is during these quiet moments that we open up to the possibility of finding grace in all things.
dinaabbo@gmail.com or at 413-475-4110
Penfield Chester
Penfield Chester is the director of the Shelburne Falls Yoga Studio. She has been teaching gentle yoga at the studio for the past five years after becoming a RYT with Purusha Yoga. A student of Gayle Olson’s for over fifteen years, she now manages the studio since Gayle moved to Europe. Penfield had assisted with yoga and massage workshops at Kripalu Center for Yoga where she has studied yoga for many years. Penfield also likes to work one-on-one with those to new to yoga or with special needs. She lives on a farm in Vermont just north of the Mass border.
penfieldchester@gmail.com 413-297-1898 or home at 802-368-2567
Staci Cutler
Staci is the aerobics coordinator extaordinaire at The Body Shoppe. Stace is a certified Zumba instructor with a love for dance and fun! Staci brings her dance competition background to her choreography
Staci Cutler 413-824-7522
Jody Fontaine
Jody Fontaine has returned to SFY to teach her popular fitness and Pilates classes. She also offers a CArdio/kickboxing class. Jody is an AFAA certified Personal trainer, Pilates, group exercise instructor and a 15 year certified ski instructor. She completed her yoga teacher training with Embody Yoga in Amherst. Fitness becomes fun when working with Jody and her gang and the philosophy of life discussions often follow class in town at Mocha Mayas. Jody loves to ski, rock-climb, hike, bike, kayak- all of which benefit from her fitness background. She lives in Conway with her three children.
jodypiste@verizon.net or at 413-369-4008
Molly Kitchen
Molly Kitchen (RYT) has been practicing yoga with curiosity and joy since 2001. While living in Hawaii she discovered yoga where she attended classes whenever she wasn’t in the lettuce fields learning about organic farming. She is a Registered yoga teacher in Purna Yoga which teaches alignment-based asana (yoga-pose), meditation, pranayama (breath awareness and control), along with nutrition and yogic living. Purna Yoga is the art of loving yourself by living from the heart. Molly now feels grateful to be able to share what she loves of yoga practice with others as a teacher. She infuses her classes with heart-centered awareness and strives to help her students remember their own internal perfection.
kitchen.molly@gmail.com or at 415-297-9955
Thom Pasculli
Thom Pasculli has been teaching movement and performance technique for over four years and has completed his yoga teacher training at the Kripalu Yoga Center. As a physical performer, Thom has studied different styles of movement in the realms of dance, martial arts, theater, ritual, and healing from all over the world. Thom’s classes focus on enabling an experience of self using imagery and improvisation as well as the yogic techniques of concentration, non-judgmental awareness, and meditation in motion. Thom is thrilled to be joining the Shelburne Falls Studio and currently lives in Ashfield where he works and performs with Double Edge Theatre.
Thom.Pasculli@gmail.com or at 973-600-7873
Katie Pousant
Katie Pousont has taught movement to children throughout the Pioneer Valley for the past ten years. She combines her experience as a Kripalu Yoga instructor and long-time performer of ballet and modern dance to create a physically and emotionally balanced curriculum for children emphasizing anatomically sound technique and the joy of movement. She received a B.A. in dance from the University of Massachusetts in 2007 and continues to perform in New York, Hartford, and throughout Massachusetts. Last fall Katie assisted with the restaging of José Limón’s classic dance work There is a Time at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and was recently awarded a grant from the Kripalu Yoga Teachers association to teach yoga to children in Title One schools. She lives in Shelburne Falls with her son Dorian.
pousant@mtdata.com or at 413-475-2441
Collin Ricketts
Collin Ricketts, a student of Yoga, Zen and Qigong for 40 years, has taught Qigong in the Pioneer Valley, California and throughout New England. He has studied with numerous Chinese Qigong Masters and was a close student of Dr. Bingkun Hu and Zen Master Cobun Chino. His teaching style is relaxed and warm, creating a supportive community in each class. He lives in Heath where he gardens, raises chickens, and build rustic furniture.
wildgooseqigong@verizon.net or at 413-337-5370
Alisa Wright Tanny
Alisa Wright Tanny offers integrative movement therapies that incorporate Pilates, Yoga, and Body-Mind Centering® for adults and children of all abilities. Both private sessions and group classes are available. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher, RYT 500, holds a Master’s Degree in expressive arts therapy, and is a Registered Dance Therapist. Alisa is also a certified Pilates instructor and Reiki practitioner. She works with children with special needs. Alisa has developed a teaching manual for YogaPlay and Hip Hop Creative dance curriculum. She teaches high school students at Shelburne Falls Yoga. Alisa lives in Conway with her husband Mark Tanny DC.
alisa@embodimentstudio.com or at 413-695-6950
Erica Travis
Erica Travis has been practicing yoga since she was a young mother in her early twenties. She received her teacher training from Patty Townshend of Embodyoga in Amherst. Her yoga studies have been influenced by Kundalini, Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and Donna Farhi. Erica is also studying massage therapy and nutrition at Still Point/GCC.
Erica has returned to yoga over the course of her life to tune into her breath, move from her core and to set an intention to stay present. The qualities she practices stay with her off the mat to help her be the best mom, friend and human being she can be. She lives at the base of Walnut Hill In Buckland with her family
Ect24@lycos.com or at 413-625-6036
Dance and Drumming Instructors
Abdou Sarr
Abdou Sarr has demonstrated his gifts as a dancer since his early youth. He first learned Sabar and Serer dances, both distinctive dances of Senegal, West Africa, from his mother in Dakar, Senegal. He continues to teach and perform all around the United States, Canada, and in Africa. Abdou teaches adults and children in diverse settings, from the warm sand floors of Sobubade, Senegal, to schools, universities, outdoor park workshops, conferences and private parties.
Abdou came to the US with his band Gokh-bi System and currently performs with Tony Vacca and Massamba Diop’s World Rhythms, Bamidele Dancers and Drummers, Jo Sallins, Pape Cheikh, and the Black Rebels, among other collaborations. Abdou specializes in Sabar dance and incorporates traditional and modern forms such as Ras, Mbalakh, Goumbe, Salsa and Hip-Hop movements. His graceful dance style starts slowly with stretching and builds with strength, teaching people the unique skills of Senegalese dance, that they too may soar like birds synchronized in flight. Abdou is a skilled tailor and costume designer, specializing in African styles.
asarr80@yahoo.com 413-824-6454 or 978-544-9849
Ellen Clegg
Born with music in her blood, Ellen Clegg has been immersed in drumming and rhythm since the age of five. Her journey has involved training at Oberlin College and from traditional drummers in rhythmic traditions from across the globe. These include djembe from West Africa, steel drum (pan) from Trinidad, multiple percussion from Bahia Brazil, taiko from Japan, doumbek from the Middle East, and drum set, timpani, and marimba from Europe and the US. Her teachers have included Rosemary Small, Twa Mercer of Trinidad, Edwina Lee Tyler, Ubaka Hill, Layne Redmond, Raquy Danzinger, and drummers of the Ballet Folklorica de Brasil while studying in Salvador Bahia Brazil. She is currently studying with Master Drummer Valerie Naranjo (www.mandaramusic.com). Studying these various traditions fuels her desire for understanding culture, community, social justice, and the role of drummers in culture since the birth of rhythm.
She developed skills as a facilitator, educator, and certified mediator while earning an MS in Enviromental Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University, after earning a BS in Psychology. She currently studies the biological, psychological, and neurological effects of rhythm and drumming on the health of individuals and community as well as the historical role of drummers in various cultures, relating both to her work in today's world.
Through the work of FOUND SOUNDS, Ellen Clegg unites her passion, skills, and training as a percussionist, facilitator, educator, and performer. She believes in the power of rhythm and drumming, present in all aspects of the world around us, to develop community, to build communication, to find strength in our differences, to nourish health, and ultimately to inspire hope for a healthy and sustainable future.