Dance Lessons in North Valley

When she founded Rhythm Dance Company in 2009, Rachel Green flung open the doors of a performance sanctuary. The spacious studio is an all-purpose haven for instructors, students, and socializers with a sense of rhythm, where lessons on everything from hip-hop routines to hula-hoop twirls can grace the calendar. Patrons can also rent out the space for events—the hardwood floors readily support parties, martial-arts meet-ups, and the life-size baking-soda volcanoes of grad-student science fairs.

The company itself specializes in vintage swing, showcasing the lindy hop, Charleston, and jitterbug for learners of all experience levels. Pupils hoping to steadily broaden their rug-cutting repertoire can take progressive lessons from The Rhythm Project, a collective of award-winning teachers that hosts monthly class series and social dances.

Myra Krien has belly danced since she could walk. Coming from a family that produces zen philosophers and artists, she harbored a natural curiosity for the arts, and when her mother brought her to her first belly-dancing lesson at the age of 3, Myra never toddled away. In the intervening years, Myra has studied with some of the Middle East's most prolific and respected dancers, and her dancing has earned her gigs opening for musicians and other artists throughout the United States.

Now, as the owner and director of Pomegranate Studios, Myra and her team of instructors introduce new dancers to the art and refine intermediate dancers' skills in myriad classes. Students can learn styles spanning from Asia to urban America or tone up muscles in sessions designed for fitness. The studio's dance company trains performers aspiring to become professional dancers, and Myra's afterschool S.E.E.D.S program helps young women avoid the normal afterschool hopscotch gambling rings while teaching them about empowerment and educating them in the arts.