Emerald Forest
belly dance, lyra, pole
Emerald Forest and Taylor Marie. Photo by James Ismert Photography
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The visionary activist astrologer, Carolyn Casey, says, “In the ancient world, healing and art are one.” As a child, art and expression were not permitted, and academia and intellectual pursuit were the only valued avenues of learning and growth. My circuitous unfolding into my own wholeness has been a lifelong reclaiming of what originally was and unfolding into what presently is—a vital dance between the liminal spaces I find myself living within in both waking and dreaming states, an intimate cultivation of the voice and landscape that is my Intuition—the Sixth sense.
My love of movement and the healing power of kinesthetic practices has most definitely saved my life. As a child I intuitively channeled my need for movement into competitive sports and thrived in the hours of repetitive practice and training in tennis and swimming. Dance simply was not allowed. After college I moved on to begin a lifelong study of yoga and flexibility training, becoming certified as a teacher in 1999 by Lex Gillan and the Yoga Institute. But it was only in 2015 that I discovered fusion belly dance, and developed an obsession with this form of movement, discipline and expression. I spent the last seven years evolving myself into a dancer and giving myself permission, finally, to follow my joy and to fully express myself through movement arts. I have been fortunate to train with some of the most influential fusion belly dancers in the world—Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Tiare Tashnick and Deb Rubin. I am certified in Rachel Brice's Eight Elements of Belly Dance Level 1, and Deb Rubin's Dance Therapeutics Level 1 and 2. I also completed a year long dance intensive with Deb Rubin in 2021. Finally, I fell in love with aerial circus arts in 2020 beginning with Lyra and have been studying pole at Momentum in Flagstaff for the last year. I am as inspired by creative possibility and expression, as I am about the process of embodiment. I also hold an MA in the Creative Process from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and my work can be found at www.nicola-breuer.format.com, @emeraldforestvisions and on YouTube @Emerald’s Dojo. |
photo by James Ismert Photography
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photo by James Ismert Photography
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photo by James Ismert Photography
Emerald Forest performing at "Celebrate Sedona" April 2023 at Sedona Arts Center
photo by James Ismert Photography
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