Alay’nya – Renaissance Woman: Author, Inventor, Dancer, and Teacher

Alay’nya – Oriental Dance – Teacher and Performer

Alay’nya, Founder and Chief Instructor for the Alay’nya Studio and Artistic Director of Troupe Seraband, has performed extensively throughout the Northern Virginia (NOVA) area, as well as special New York City performances, premiering “Phoenix,” a dance with multiple veils. She has recently begun instruction on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

Alay’nya’s performances emphasize the nearly lost arts of zils, veil, and floorwork. Alay’nya is currently teaching in McLean, VA.

Currently, Alay’nya teaches Oriental dance to women as a body/mind/psyche/energy integration pathway. She is available for lectures, lecture/demos, and workshops for women’s groups.

Alay’nya was inspired on her path by early movies and TV series that featured martial artists whose training became a life pathway – a way to cultivate all of who they were.

An example, from the early TV series Kung Fu (1972-1975) is a scene in which Master Po calls his young student (Caine, played by David Carradine) “Grasshopper” in reference to a scene in the pilot episode:

Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?[4]