Hey there, I’m Al!

I’m the Co-Creator of Inspired Dance, a choreographer, movement educator, and retreat leader passionate about helping you feel vital in body, mind, and spirit. With more than 20 years of teaching experience, my intent is to help you achieve your fitness and wellness goals while also helping you be more embodied.

To me, vitality means energy – the aliveness that fuels real, lasting change. Movement has been my tool for healing, from joint injuries to an eating disorder and even a bodyboarding accident. It’s how I’ve learned to strengthen the mind-body connection and how I guide others to do the same.

My Inspired Dance classes will energize you with deep cardiovascular conditioning using dance and martial arts, and also help relieve stress and improve flexibility through yoga and mindfulness techniques. The best part is, you don’t need a dance background–or amazing coordination–to participate.

You’ll sweat, make sound, and ignite your body through diverse movements. You’ll move with incredible, non-judgmental humans and rediscover the Joy of Movement.

Ever felt left behind in a dance class? Me too.

That’s why I break down movement into digestible patterns, building them from simple to complex with infinite ways to personalize. You’ll dance to inspiring global rhythms – Latin, African, funk, Middle Eastern, Bollywood, and more – learning to hear music with your WHOLE BODY.

It's my mission to make sure you leave sweaty and inspired, and fall in love with sensation along the way.

Bring all of yourself to class – your energy, exhaustion, stress, or excitement. Showing up is 50% of the work, and we’ll do the rest together.

See you on the dance floor!

"To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach."

–Hindu proverb

My Training

I’m a Black Belt in the Nia Technique, a former Nia Technique Teacher Trainer, and MELT Method Instructor.

Attending 3 different colleges 4 years gave me a diverse education: I have a BA in Holistic Psychology from Lesley University, studied Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University, and jazz piano and Music Therapy at Berklee College of Music. I like to tell people I got the full Boston college tour ;)

I've been studying and teaching fitness and somatic movement since I was 17. I fell in love with teaching instantaneously, and this love has inspired me to devote continuous attention to developing my skills.

In 2010 I moved to Portland, Oregon and (unknowingly) met my future partner and Inspired Dance Creator, Vickie Saito. We’ve choreographed multiple routines together, including Touch, Ground, Ecstasy, and Lotus, and began leading teacher trainings and retreats to Mexico, Panama, and the Oregon Coast. Somewhere in that magical mix we fell in love and have been co-creating in life ever since.

When I'm not teaching, you'll find me trekking through the Columbia River Gorge with my twin golden retrievers, adventuring to lush tropical places, jamming on my handpan drum, or reading five non-fiction books all at once–with a guarantee that a Brené Brown book is tucked somewhere in there.