Groovitude Dance was started by Mandy Bell and Lisa Navarro in 2006. Our business partnership was propelled by our excitement to bring our love of dance and movement to all levels of dancers in the bay area with our highest value placed on co-creation and co-teaching.

 

 For us, movement is medicine, a gateway to learning and truly one of life's most beautiful gifts. We stand on the shoulders of all our mentors and teachers and are especially grateful for experiencing the joy of movement in East Africa, Brazil, the Tohono O'Odham Nation, Argentina, NYC, Philadelphia and all throughout California. 

Both Mandy and Lisa have many years of training in various styles of dance and offer classes in Jazz, Hip hop, Contemporary, Tap and pilates. 

 

Our mission is that Dance is for everyone, not only the trained dancer. We have found we attract people of all body types, all levels, all ages, who want to be inspired and move together in celebration and gratitude. Our motto is “Dance for Life”

 

Over the years, we have responded to outreach programs in our community by accepting an invitation to teach a hip hop class in the Stanford PE department, supporting the Stanford Children’s hospital fundraisers by warming up runners with a dance class and organizing and participating in One Billion Rising Flash mobs. 

Our beloved Dance Visions is where all four of our children have grown up and witnessed their moms create a small business in the paradigm of true team work and reciprocity with  the non-profit Dance Visions. It is a business where we have learned first hand that when our values of love, compassion and keeping the art of dance alive in our community come first, then everything else follows.

 

Mandy and Lisa set out to model a true partnership and spent the first 14 years co-teaching most of their classes.  

It allowed us to model what we hoped for in our community: co-creation, team problem solving, and giving and receiving feedback with love and kindness. We continue to learn how to respect and honor the process, whether we are creating choreography together, doing book-keeping, filing taxes, fundraising for DanceVisons, in the deep-craziness of performance, cleaning the dance floor and mirrors or simply going over the same step again and again until we have it. 

 

Our classes vibrate with the love and joy of dance. You will find a novice side by side with a professional dancer and our work together is done with the strength of empowering one another no matter what and with the intention of laughter, love, respect, kindness and deep gratitude for each other and the art of dance we hold dearly in our souls.