Bio
Anna was born in Rye, New York but raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Growing up in Palo Alto she began studying music and dance at age 4, ranging from violin and voice to musical theater and world dance. Anna double majored in English and Music at Yale University – intending to become an orchestral and choral conductor. However, she fell in love with dance, and has been an avid performer, teacher, and choreographer ever since.
Anna is a passionate teacher of many forms of dance, movement, art, Acroyoga, music, and meditation. She is characterized as a charismatic, energetic, and humorous teacher who focuses in on creative ways to reach each student. Anna is a nut for good pedagogy and is a thorough teacher who specializes in making the complicated simple, accessible, and fun.
Anna spent 10 years teaching, competing, and performing ballroom dance full time. She is a DVIDA certified instructor in American Rhythm and Smooth, and was invited to guest instruct at Yale, Stanford, and dance studios locally and abroad. She won numerous top teacher awards (Top Teacher, IGB 2004 and 2005, Top 10 National Female Pro-Am Teacher, 2005).
Anna is an original and innovative dance maker. She has won awards for her choreography with student troupes and professional routines (top Starlite solo awards 2003, 2004). She enjoys being a guest choreographer for local dance companies (Decadance, Jodaam, Dance Identity, etc).
In 2009 Anna proposed to Google that they build a dance studio inside the Google headquarters in Mt. View, CA. After much hard work, the studio opened on January 10, 2010 with 14 classes per week. Within a year, the classes grew to 26 per week, in such diverse styles as ballet, breakdancing, Bhangra, and ballroom. Under Anna's management, 1 in 10 Googlers at the time utilized the Google "Danceplex". Anna enjoyed created a "data driven" dance program that sought to fully understand clients and deliver to their true needs instead of surface asks. By completing user research, Anna uncovered unmet needs and created curriculum to match, such as the hugely popular “How to Dance at a Club or Party: An Analytical Approach” that includes powerpoint slides and a flowchart.
Anna grew the program into a more comprehensive GoogleArts program that encompasses all visual and performing arts programs on campus for Googlers. Anna creates easily accessible programming for the Googlers to inspire their creativity and accelerate their innovation.
When not working or dancing, Anna enjoys spending time with her husband, two daughters, family, and friends.