Stephanie W. Schaaf, MEd

As an avid student of the body in motion, Stephanie brings her life-long love and fascination for movement to her practice. She has been a certified Pilates teacher since 1998, a professional dancer and choreographer, a graduate of the Masters Program in dance and movement education from Stanford University and holds a certificate in Embodied Anatomy and Yoga from the School for Body-Mind Centering®. She has studied with many leaders in the fields of healing movement, experiential anatomy, yoga, meditation, dance performance and improvisation.

Stephanie began her training in Pilates and rehabilitative movement at the renowned Sports Medicine Clinic of St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco where she became an instructor. She later worked in studios in San Francisco and Portland and has had her own private practice since 2002.

Her professional dance career included touring nationally and internationally with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company in San Francisco. She worked with the company as a choreographic collaborator and performer. She then created and performed her own work with fellow company member Sue Roginski, supported by grants from the city of San Francisco, the Zellerbach Family Fund and Theater Bay Area. She currently performs locally with SO & SO & SO & SO, directed by Susan Banyas, and continues to create her own choreographic works.

Stephanie is influenced and inspired by a wide-reaching study of somatic practices and uses a multi-disciplinary approach to her teaching. She works in partnership with her clients and students, to help them work toward change, healing, and the cultivation of a vital presence in their body.