Mandy Bell

Mandy Bell started studying dance at the age of 11. She was lucky enough to attend a community dance studio in Chula Vista and also spend 3 years at a performing arts school focusing on dance (jazz, tap, ballet, modern,) and musical theater.  She danced all through college, enjoying her experience in Orchesis Dance Company at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

During this time, Mandy also spent several summers in Pisimo'o, on the Tohono O'Odham Nation as a camp counselor, helping with a Non-Profit, Truck of Love. She was able to share her love of dance and witness the music and dancing of this beautiful Native culture. In 1993, she was married and went to live and teach at a Secondary School in Kenya for a year. Her dance class was full of teenage boys who enjoyed learning what she had to share and loved creating dance tricks together.
 
When Mandy returned to California, in 1995, she directed a youth sports program and taught group fitness classes for the YMCA in her hometown of Chula Vista. She loved teaching the senior chair-fitness classes and often ended up dancing at then end of class with them to their favorite swinging jazz tunes. At that same time, she had the opportunity to teach PE at a local elementary school for the entire school as well as the children in the hearing impaired classes. These kids challenged her to think creatively and taught her the necessity of being present with your whole being when teaching.  

 

In 1998, she and her husband started their family, and in 2002, they moved to the Bay Area, where they have enjoyed raising their two daughters and being near her husband's family. The love of the arts is strong in her family and it was her sister in-law who inspired and challenged her to start teaching dance-fitness classes with her in Palo Alto. She didn't even know there was such a thing. This ultimately set Mandy on the path back into dance and brought her together with Lisa to form Groovitude.
 

Mandy often works beyond the studio, teaching dance at a local preschool and choreographing for middle school musicals. She teaches virtual classes on Zoom as well, reaching many students who have moved away.  She continued her education over the years with classes in educational kinesiology, Pilates, and tap.  She integrates her knowledge of  Energy Medicine and her extensive fitness knowledge into each class. "Mandy is one of the most enthusiastic, positive and hilarious teachers on the planet", says her partner, "She takes her spark with her wherever she goes".