Lynne Hartwell

An avid lover of the arts since birth, Lynne had participated in several different art classes and demonstrations throughout her scholastic career, involving an Art minor in college. She had always been intrigued by dance of all forms, and loved to dance whenever she could (school dances, clubs, social gatherings) but she never took a formalized class until after she graduated college.

Lynne's involvement with Bellydance began in 2002 when she took a beginner dance class as part of research into a short story she was developing about a gypsy character. She instantly fell in love with the deep spirituality, beauty, and grace of this dance form that transcends culturism, ageism and negative body image. Through continued classes with a local dance instructor, Shifah, she met up with students and other local instructors in the area, including Jo Sarnelli. Thanks to a performance taken in conjunction with Jo and her troupe, The Small Planet Dancers, Lynne was introduced to Global Dance.

Never satisfied with only learning one aspect of an art form, Lynne relished the opportunity to join this diverse, fun, instructional, and community-oriented performance troupe. She has since learned many different forms of international dance, has performed publicly in a number of venues, and looks forward to many more opportunities to demonstrate and perform with such a fun, talented, hardworking, and outgoing troupe.

Although her day job of working in an office is worlds apart from her love of the arts in all its forms, it allows her the freedom to be able to pursue the arts at her leisure.