Hi, I’m Stephanie—the founder, owner, CE-HO, head chaos goblin, movement nerd, and creative director behind Bastet Dance Fitness. 💜
If you’ve taken one of my classes, you’ve probably heard me ask “In theory?” approximately 800 times. 😂
I’ve been dancing since I was about seven or eight years old and performing since 1993. I spent 10+ years training in ballet, along with years of jazz, modern dance, hip-hop, and gymnastics. After high school, I traded my ballet shoes for bellydance, eventually joining the troupe Dance Journey, where I performed for the next ten years.
I’ve always been a little bit extra.
I am neurodiverse, I have aphantasia, and my brain is delightfully weird. I tend to experience the world and creativity a little differently than some people, and honestly, I’m pretty fond of it. Apparently, that combination contributes to my particular brand of creative chaos—and I’m toes much here for it.
As a kid, I was the one putting on ridiculous outfits, directing my brothers, cousins, and friends in elaborate plays and dance numbers, and turning absolutely anything into an opportunity for dress-up and performance. Theater is really where my love of storytelling began to blossom, and that love has followed me through every part of my creative life.
My theater experience has included character design, makeup design, hair design, costume design, custom mask making, directing, producing, and backstage work as a makeup artist, SPFX makeup artist, hairstylist, and costumer. I hold a Cosmetologist License, Theater Arts Makeup Certificate from Santa Rosa Junior College as well as Professional Makeup and Hair Artist Certifications from The Makeup Designory in Los Angeles.
Whether I’m creating a character from the ground up, designing a show’s visual world, building a costume or mask, styling a wig, choreographing a dance piece, or stepping onto the stage myself, I love all the little pieces that come together to tell a story.
In 2011, I discovered pole at iCandy in Rohnert Park when I tried a class on a whim with a friend. I was looking for a new challenge, and I was immediately hooked.
I started teaching at iCandy about a year later and eventually added chair dance, strength training, Zumba, twerk, heels, and other forms of movement to my teaching repertoire.
Then, in 2017, iCandy closed.
I had been teaching more than twelve classes a week sometimes, and I had students and performance troupes who suddenly didn’t have a place to go. I realized just how much I loved the combination of dance + teaching + community, and with the strength and support of that community behind me, I decided to build something of my own.
That became Bastet.
I wanted to create the kind of dance studio I needed—one where “thin” is not a goal, where you are not only allowed but encouraged to be a beginner, where trying something new is celebrated, and where it’s completely okay to be bad at something because you’re learning!
Because seriously: who decided that you have to look or move any particular way before you’re allowed to dance? Fuck that.
Want to know the secret to getting strong enough to go to pole class?
Go to pole class.
I believe all bodies and all people deserve access to movement, dance, creativity, and self-expression. Dance has no expiration date. Sensuality has no expiration date. Strength has no expiration date. And neither does the right to have fun in your own body.
Along the way, I kept learning—because apparently I have no idea how to stop. 😂 My certifications include NASM Personal Training, AAFA Group Exercise, ElevatED Active Flexibility, Liquid Motion 1.0, Liquid Motion 2.0, Liquid Motion Heels, Liquid Motion Pole, Strong by Zumba, Twerk Technician,
and more.
A huge part of my teaching philosophy comes from Liquid Motion®, which completely changed the way I understand movement. It opened up movements that once felt impossible to me and showed me that sensual movement could be accessible, educational, playful, and deeply connected to the body. It has become a foundation for much of how I teach.
And then there’s UltraViolette.
UltraViolette is my sometimes glamorous, always irreverent, cheeky, rebellious, chaotic, maximalist, ass-tastic alter ego. She’s rooted in burlesque, punk, pole, chair dance, acrobatics and strength, floorwork, and twerk, and she brings a little theatrical magic, a lot of attitude, and absolutely no interest in being subtle.
Performing brings me enormous joy. There is something incredibly powerful about standing onstage, taking up space, telling a story, wearing almost nothing, and hearing a crowd lose its mind.
For me, that joy is also reclamation.
I grew up being taught to be ashamed of my body simply for existing and not to trust my own instincts. Now I get to stand onstage and revel in being seen. I get to celebrate my body, my sensuality, my sexuality, my strength, my weirdness, and my creativity—and hopefully give someone else permission to do the same.
That is a huge part of why Bastet exists.
I want people to leave my classes with a positive spark. Maybe they nailed a move they’ve been working on. Maybe their brain exploded with new information or a new connection was made. Maybe they discovered that their body can do something they never thought possible—like suddenly understand where the hell all their limbs are in space or float through the air like an invincible fairy.
Or maybe they simply had a really fucking good time.
I want you to feel stronger, more connected to your body, more knowledgeable about how you move, and excited to come back and learn more.
And I want what you learn in class to belong to you—not just for the hour you’re in the studio, but in your everyday life: in the way you stand, move through the world, understand your body, and carry yourself when you try something new.
As a teacher, I’m enthusiastic, detail-oriented, encouraging, wildly distractible, and known to pause mid-sentence while my brain buffers. I use a truly unreasonable number of silly metaphors—“pee on alllllllllll the fire hydrants!” being one of them, iykyk. 😂
I also believe in giving people lots of information about what they’re doing and why. I want you to understand not just how to perform a movement, but how to approach it, modify it, troubleshoot it, and make it work for your own body. I will happily explain the mechanics, offer multiple ways to try something, and celebrate the tiny breakthroughs along the way!
If you’ve ever been in a choreography class with me, you’ve probably experienced me getting way out into the weeds when I fixate on a particular technique, muscle activation, or movement theory.
My technique classes are not especially structured—and that’s intentional. I teach specifically to the people who are actually in the room, so my classes are usually a little more loosey-goosey than the average technique class. There is room for questions, experimentation, laughter, rest, and the occasional complete derailment because someone made an excellent joke.
I want you to feel supported without feeling pressured, challenged without feeling punished, and encouraged without feeling like you have to perform confidence before you actually feel it.
I love discovering new things alongside my students. Dance and movement are very much my lifelong main special interest, but I have a few more. Just ask me about them. 😉😂
As Bastet has grown, so has the team around me. I’m incredibly proud of the people who help make this place what it is. As unique as we are as individuals, we share many important values—and that’s what brings us together as a team!
Bastet has grown into so much more than the studio I originally set out to create. We’ve built performance troupes, produced more shows than I can possibly count, created opportunities for so many dancers to get onstage, survived a global pandemic, and become a proudly inclusive and hella, hella queer part of the Sonoma County dance community! 🌈🙌🏻👠💪🏻
I’m still learning. I’m still dancing. I’m still performing. I’m still making ridiculous costumes. I’m still collecting cats. I’m still gardening. I’m still probably wearing too much purple.
And I’m still convinced that we’re all just electrical meat suits hurtling through space on a rock.
Sooo…
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