The Cassandra School Teachers Biographies

Cassandra Shore (more about Cassandra)
Cassandra began performing Middle Eastern dance in 1975 and has since made over 15 research trips to the Middle East. Her studies began in San Francisco with the legendary performer, Jamila Salimpour. She has studied with some of the finest teachers and choreographers of Middle Eastern dance, notably including Mahmoud Reda, Mohammed Khalil, Raqia Hassan, and the late Ibrahim Farrah. In 1989, she formed Jawaahir Dance Company, which has since been recognized for its ground-breaking repertory of traditional, modern, and fusion works of Middle Eastern and contemporary dance. Today, Cassandra is known as a master teacher, star performer, and creative artist in the field of Middle Eastern dance.

Malika Benachour (Malika will be teaching Arabic on Wednesdays in the Fall!)
Malika is a licensed teacher in World Languages. She has been teaching French and Spanish for the last 14 years and Arabic for the last 4 years. Malika was born in France in a large Arabic community and soon became fluent in French and Arabic. While growing up, she studied English, Spanish, and Arabic, and earned a Master’s degree in Foreign Languages and Culture from the University of Orléans, France. Besides several extended stays in different countries of Europe and North Africa, she lived in Spain for over two years and has been living in Minnesota for 10 years.

She’s currently the department chair of the World Language Program in the Maplewood District, MN. In Minneapolis, she also serves as an interpreter in French, Spanish, and Arabic for the Hennepin court system and neighboring clinics and hospitals.

Peg Deppe
Peg has been a student of Cassandra's since 1988. She first danced with Jawaahir from 1996-2000, then took some time off to enter graduate school. In 2007 Peg returned to the Company, and completed her PhD at the University of Minnesota in spring 2010.

Sarah Jones-Larson
Sarah began teaching dance when she was 15 and has taught thousands of dance classes and workshops coast to coast. In addition to Middle Eastern dance, Sarah has taught Luigi jazz, Spanish, Broadway and other dance forms. She began teaching at The Cassandra School in 1995. In May 2007 she returned to Jawaahir after spending a year in Philadelphia dancing with Habiba's ensemble and hosting a Smooth Jazz radio program.

She performed internationally as a child with Philadelphia's Ballet Des Jeunes and New York's Ecos De Espana, and was performing Flamenco by age 16 at La Sangria in Greenwich Village. Locally, she has performed with Zorongo Flamenco and Theatre de la Jeune Lune and worked as a plus-size model. A radio host, voiceover artist, and student of Arabic, Sarah has sung in Arabic with the Georges Lammam Ensemble. Sarah gives private lessons, and also teaches stage makeup and commercial voiceover.

Theresa Kane
Theresa began studying Middle Eastern dance in 1998. She began to teach the art through community education programs in 2002, and began teaching at the Cassandra School in 2004. She continues to study extensively with Cassandra, and takes every opportunity to learn from other U.S. and international dancers. Her goal is to pass on as much knowledge as possible in a humor-filled way.

Kathy McCurdy
Kathy studied ballet, jazz, tap, and modern before discovering Middle Eastern dance in the late 1970's. She studied with Tara Auringer, was a founding member of Noor el Sahara, a dance troupe that performed in ethnic restaurants and folk dance festivals in Wisconsin, and began teaching in Madison, WI. She also studied with Dahlena in Chicago, IL, before moving to Minneapolis to study with Cassandra. She is a founding member of Jawaahir, has been teaching at the Cassandra School since 1990, and is the general manager of Jawaahir Dance Company.

Melanie Meyer
Melanie has had an illustrious dance career. She started in modern, jazz, and ballet dance and discovered Middle Eastern Dance in the late 70’s. It became her pursuit and passion; she has studied with leading Middle Eastern dance instructors and performers within the Americas and of international acclaim. Her background also includes training in Spanish Flamenco, Latin dances, and Tango. She was a favorite of local Middle Eastern restaurants and nightclubs — performing regularly for over 24 years in the Twin Cities. Her performance experience also includes weddings, festivals, galas, theatrical venues, commercial advertisements, media, and television venues.

Melanie has been a teacher at The Cassandra School for over 12 years. She teaches Levels 1 and 2, and substitute teaches Level 3 and 4. She is a Board Member of Jawaahir Dance Company. She also serves as a mentor to dancers seeking professional pursuits. Melanie is an intuitive dancer, unique in style, and emits an illuminative energy. Her love and passion for the dance are shared in her instruction.

Tim O'Keefe
Tim is widely renown as the top percussionist in the Twin Cities ethnic music community with over 25 years of experience playing and teaching Arabic music. Tim has appeared with many international performing artists, including:Georges Lammam Ensemble, Simon Shaheen, and Sivan Perwar. A recipient of a Jerome Foundation Grant in 2001, Tim has performed all over the Middle East.

Jenny Piper
Jenny began teaching Middle Eastern dance by substituting for a Level 1 class in April of 2000. She immediately fell in love with teaching dance and in 2001 she was able to take on her own Level 1 class at the St. Paul location for The Cassandra School. Currently, she teaches at all three locations of The Cassandra School: Levels 1, 2, a Mixed Level 2-3, and 3. Jenny integrates her ballet and contemporary dance background into her Middle Eastern dance performances and teaching style. She has been complimented by students on how well she breaks down and explains movements in a fun and upbeat way.

Renee Szudy
Renee began studying under Cassandra in 1996 and joined Jawaahir in 2006. She was drawn to Middle Eastern dance after attending the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) where she saw Arabic women perform social dances. She liked how they took their scarves off their heads and wrapped them around their hips in order to accent their movements; she was particularly inspired by their shimmies. Renee has a 12-year background in gymnastics.

Helen Voelker
Helen has been studying with Cassandra since 1984, making The Cassandra School and Middle Eastern dance her longest continuing relationship. She regularly goes to Dallas for workshops with Egyptian dancers and teachers, such as Dina, Randa Kamal, Dr. Mo Geddawi, and Raqia Hassan. She attended Raqia’s Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival in Egypt in 2003, where she took class from the great Sohair Zaki, and has been to Egypt two other times to educate herself about Egyptian dance and culture. Because Helen started dance as an adult, she has a special appreciation for students who find love of the dance later in life, and encourages everyone to believe that it’s never too late to start.

Monique Yenamandra
Monique has been studying Middle Eastern dance since the late 1980s. The first and major influence on her studies lies with Cassandra. While living in Bonn, Germany for six months, she studied with the excellent Turkish teacher and performer, Seina, and since has supplemented her education with workshops with Egyptian dancers such as Raqia Hassan, Nadia Hamdi, Mahmoud Reda, and Ibrahim Farrah and travel to the Middle East to study music and dance. Monique's performance career began in 1996 when she joined Jawaahir Dance Company. She has been performing with the company and independently since then. Monique has been teaching Middle Eastern dance through community education and through The Cassandra School since 2000. Monique is currently on maternity leave. She will return as soon as she possibly can.

Sanjay Yenamandra, born June 1st at 9:40pm, 7lb 15oz and 21" long. Mom and baby are doing great!