Hello & welcome!
My name is Theresa Stevens and I’m a certified personal trainer & sports nutrition advisor and dance teacher.
Most days you’ll find me making yummy food, sipping cold coffee…and moving my booty! I’ve taught over 1,000 women around the world how to shake their hips & booty, and I’m excited to spread the good word about the power of Eating for Energy and getting your LIFT on!
I love dancing, lifting weights, Brazilian Samba & awesome people! I’ve been studying, performing & teaching Afro-Brazilian Samba the past 16 years. I recently moved to Des Moines, Iowa from NYC…and am excited to share all the things I’ve learned about getting into a FLOW with a *lifestyle-version of fitness*…
because I’ve seen that fitness can fit into your life (without overwhelming it) & be effective…and that “no pain, no gain” is not necessary at all to both love the process and the results 🙂
Ok, so I took down almost all of my older blog posts (some will be going back up shortly—sans fewer exclamation points :))…and I’m excited to write & share more stuff about not just lifestyle fitness—but eating for energy & eco-beauty, too!
So here’s what’s available now:
Booty Shakin’ Dance Program 
Hip Dance Tutorial
Welcome! More coming soon on my blog—and thanks for checking everything out! Let me know if you have any thoughts to share—email is the best way to contact me 🙂 or leave me a comment below a post.
More about Theresa Stevens
I’m a certified personal trainer & sports nutrition advisor, a long-time dance teacher, and an international health & education program creator. After my brief stint as a high school English teacher, I founded a non-profit organization called Mariposa’s Art.
During my eleven years as Executive Director, the organization served over 14,600 youth, providing high school students with paid career internships teaching art and music to thousands of elementary school children. And Mariposa’s Art is still going strong in Santa Cruz, CA…
I then went on to re-design a national health and beauty curriculum for the Girl Scouts of the USA–called Uniquely Me!–to provide girls and women the opportunity to develop media awareness skills, a deeper sense of self-love, artistic self-expression, and the opportunity to be leaders in their local and global communities.
Samba dance has transformed my relationship with my body and my entire life. I fell in love with Samba, and I have studied, performed, and taught it as an “evening career” the past fifteen years.
My “evening career” of Dancing has taken me to perform and compete at famous arenas and events (Fox Theater – Oakland, Carnival – San Francisco, Copacabana–NYC), and teach both at a community and a corporate level (Booty Dance Camp – Santa Cruz, Google – Mountain View and New York City).
It’s also taken me around the world studying and dancing at some amazing places, including Brazil, California, New York, Paris, and London.
I’ve danced at music festivals, MAZDA Raceway starting lines, cruise ships, and grand-scale electronic music parties…and I love to dance Samba with fire and on stilts!
I’m also a musician and artist. I’ve studied & performed classical music, all the way through college…and currently love playing the Brazilian bass drum called the surdo and designing electrifying dance costumes. I enjoy incorporating my talents with musical performance, costume design, and art into everything I do.
And although I miss teaching high school & middle school students…I LOVE teaching fitness, dance & health internationally…and celebrating the power & pleasure of moving your booty!
I love encouraging people all over the world to get their “movement meditation” on, with full-body booty-focused strength training…and feel sexy & beautiful by moving with Brazilian flair…
And I’m excited to expand my blog to write more about eating for energy, eco-beauty & lifestyle fitness, too.
Come join my dance program…and let’s move!
fitness, nutrition, dance, music and education background…for Theresa Stevens
Strength Training education/teachers: Coach Ryan Faehnle (muscular strength & endurance, progression), American Fitness Institute (personal training certification), Renee Menard (Pilates), Dr. Bradley Kosbar (body balancing & strength)
Nutrition education/teachers: The Health Sciences Academy advanced sport nutrition advisor certification, Craig Lane, and greatly inspired by the writing of Drs. Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet and Dr. Chris Masterjohn
Past Health & Education work: Former credentialed high school English teacher, middle school English, elementary school music and even a semester of Kindergarten (so fun!) Founded and directed a nonprofit called Mariposa’s Art for 11 years…the non profit is still going strong! Wrote a districtwide curriculum for Pajaro Valley Unified School District, to train adult enrichment teachers…and created an after-school program called “Teach” where we train high school students to be teachers, pay them & then they teach elementary & middle school classes art/music/science/fitness classes after-school.Created and developed self-esteem, art, dance & mural painting workshop programs for the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County…painted 18 murals in partnership with them. Re-wrote an expanded version of the national Uniquely Me program for the Girl Scouts of the USA
Other certifications: certified self-awareness & self-defense facilitator, Kidpower organization with Irene van der Zande.
I created this online dance, fitness &weightloss program in 2010 and I’ve been helping people all over the world feel inspired to move & play in their bodies, lose weight & get joyfully fit…the past 10 years…and I love it and I love helping people get results with movement!
Teaching Spots: Google in Mountain View, CA & New York City, NY (Samba)…Motion Pacific Dance Company (Samba Booty Dance Class)…Los Gatos Yoga Studio (Samba)…Samba Mundial, Mountain View, CA (guest Samba teacher)…Stepping Out Studios & The Ball in NYC (Samba Booty)…Gateway Dance Theatre& Des Moines Social Club in Des Moines (Samba Rio) 🙂
Online dance & fitness programs: Booty Fit Girl home & gym workout plans, Eating for Energy guide…and How to Shake Your Booty in 30 Days & Intro to Samba dance videos…Past certified Zumba instructor…teaching for the past 8 years, performing for many more! I’ve been studying Brazilian dancing & drumming for almost 20 years with teachers in Brazil, New York, and California…and I’m excited to share the booty shaking beauty & joy of dancing Samba with you.
I also dance Samba on stilts! 🙂
Samba Dance Workshops: High Sierra Music Festival (Samba & folkloric styles), Holistic MBA at the Skirball Center (Samba Booty), Weightloss Pleasure Camp with Jena La Flamme in SF and NYC (Samba showgirl); Manifestation Mastermind with Nisha Moodley in SF (Samba & folkloric styles); Blow Your Mind conference with Michael Ellsberg (Samba booty) & Off The Charts with Natalie Loussier in NYC (Samba & folkloric styles)
My study of Brazilian dance: J’ann Rains and Marsea Marquis, in Santa Cruz, CA (who are both students of Consesao from Salvador, Brazil currently in San Francisco, CA); Dandha Da Hora of IleYeYe in Santa Cruz, CA; Rosangela Silvestrewith her Silvestre Technique in Salvadore, Brazil; and Danielle Lima with Rio Samba in New York City, NY
Music & Drum teachers: Papiba Gondiho from Sambada, Gordo from Cortejo Afro, Derek Smith, Mike Birmingham, Kevin Di Noto, Kevin Dorn, Dror Sinai, Michael Gruber, Dr. Eichorn, all my childhood and college music teachers, and of course, my amazing mother, Judy Lewis
Performed (for several years each in California & NYC): Music festivals like High Sierra Music Festival; Sierra Nevada Music Festival…concerts & large event in San Francisco…Zingolati Cruise…Mazda Raceway & Laguna Seca Raceway starting lines…concerts & large events in NYC & the Bay Area, California…and with live bands, like Shpongle’s Halloween show at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA; March Forth Marching Band at the Brooklyn Bowl & the Bomba Party at BB Kings in NYC…
Dance Performer: most recently Samba New York, Samba Novo, Brasilerando Dance Company with Danielle Lima, and Esquenta NYC in New York City, NY…Samba Funk with King Theo in Oakland, Fusao & Dance of Brazil in Santa Cruz, CA…and with my own groups, see below!
Dance & Music Performance groups I co-created and/or co-directed:Sereias du Samba in NYC…Pankind, Hipnautica, Suco, Samba Stilt Circus, Santa Cruz Fire Conclave, Lovelight Samba in CA…Love Samba Dance in Des Moines