Life & Work with Masa of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Masa.

Hi Masa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started dancing seriously in high school, where I founded and choreographed for my school’s first dance team. That early experience of building something from nothing, of teaching peers and watching a group find their rhythm together, stayed with me. From there I went deeper, studying with internationally renowned Egyptian and Persian master teachers including Raqia Hassan, Mohammad Kazafy, Amir Thaleb, Rouhi Savoji, Gamal Gomaa and eventually choreographing for stage productions and music videos.

I have been teaching Egyptian and Persian dance for over twenty years, and for more than a decade I have taught at UCLA’s John Wooden Center. I became a certified yoga instructor after a back injury and learned how dance and yoga practices belong together: the breath, the body, the stillness, the movement. They are all practices that help ground you.

Rooted, my workshop, grew out of all of it. The lineage, the teaching, the years of watching people walk into a room guarded and leave changed. I wanted to create a space where the dance could be returned to its original context, as medicine. A place where people could reconnect with something in themselves that the pace of modern life had buried.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The path has not been easy by any means. At one point I was teaching ten dance classes a week, teaching private lessons, working in after school programs for kids, driving all over Los Angeles, promoting my own classes, and producing my own shows. I was doing all of it with the support of friends and family, but it was a lot. And the question of how to make this a real livelihood never fully went away.

I struggled for years with whether I could sustain a career in dance, and whether I should explore something else. That question was answered for me when I got injured and was forced to take a break. It was only in that absence that I understood how much I could not live without it. I needed dance more than anything.

That injury sent me down a different road for a while. I explored other careers, eventually landing in tech where I spent years in product design and content strategy. But I kept coming back. I returned to teaching at UCLA. I got my yoga certification. I started teaching yoga. And slowly, from all of those threads, Rooted was born. It is the fullest expression of everything I have been building, even when I did not know that was what I was doing.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in teaching all levels of dance, especially those who have never taken a dance class. I like teaching beginners, because I remember what it was like when I first started learning and how I really needed to relax into it. Because I continue to learn, I take those lessons into my teaching style. I am known for being a fun, nurturing and positive teacher. I want people to learn dance but I also want them to have fun and feel good in my classes. You’ll likely continue something if you’re enjoying it! What also sets me apart as a teacher is that I truly love to teach. I have competed and performed internationally throughout my career and will always love performing, but my calling is to teach. There is nothing like seeing people transform through dance and movement and makes teaching, all the work that goes into it, so worth it.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is listening to my intuition about what I am meant to be doing. That sounds simple, but it has taken years to trust it.

Rooted came directly from that practice of listening. I had been attending workshops at Esalen Institute, experiences centered on dance, meditation, and yoga. I found them genuinely transformative. I took notes. I paid attention to what moved people, what opened something in the room. Two workshops in particular inspired me deeply: Sacred Groove with Adam Clark and Bohemian Gravity with Yemi Dele Akinyemi. Both are extraordinary teachers: knowledgeable, warm, and masterful at creating a container where real things can happen.

I left those experiences wanting to create something of my own. Not necessarily an imitation of what they had built, but something that was entirely unique to me: to my lineage, my training, my years of teaching, my understanding of what this dance really is and where it comes from.

That is what Rooted is. And following that intuition is what matters most to me. The work that comes from that place is always the most authentic.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.masadance.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancinghips/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@masabelly

Image Credits
Sooz Edie