My Story

 

Denise Marie Antoine, RYT 500, is an African/Asian American (Creole & Korean if you’re wondering…), L.A. based Yoga & Dance Teacher. She began her artistic training in Contemporary Modern dance, with Karen McDonald and Classical Ballet, with Stefan Wenta. She performed with Lula Washington’s Youth Ensemble and attended L.A. County H.S. for the arts. Upon graduating from LACHSA, she was accepted to The Ailey School, The Boston Conservatory, Tisch and NYU to study dance. Though she was greatly disappointed to decline acceptances to these institutions, due to lack of financial resources, she eventually found a new path leading to her purpose.

Remaining in L.A. allowed her the opportunity to merge her creative and advocacy passions. As a survivor of an attempted childhood abduction in her hometown of South Central L.A., Denise has prioritized investing into the youth and survivors of trauma. She’s the former Children’s Creative Program Director at Oasis Church and worked as the Donor Relations Manager with Treasures (a L.A. based non-profit providing support and care for women working in the sex industry, including victims of human trafficking).

Denise transitioned her love for movement to yoga practice and received her 200-RYT yoga certification with Holistic Yoga Flow (Travis Eliot & Lauren Eckstrom) and her 500-RYT certification with Yoga Salt (Tamal Dodge). She is also certified in Mat Pilates by Set and Flow Yoga, Trauma Release Yoga by Uprising Yoga and Reiki Level 1 by International House of Reiki.

She teaches at/partners with The Yoga Collective, Yoga Bliss, yogaraj, IDMTV, Debbie Allen Dance Academy and Artistico Dance. Her classes are athletic, fun and alignment based. She also hosts Trauma Release Yoga events, Yoga & Meditation workshops and is a Brand Ambassador for international companies such as Fabletics, Manduka and ALO.

“I have a vision to see Intentional Diversity in all industries; Economic Empowerment and Yoga available to all communities. I want to help build a culture where yoga is available to anyone looking to walk in healing, freedom and strength. Join me…”

Xo, Denise