Hearing the stories of my grandparents surviving Armenian genocide and Stalin's repressions of the Jews in my childhood and youth while surviving the collapse of Soviet Union and the civil wars that followed it forever influenced my prospective about storytelling and performing arts. I started my dance training at age of twelve. Since at the time a lot of my friends in our small town were getting into local gangs or doing drugs, my mother decided to enroll me into a small Ballroom Dance studio to keep me away from trouble and to introduce me to a bigger world of performing arts. Dance helped me to develop self-discipline, enjoy healthy self-expression, and to avoid trouble on the streets. I now could feel a deeper sense of the gift of life. At age of twenty-two, I won a green card lottery and had an opportunity to come to the United States. While picking up multiple part time jobs and educational scholarships, I received my AA in Dance and Liberal Arts from Santa Monica College and my BFA in Dance and Theater from CSULB where I met Gregory R.R. Crosby my close friend and film mentor. Under his patient guidance, I developed a strong interest in film-making. We've been creating our projects since. I continue building relationships with creative people from all over the country who come from various artistic, professional, and social backgrounds. I utilize my life and creative experiences and skills on many film-sets as a producer, writer, performer, coach, and choreographer. One of my most rewarding experiences have been sharing my knowledge as a mentor, creative movement and dance coach and choreographer with Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble to make sure I give back to our young generation what I have been so generously given from all my creative and professional collaborators, mentors, and teachers. Show less «