Nadia Natali is a clinical psychotherapist who specializes in trauma work and DanceMedicine. She is also the author of two books: Stairway to Paradise: Growing Up Gershwin , her memoir, and The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Zen Retreat Center.

Janet O'Shea is the author of Risk, Failure, Play. She is Professor of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. Author of At Home in the World: Bharata Natyam on the Global Stage and the co-editor of the Routledge Dance Studies Reader, 2nd edition, her research focuses on corporeality, interdisciplinary exchange, and the politics of everyday life. She is a practitioner of Filipino martial arts, jeet kune do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, and empowerment self-defense.