Sabra Yarbrough
Sabra Yarbrough began dancing at the age of 5 and has been developing through the art of dance and other movement disciplines for over 30 years. She was teaching and choreographing for dance by the age of 9. Beginning with 13 years of classical ballet, lyrical, contemporary, jazz, and tap dance, she continued in this pursuit and graduated from The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 1994. Feeling disillusioned and a loss of passion for the art, Sabra became immersed in the study and practice of Ashtanga yoga and later entered into a year long teacher training program with Robert Boustany of Houston, Texas who she still regards as one of her greatest mentors. She began teaching classes in 2000 after the words of her mentor, “you will be a yoga teacher, and I haven’t been wrong in saying so yet.” She later adopted and continues to pursue the teaching of the Iyengar method studying vigorously with various Iyengar masters. Her two biggest influences are Constance Braden of Houston, TX and George Purvis of Dallas, TX. Being strongly rooted in the philosophies of yoga, meditation, and other energetic practices, she continues to develop her own methodologies in the pursuit of dance as a physical, mental, and spiritual art form.
After coming across a ballroom dancing competition on television, Sabra was thrilled to discover a form of dance that was dependent on a true partnership between two people, something that she had always enjoyed even more than dancing solo. Sabra spent five years studying with some of the top International Ballroom instructors in the world, dancing and competing with various partners until she discovered, seemingly by accident, Argentine Tango in 2004. After a few months of trying to learn something about the elusive tango, and almost ready to dismiss it as not interesting at all, she had the privilege of being exposed to two great instructors who turned the tables, and she was in love. Soon after, she began traveling to cities in the U.S. that were know to have good teachers and good social dancing of which she had little experience of in all her previous years of dancing. With a new motivation to dance connected to another person and in a social setting, she went to Buenos Aires to learn and dance what had become the most exceptional dance experience of her life. Studying with many of the worlds most acknowledged masters, her skill developed quickly and to a high level preparing her for what would be another experience of a lifetime when attending training courses for teachers in Holland with Eric Jorissen of the famous El Corte and dancing and teaching in Holland, England, France, Italy, and Switzerland. A list of instructors who have influenced Sabra’s teaching and dancing can be found on her website.
Sabra stresses a strong technical foundation, awareness, relaxation, and the utmost nurturing of oneself and one’s dance partner. She teaches and expresses dance philosophy, the how and why of dance, as much as the importance of technical precision in the form. With these qualities as a foundation, there is the possibility of being free and fully alive as we make our way on the dance floor. A strong technical base allows her to teach and dance a wide range of styles depending on the interest of each individual student. Sabra teaches regular tango, yoga, and movement classes for adults and children in Houston, Texas. She can be reached for workshops, performances, choreography, and private lessons in Houston, Texas, and internationally.