Lauren W. Kearns, M.F.A., E-RYT 500 is a choreographer and dancer. She has composed over fifty professionally produced concert pieces that have been presented throughout the U.S.A., Europe, and Asia. She is the artistic director of The Kearns Dance Project, a professional dance company based in North Carolina, U.S.A. Kearns has received over forty grants, fellowships, and awards to support her artistic and scholarly projects. She is a published scholar, a somatics specialist with certifications in Vinyasa Yoga, Alignment-Based Yoga, and Classical Pilates. Kearns is also a certified and registered Experienced Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level with the Yoga Alliance, and has presented her creative and somatics research at national and international dance conferences since 2000. In addition to her dance career, Kearns is a Professor of Dance, the Coordinator of the Dance Program, and the Associate Chair of the Department of Performing Arts at Elon University, Elon, N.C. U.S.A. She received her M.F.A. in Dance and her M.A. in Dance Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. For more information on Lauren and The Kearns Dance Project, please visit www.thekearnsdanceproject.org.