SynergyDance blends many forms of movement and dance with a deep and flexible system of energetic healing — Polarity Therapy. It draws as much on ancient healing practice as cutting-edge science, and was developed and taught in the Washington, D.C. area from the early ’80s until 2018 by Polarity educator and dancer Charmaine Lee, taking Polarity’s three principles (neutral, positive, negative) and five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) into spirit-recharging movement.

In 2018, Charmaine retired from teaching weekly classes — which she had also taught in recent years in Charlottesville and in the Blue Ridge foothills of Rappahannock County, Va., where she's lived since 1999 with her husband, journalist, musician and videomaker Roger Piantadosi.

Over 30 years, many have studied with Charmaine and gone on to incorporate SynergyDance principles and concepts into their own movement and yoga teaching and alternative healing practices. Today, we'd most highly recommend Charise Hoge's Synergy Yoga classes in Washington, D.C., and the SynergyDance classes and related events led regularly in Baltimore, Md., by Babs Levedahl; in Gettysburg, Pa., by Julie Aha; and in Dublin, Ireland, by Danielle Vierling (who also leads retreats on both sides of the Atlantic).