“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.”
— Maya Angelou
This day is always a special celebration. This year, we decided to host our annual Mother's Day Free Admission and feature our teachers and what Mother's Day means for them. Join us as we take a moment to highlight a few of our teachers and staff. We asked our team to share a photo of them and their mom, inspired mom figures or kiddos. We also asked them to share a quote to tell us how their mom's or children inspires them as an instructor through dance, movement, wellness, art.
Here's what they shared. Plus a dedicated Mother's Day event, Sunday, May 12th 2024. Scroll below.
Andrea Sendek & Mom, Mary Kathleen Sendek
Instructor: Andrea Sendek, Belly Dance Instructor
Inspiration Quote: “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers” -Harriet Beecher Stowe
JanJan Chan & Grandma, 嫲嫲
Instructor: JanJan Chan, Contemporary & Jazz Funk Instructor
Inspiration Quote: I didn't have a good relationship with my parents growing up, my grandparents were the ones who raised me. My grandma was and still is always the person who is there for me, even when no one else is. She taught me how to be vulnerable, she taught me how to speak up, she taught me how to do things on my own, she taught me how to keep my femininity while being as tough and strong as the masculine energy that surrounds our society, she taught me how to be a woman. She showed me what unconditional love means; as my mental health declined, she always stayed and always cared. There's a slight language barrier between us, but we've always had a synergy to communicate non verbally (dance, food, art, etc) which is what drives me to be a storyteller. Without her, I don't think I would be alive today. And although she is not MY mother, she is still a mother that deserves the same attention on this day and every day.
Kait Skye and Mom, Dawn
Instructor: Kait Skye, Hip Hop Instructor
Inspiration Quote: Dawn and I have always been close. It’s crazy to think moving across the country has made us even closer, but she’s the first person I pick up the phone to tell everything to. She’s the one who brought me to my first dance class and the one who continued to drive me all the way into high school. It’s been essential to have her in my corner on my journey as a student, but an even bigger treat to have her along on my journey as a teacher. She’s my biggest fan, but I’m also hers, and I’m so grateful to be able to laugh and dance with her everyday even on Facetime!
Nora Aguayo & Mom, Liliana
Instructor: Nora Aguayo, Zumba Instructor
Inspiration Quote: Hanneli’s First Birthday!
Happy Moments with the two people I love the most. My daughter and my mom.
Wishing everybody a great Mother's Day
Simran Suri & Mom, Manpreet Suri
Instructor: Simran Suri, BollyX Instructor
Inspiration Quote: More than a mother, she's been my best friend. She built a safe space where I could share anything with her. Her support goes beyond words, she's my motivator, pushing me when self-doubt creeps in, but also my partner, working alongside me to overcome challenges. She's the one who taught me the value of kindness, resilience, and hard work. Her nurturing presence has been my guiding light through life's ups and downs, always there to offer a comforting hug or words of wisdom. Her sacrifices and selflessness inspire me every day, reminding me of the depth of a mother's love. She is truly exceptional – a nurturing mother, devoted wife, caring sister, and, above all, a compassionate human being with a heart of gold.
Valeria Bernal & Mom, Olga Malek
Instructor: Valeria Bernal, Reggaeton Instructor
Inspiration Quote: “My mom is the embodiment of strength, passion, and perseverance; and my biggest inspiration to pursue dance. Seemingly, I was dancing during her first ultrasound and she was thrilled! This moment echoed the future of our relationship with each other. She has been my biggest supporter to a career in the arts and I am eternally grateful for it. I constantly learn from her how to live life more authentically and how to do everything in love. This photo is from one of the award galas circa 2014 that we attended together to celebrate my journey in dance. Gracias por todo, mamá. ¡Te amo!"
Sunday, May 12th 2024
ALL MOM'S FREE!!! In celebration of Mother's Day, Rae Studios is offering a complimentary class on Sunday, May 12th, 2024 to moms.
In honor of Mother's Day, we have ALL MOM'S FREE! Sunday, May 12th, 2024
Thank you for your unconditional love and support! Bring your moms for a family-friendly movement class on Sunday, May 12th, 2024. Join us for Belly Dance, Hip Hop, Shuffle, and Desi Hip Hop. All levels welcome! Take some time to move and groove with your loved ones.
Tickets: $23 In-Studio, Free for Monthly Unlimited Members, Free for Moms
Use promocode "MothersDay24" at checkout.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody Meet the instructors:
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody Class Schedule Sunday, May 12th, 2024
10:00am Belly Dance [Beginner] with Andrea
10:00am Hip-Hop [Beginner] with Inez
11:15am Belly Dance [Intermediate] with Andrea
11:15am Shuffle [Beginner] with Kylie
12:30pm Desi Hip Hop [Intermediate] with Simran
12:30pm Shuffle [Intermediate] with Kylie
Andrea Sendek
10:00am-11:10am Belly Dance [Beginner]
11:15am-12:25pm Belly Dance [Intermediate]
(she/her)
With a rich background in the performing arts, Andrea Sendek brings a lifetime of passionate involvement in acting, music, and dance to her role as artist, teacher, organizer, and director.
Andrea integrates philosophies into her work learned from training and performing, for over 2 decades, belly dance and other dance genres. Andrea began learning belly dance with Mesmera in Los Angeles from 1996-2004. In 2004 she relocated to the Bay Area and began her studies at The Salimpour School of Dance where for 10 years she trained under and assisted both Jamilla & Suhaila Salimpour. Since 2015 Andrea has been learning Arabic drumming and music with Susu Pampanin and Amina Goodyear. In June of 2021, Andrea began studying extensively with Egyptian master Tommy King. She Has taken countless workshops from Egyptian teachers throughout the years some of which include, Dandesh, Yossry El Hefni, Karim Nagi, Tito Seif, Adia Nour, and Mohammed Shahin. In 2022 Andrea was invited to teach annually at The Crazy Nights Festival in Cairo Egypt alongside of the industries top Egyptian artists. Andrea also takes weekly Egyptian Arabic classes to help with her dancing and understanding of the music she loves to perform to.
As a performer, Andrea has an extensive background. Some notable performance venues are The Palace of Fine Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Brava Theatre, and The Shelton Theatre. She has performed and taught across the United States and internationally; some highlights of her itinerary include appearances in Egypt, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, and Chile.
Andrea is the founder of Khepri Dance Comapny and Khepri Productions. Khepri Dance Company was featured in the prestigious San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 2016. Khepri Productions produces The Catwalk, a local variety show, Cirque Arabesque, and hosts notable artists from Egypt in San Francisco for workshops and shows.
My dance goals are to keep developing my technique, my understanding of my art form, grow my student body, and speak Egyptian Arabic fluently. My big dreams would be to have a fully funded dance company and a regular venue where we can perform weekly with a live Arabic band and do classic shows to sold out crowds!
Belly Dance
Belly Dance is a cultural dance style rooted in North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and Greece. The origin of the name “belly dance” comes from the French Danse du ventre, which translates “dance of the stomach”. In this class you will learn in-depth movement, full body isolation, traditional belly dance technique and fundamentals followed by choreography. Classes begin with a pilates grounded warm up to activate the core and into belly dance fundamentals, learning body placement, building on muscle memory and intermediate choreographed combinations.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody 
Inez Schynell
10:00am-11:10am Hip Hop [Beginner]
Inez Schynell was born and raised in San Francisco, passionately working at the intersection of justice, identity and dance. As a Choreographer, Hip Hop Educator, Mental Health Educator, Social Justice Facilitator, and Beauty-Prenuer, she embodies a multifaceted approach to her work. Inez began training at the age of 7, where she immersed herself in gymnastics, setting the stage for her future in dance. Her passion for performing led her to pursue Dance professionally with D-Fuse, a West African and Nigerian Folklore Dance Company, GRRRL Brigade, a performing arts company training in Ballet, Modern Jazz, Hip Hop, and Bellydance. Inez also trained in various prestigous studios from the Bay Area to New York. As a Notre Dame De Namur University scholarship recipient, Inez deepend her studies in dance. In 2022, she signed with Rae Agency as a talent and model, showcasing her versatility and skill beyond the realm of Dance. Significantly, Inez made her mark by choreographing 5 captivating pieces for the 50th-anniversary of Hip Hop ‘The Bronx Revolution and the Birth of Hip Hop’ Directed by Joanna Haigood and in collaboration with DJ Grandwizzard Theodre. The inventor of the scratching technique. The production celebrated the rich history of hip hop while paying homage to the origins and impact of hip hop today. Currently, Inez holds key roles as a Hip Hop History Educator, Hip Hop Dance Teacher and Mental Health Awareness Educator at MAX415. Through her artistry, Inez empowers individuals to reclaim their identity and promote justice through the transformative power of dance.
Hip Hop
Hip-Hop dance consists of Breaking (commercially known as Breakdancing) and Hip-Hop Party Moves (e.g., Bart Simpson, Biz Markie, Roger Rabbit, Running Man) and Hip-Hop is an artistic and cultural movement that started in the 1970s in The Bronx of New York City by Black and Latiné youth who expressed joy through Hip-Hop during a time of oppression. In this class students will focus on A beginner-friendly Hip-Hop dance combo that will help with choreography rentions and movement quality.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody 
Kylie Ireland
11:15am-12:25pm Shuffle [Beginner]
12:30pm-1:40pm [Intermediate]
Kylie (she/her) is a performing artist from southern California now living in San Francisco. Main disciplines including aerial, flow arts, acrobatics, contortion, and shuffle dance! Her 12+ year background is in circus arts which originated in a youth program she was a part of, she continued to stay in this extra curricular activity throughout the years and took it more seriously as she got older. In high school she started teaching and performing professionally, after graduating studied kinesiology for 2 years, and then moved to Santa Cruz,CA in 2020 to pursue the performing arts. In Santa Cruz is where Kylie discovered shuffling and committed to learning the dance style. Kylie found shuffle dance through videos online, and although she didn’t yet consider herself a dancer was mesmerized. She loved how people would mix multiple dance styles into shuffling and thought she could do the same with her background. As it slowly began to take a big place in her life it surprised her how much passion she had for this dance as she always had been dedicated to circus arts. Kylie has performed at birthday parties, festivals, weddings, community, and corporate events! She feels grateful to be apart of RAE and her goal is to get shuffling into studios as a recognized dance style, give beginners an accessible place to learn, and create more professional opportunities for shuffle dancers. Learning to shuffle has a huge positive impact on her life and she hopes she can share that impact with others. Along with RAE Kylie also teaches at the Hive SF, Acrosports, and SF pole & dance.
Shuffle
Shuffle originated in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1980’s and was danced in the club scene to EDM music. Over the years shuffling has taken the world by storm from clubs to festivals. Shuffling is known to be inclusive, freedom, spiritual, liberating, free of judgment, true expression. Shuffle Dance connects you with the music you love in a special way. In this class students will learn basic shuffle skills like the running man, and the T-step, while also learning to incorporate their own stylistic movements.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody 
Simran Nayyar
12:30pm-1:40pm Desi Hip Hop [Intermediate]
A Socal native, Simran has been dancing and choreographing for as long as she can remember. Her experience is strongly rooted in both Bollywood and Hiphop including her time on UCSD's competing Hiphop team. She loves to spread her love for dance and meet other dancers who are passionate about the community. Her work fuses her two core styles together creating a space where everyone can find their groove!
Desi Hip Hop
Desi hip hop is a dance style that combines influences of hip hop & urban dance with the music and movements of Bollywood. The term Desi refers to the South Asian diaspora, and this style has gained traction in the Desi community worldwide. Exposure to western hip hop culture both through immigration and media has led to this style developing exponentially, and has also led to many other new sub styles such as Bollywhacking as the hiphop community grows in India.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody Event Details:
Spotlight Artist: Andrea Sendek, Inez Schynell, Kylie Ireland, Simran Nayyar
Date: Sunday, May 12th, 2024
Class Schedule:
10:00am Belly Dance [Beginner] with Andrea
10:00am Hip-Hop [Beginner] with Inez
11:15am Belly Dance [Intermediate] with Andrea
11:15am Shuffle [Beginner] with Kylie
12:30pm Desi Hip Hop [Intermediate] with Simran
12:30pm Shuffle [Intermediate] with Kylie
Location: In-Studio at Rae Studios 414 Mason St. 705, San Francisco, CA 94102
Tickets: $23 In-Studio, Free for Monthly Unlimited Members, Free for Moms
Use promocode "MothersDay24" at checkout.
Ticket Reservations: Register on MindBody