Anjali Austin is a distinguished Specialized Master Trainer in GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® methodology with over 35 years of experience in the system. Trained by Juliu Horvath and Hilary Cartwright, she taught in the New York City studios, and was among the first group of teachers certified as Master Trainers.
An interdisciplinary artist whose career spanned thirteen years performing with the critically acclaimed Dance Theatre of Harlem, she has performed ballets Billy the Kid, Swan Lake (Act II), Serenade, Flower Festival, Dougla, Concerto Barocco, and Frankie and Johnny, among others, and PBS television specials Fall River Legend, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Creole Giselle.
Ms. Austin currently serves as Professor and Chair of Florida State University’s School of Dance, where she introduced Gyrotonic to the program. As a result, the School is now equipped with each of the five pieces of specialized Gyrotonic equipment and courses are offered to dance majors. Ms. Austin holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.
Gay Gasper began her fitness career on Fit Tour, completing nine tours teaching fitness workshops in the United States. Additionally, Gay has shared her expertise by teaching at various Fitness Conventions around the world. Gay is the choreographer of over 40 fitness videos, has worked at QVC and HSN. She currently works full-time at a (CCRC) Continuing Care Resident Community as the Director of Fitness and teaches at numerous fitness facilities around Charlotte, NC. Gay continues to travel and teach, presenting fitness education for Interactive Fitness Trainers of America.
A passionate ambassador of classical music, violinist Monique Mead enjoys a rich career as a performer, educator, and innovator. Inspired and mentored by Leonard Bernstein, Monique has devoted her performing career to nurturing new audiences and curating extraordinary musical experiences. Her programs with major orchestras and festivals in the United States and Europe have drawn international acclaim for their popular appeal and innovative approach. Interweaving live music with education and audience engagement at the highest level, her programs have reached millions through television appearances, a six-year radio series with the Munich Radio Orchestra, and over 20 years of concerts with the Cologne Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, Düsseldorf Symphony, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Mainly Mozart Festival. Since 2012 Monique has served as Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, where she trains musicians in community engagement, peak performance, and professionalism as she helps them forge new paths as professional musicians. Monique performs on violin made in 1860 by J.B. Vuillaume which was gifted to her at age 19. She enjoys hiking, yoga, homegrown cuisine, and performing with her talented teens, Isabel and Tino.
Touted as a “gifted guitarist” by the New York Times, 2-time Grammy-nominated artist Mak Grgić [GER-gich] is a star on the worldwide stage. From the ethnic music of his native Balkans to extreme avant-garde and microtonal music, his roles as soloist, collaborator, and Grammy-nominated recording artist are fueled by curiosity, imagination, and boundless energy. As a testament to his versatility and wide-ranging appeal, in 2018 Mak was invited by legendary singer-songwriter k.d. lang to perform as the opening act for the North American leg of her Ingénue Redux Tour. Recent engagements include performances and residencies at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Konzerthuset in Stockholm, several venues in Portugal, Teatro Cervantes de Bejar in Castilla-Leon/Spain, the Sarajevo Music Academy, several venues in Slovenia, the Paris Guitar Foundation, Zurich University of the Arts, Taipei National Theater, Shanghai Grand Theater, and the Hong Kong International Guitar Festival. Mak’s latest recordings, “Balkanisms” for Naxos Music plus “MAKrotonal” and Grammy®- nominated “Mak|Bach” for MicroFest Records, explore a vast repertoire spanning ethnic music, microtonal, new music and early music on re-fretted instruments, such as a “zig-zag fretted Bach prototype guitar” that allows him to create a “well- tempered guitar” for “Mak|Bach.” Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1987, Mak studied guitar in Zagreb with the revered Ante Cagalj at the Elly Basic Music Academy. He completed a bachelor’s degree with Alvaro Pierri at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and in the fall of 2017, he began the Artist Diploma program at USC, the first guitarist in the university’s history to be admitted to this elite program. Mak currently holds a full-time teaching position at University of South Carolina, and is a founder and CEO of Notey, a startup building a mobile music education game.
