Our Team

At En Avant Fitness, we pride ourselves on cultivating a sense of community, and a place where we can care for ourselves and each other.  Making your health and well-being a priority; being kind to yourself and to others is essential to living a happy life.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our hearts, our passion and our journey with you.
Namasté 

 

 

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Janine Romanelli

Founder, Instructor

As a child, my love for movement began with ballet. I danced my way through my childhood and young adulthood as a classically trained ballet dancer. As a dancer, I always had a natural inclination for exercise and healthy eating, and I always enjoyed taking fitness classes in my free time. The thing that resonated with me most, regardless of the type of movement or class, was the feeling of joy, freedom and empowerment created within myself through movement, breath and sweat. 
     I left my ballet company to attend Boston College and pursue a degree in Special Education. I joined the dance ensemble and remained active, but had essentially stopped dancing. Years later, after having my children, I was given the opportunity to teach ballet. This reconnection with my first love sparked a fire within me and pushed me to obtain certification in Mat Pilates, Barre, Group Fitness, Piloxing, Piloxing Barre, and Booty Barre. 
   I began teaching classes in 2010, renting spaces in various studios and gyms. Each class I taught, and each client who told me how great they felt, reiterated to me that I was on the right path, that I had found my passion and purpose: to teach, to make a difference, and to make people’s lives better by sharing my love for movement, and my belief in the power we all possess to affect positive change within ourselves - physically, mentally and emotionally.
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Shayna Blake

Yoga & Pilates Fusion Instructor

In 2013 I found yoga after being a gymnast and dancer for 8 years. Before starting yoga I never thought of movement as something spiritual until the mind, body connection started to develop. In 2017 I completed my 200 hour teacher training with Yoga Works, and will forever be a student filled with curiosity to constantly learn more! In my personal practice as well as the classes I teach, I am always striving for ways to share with others how they can tap into their truest selves with the help of movement and breath work. For me to find ease within a posture allows me to share that same piece of stillness with others.
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Niko Ignatyev

Yoga & Meditation Instructor

Yoga accidentally came into my life when I was in college, pursuing a major in biochemistry...which I was not particularly interested in. I drifted through college life aimlessly, until somehow needing to fulfill a requirement I took a class in religion and the class was on Hinduism.
My professor, Vishwa Adluri, re-ignited me, suddenly things became clear and I knew that I wanted to study philosophy and religion. Hindu traditions appealed to me for it offered a practical way of coming to realization of the state that all of these traditions pointed to and so I decided to explore.
Half a year into taking yoga classes I decided to go deeper and took my first 200 hour training with Sri Dharma Mittra and a few months later, 500 hour at Atmananda Yoga Sequence.
I believe that yoga is self-explanatory. One does not have to be philosophically inclined to experience what yoga offers, consistency in practice, patience, and desire to learn will bring about the desired result.
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Rome

Instructor, Sound Healer

Ever since my adolescence I’ve always felt a calling to help others.
 Initially, aspiring to be a doctor or a pharmacist I quickly had the realization that the approach of modern medicine and the use of pharmaceuticals did not resonate with me. Unbeknownst to me, this is where my journey as a healer began.

Studying Ayurveda, the oldest medical science, I became a holistic practitioner in 2016. Throughout that year, I began exploring Sound Healing; receiving in one on one as well as group settings I experienced much inner transformation and profound release. 

On the culmination of 2016, I met my Twin Soul at a Sound Bath on New Year’s Eve and it was this sacred partnership which opened the door for us to study Sound Healing and both receive advanced level certification as Sound Healers. 

My devotion is to being of service and offering a safe space for all to experience healing and personal transformation.
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Ariel Henney

Yoga Instructor

I found yoga 7 years ago, stumbling into a 100 degree Bikram studio.... then I very quickly proceeded to run right back out of the sweltering room. A Brooklyn girl with a love for turning challenges into opportunities, I didn’t let that deter me from a life of flexibility and mobility. Yoga quickly turned into a passion. As a full time registered nurse, I recognized that becoming a yoga teacher would allow me to branch out and find other ways to help people heal the body, mind and spirit. My style of yoga blends vinyasa elements with strength training, yin and primal movements. Come flow with me!
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Leila Bershad

Dance Instructor

Dance has emotional and uniting powers unlike anything else and I’m in love with everything about this incredible art form – its movements, expressiveness, musicality, versatility, its magic. I have been dancing since I was five years old, training in various styles including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, pointe, choreography, and the Graham and Horton techniques. I started teaching very young, always getting excited to share with people this beautiful world I’m so passionate about! I graduated from a Performing Arts High School as a Dance Major and am continuing this amazing journey, studying as BFA in Dance. I truly believe that dance is one of the greatest emotional outlets, allowing us to heal, tell stories, connect with music, and cultivate strength and grace through practice and training of the body. I am so grateful to be able to share its gifts, both through performing and teaching, watching people fall in love with dance just as I have!