Vice President & Founding Teacher of The Class by Taryn Toomey. Natalie grew up in a household that was steeped in philosophy and healing, with a Jungian analyst and a doctor among her immediate family. But her own first love was theater. This love led her from Los Angeles to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her draw toward live performance — specifically physical theater methods like Suzuki, Viewpoints, Grotowski and committed impulse — was about affecting change on groups of people through movement and storytelling. After college, Natalie quickly found herself touring the world as a dancer for David Byrne and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, performing everywhere from Radio City to the Sydney Opera House. The nightly ritual of connecting with people to create intensely joyous experiences would prove to be invaluable training for The Class. Natalie came to The Class at a pivotal moment in her life. She was seeking a more immediate connection with community, a desire to affect a deeper change than the often impersonal world of performance had allowed. More important, her synchronistic collision with Taryn happened to take place six months before a life-shattering loss in Natalie's family. Through her work in The Class, she has been able to strengthen her own ability to move through trauma and, in turn, help others heal. Natalie's classes are athletic, vigorous, empowering, and suffused with her natural effervescence. She brings her students face-to-face with their own personal challenges; together, they sweat, they dig deep, and they come out energized — discovering how strong they are, mentally and physically. Sounds : Fleetwood Mac, Mumford and Sons, Bruce Springstein, FKA Twigs, Sia, Jose Gonzalez, Tracy Chapman, Emeli Sande, Birdy, Beyonce, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston