​​Paula graduated from the Vlaamse Dance Academy in Belgium in 1989,  where she was trained in Ballet, Jazz, Modern Dance and Tap. She has been dancing professionally since the age of 18, performing on European television programs and many authorized stage musicals, including The Fan of Lady Windermere, West Side Story and My Fair Lady, directed by the renowned Filipe La Feria. She has also danced with several dance companies in Greece, Spain and Portugal. She was chosen to perform for Nelson Mandela in Portugal with the company Oficina de Danca directed by Benvindo Fonseca.

Paula taught for 10 years at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. She also taught Ballet at Belvedere Community center and the Berkeley YMCA for four years before starting her own school.  Currently, Paula has over four hundred students under her supervision at the Van Der Zwaan Dance Studio.

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