Pia Sen is the founder and director of the dance group Notinee. Pia is extremely proud of her dedicated, hard-working and passionate students, without whom Notinee would simply never be possible! Pia is also associate professor of health economics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Apart from dance, she loves gardening and travel.

Shannon McMahon is a California native who moved to Birmingham in 2003 with her husband, Jason (who is an amazing chef), and two cats, Ici and Rasa, from San Jose, California. Shannon has been with Notinee since 2006. She is Notinee’s co-coordinator, and deals with everything before programs when Pia stresses out! Shannon has also learned ATS Bellydance at the Devyani Studio for several years. She recently went back to school and is studying to become a Registered Dietician.

17 yrs old Alisha Ghosh simply loves to dance. Her parents are from India, but she was born and has lived all her life in Birmingham. Alisha is one of the two girls who started learning dance from Pia and performing with her even before ‘Notinee’ was established. Apart from Indian dance, Alisha has learned ballet, jazz, hip-hop, belly dance and modern, and has performed in ‘Christmas with ASO’, Alabama Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker, and annual recitals of Exclusively Ballet & Dance. Alisha is also a member of Oak Mountain High School’s girls’ show-choir.

Maria Pisu was born in Sardinia, Italy, and has been living in the US since 1991. She loves all kind of dance, has taken modern/jazz dance lessons and dabbled in African dance. She enjoys dancing salsa and merengue with her husband Sam and would love to learn tango. Maria has been with Notinee since its start in 2006 and is a regular performer. She has two wonderful sons, Lorenzo and Enrico, and works in the Division of Preventive Medicine at UAB.

Jianhua Zhang is assistant professor of neuropathology in the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Jianhua grew up in China, and came to USA to pursue her Ph.D. She has always yearned to dance, and is also an admirer of the works of Rabindranath Tagore, who inspired the style of dance that is done by Notinee, so this was provided the perfect opportunity! Jianhua has been with Notinee since 2006. She loves the dance, and says “it is therapeutic in a way that it melts all anxiety, frustration and anguishes away, and replaces them with graciousness, music and the heart.”

Born in San Salvador , El Salvador , Dora Eugenia moved to the US in 1983. After studying English, she entered the University of Georgia ’s School of Pharmacy . While representing her country in Track and Field, she also took ballet with El Salvador National School of Dance for 6 years. She and her husband, Sanjay Singh , like to travel around the world with their two children Vivek Gabriel (12) and Indira Evangelina (6). In addition to sports, gardening and dancing, Dora likes to cook and entertain guests.

Ching Sullivan is a 10-year-old 5th grader at Vestavia Hills Elementary Central. She and her mother came to Birmingham from Zhanjiang, China in 2005. Her favorite subject in school is mathematics and her favorite activities are music and dance. Ching is learning guitar and piano. Ching started dancing with Notinee in 2007, and is the youngest member in Notinee's main troupe.

11-year-old Kaitlyn Creel is an honor student at Helena Middle School and counts Indian Dance among her many cultural activities. She also sings with her school choir and plays Middle Eastern doumbek drum with Out of the Darj, a percussion group that performs with Notinee and area belly-dance groups.

Rupa Kitchens grew up in Mobile, AL. She did Indian dance 'informally' from early childhood, in Mobile, AL and later in Chapel Hill, NC. The demands of studying and working to develop a medical career resulted in an 8 year hiatus from dance. But shortly after her daughter, Maya, joined the Notinee children’s group, Rupa decided it was time to take up dance herself once again, and started Notinee classes in 2007. Rupa is an urologist with Urology Centers of AL, and enjoy travel, piano, violin, and decorating her gorgeous 100 year old house.

Nirja Patel loves to dance (both Notinee and bollywood). She is a sophmore at Spain Park High School and was born in Ahemdabad, India on July 19,1994. She enjoys sketching, watching movies, hanging out with friends, and dancing. She grew up watching bollywood movies and picked up bits and pieces, and lived in India for 9 years.

Emily Castleman

Suparna Bagchi grew up in India, and trained in classical dance for about 4 years during her childhood. She joined Notinee in early 2007, and is a dedicated member in spite of the demands of dissertation writing. Suparna loves socializing, and is an enthusiastic cook who experiments with all sorts of international cuisine.

Bidisa Chandra
Dancing has always been one of her favorite hobbies, and her mother started teaching her some fun Indian dance-moves as soon as she could walk! Bidisa is one of the two girls who started learning dance from Pia and performing with her even before ‘Notinee’ was established She has done jazz, ballet, figure skating, and belly dance, among others She is a member of the French club, drama club, geometry team, and First Priority.

Amy Walker Miller, a Birmingham native, began studying with Notinee in October 2007 out of a love of all things Indian. Amy also is a performer and teacher of Polynesian and Middle Eastern dance and an avid henna artist. A professional business communicator, she and her programmer husband, Rich, enjoy cooking, travel, reading, animals, politics, theology and general “geeking out” with their home network of computers and gadgets.