Amberlyn Sasser

Phone: (804) 868-8641

Email: amberlynsasser@gmail.com

Born into a military family in Yuma, Arizona in 1984, Amberlyn Sasser and her family traveled all over the country while she was growing up. Her father, a Marine, had an artistic side that rubbed off on her. At the age of five, Sasser started playing the piano and singing. Excelling in both rapidly, she was soon singing for military dinner engagements and weddings and playing the piano for the for the public television station in Stafford, Virginia.

In 1996, Sasser and her family moved to Havelock, North Carolina. There, she decided to concentrate more on on the training of her voice, and joined her middle school choirs; first Havelock Middle School, then Tucker Creek Middle School. She also became the accompanist for the choirs. At the age of 14, she auditioned for and won a spot in the North Carolina State Choir.

In May of 1997, Sasser attended a performance by El Ballet Folklorico Brillante de Cherry Point to watch some of her friends perform. Impressed by their performance, she developed a strong desire to study Mexican Jalisco folk dance, which was supported by both of her parents, especially her mother, who saw this as the perfect opportunity to reinforce her Mexican heritage in her daughter. By June of 1997, Sasser was enrolled with the company and learning and performing its choreographies.

Due to her father’s career, Sasser eventually had to leave the company when her father received orders to work in the Pentagon, and they had to move back to Virginia. Thanks to her mother’s desire of keeping Sasser involved with dancing, she was willing to commute from Woodbridge, Virginia to Baltimore, Maryland once a week for dance lessons. Unfortunately, their move back to Stafford, Virginia and the excessive traveling forced her to give this up because it was interfering with her school work.

Nearly a year later, Sasser wanted to take up dancing again, but the dance programs that were available to her were too expensive. Therefore, her only option was to join her high school cheerleading team, where she practiced acrobatics, and quickly excelled to the varsity and competition teams. Being on the cheerleading teams quickly relieved her of her fear of heights, which came in handy later.

Sasser also continued singing and playing the piano, and through this, earned a few awards, including “Most Talented Musician” in 2002. Also, in 2002 she was accepted into Virginia Commonwealth University, where she received her Bachelor of Art degree in Spanish. 

While in the university, through the dance department, she experimented with different styles of dance, such as modern dance, ballet, and flamenco. Due to her deep interest in Latin cultures, she also took flamenco class from the Latin Ballet of Virginia, where she met Edwin Roa and was introduced to social partner dance for the first time.

Knowing very little about Salsa and Argentine Tango, and knowing that Roa offered free training to those who were involved in ETNIA (his amateur performing group), Sasser decided to audition for the group in October 2003. However, because of her lack of experience, she didn’t make it into the group. Nevertheless, her commitment to learning pushed her into taking private instruction from Roa. After realizing her potential and her interest in pursuing a dance career (not to mention, her willingness to do stunts), Roa decided to train her as his partner. 

By the summer of 2004, Sasser became Roa’s professional dance partner. Learning and sharing his vision for Zabor, she began training, teaching his techniques, and offering instruction herself. In November 2005 they were awarded first place in the Carolina Classic Professional Show Dance Competition in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In 2008, in order to continue practicing her musical attributes, Sasser started giving piano and voice lessons through Heinz Musitronics in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Today, Sasser’s commitment to dance and music is stronger than ever and continues to grow. It is in her personal interest to become a well respected and recognized artist in dance and music, while continuing to develop her career as an instructor in both fields.