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, Amberlyn started playing the piano and singing.  Excelling in both rapidly, she was soon singing for military dinner engagements and playing the piano for the public television station in Stafford, Virginia .  

In 1996, Amberlyn and her family moved to Havelock, North Carolina .  Being that her family was unable to find a good piano instructor, she decided to concentrate more on the training her voice, and joined her middle school choir.  She also became the accompanist for the choir.  At the age of 14, she was chosen to sing in the North Carolina States Choir.

In May of 1997, Amberlyn 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 this style of 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, Amberlyn was enrolled with the company and learning its choreographies. 

Because of her father’s career, Amberlyn was forced to leave the company when the family received orders to move to Stafford, Virginia .  Thanks to her mother’s desire of keeping Amberlyn involved with dancing, she was willing to commute from Stafford to Baltimore once a week for dance lessons.  Unfortunately, the excessive traveling forced her to give this up because it was interfering with her school work.

Nearly a year later, Amberlyn wanted to take up dancing again, but the dance programs that were available to her were expensive.  Her only option was to join her high school cheerleading team, which provided her with a basic knowledge of acrobatics and ultimately relieved her of her fear of heights.

Amberlyn 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 (VCU), where she received her Bachelor of Art degree in Spanish.  While in college she experimented with different dance styles through the dance department.  Because of her deep interest in Latin cultures, she also took a flamenco class from the Latin Ballet of Virginia, where she met Edwin Roa and was introduced to social partner dancing 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), Amberlyn decided to audition for the group in October of 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 deep interests in pursuing a dance career, Roa decided to train her as his partner.

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

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