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Instructor Biographies

: Genna Beattie started studying dance at the Shawl-Anderson Modern Dance Center under the instruction of Reginald Ray-Savage and Zafra Miriam. She attended the Savage Jazz Dance Company Summer Intensive several times, where she gained exposure to multiple techniques and a variety of dance teachers, including Frank Shawl. As her experience and skill set expanded, Genna transitioned into teaching jazz dance to children, teens and adults at the Center. Presently, Genna teaches jazz for adults and focuses on building a strong technical foundation coupled with quality of movement. A Bay Area native, Genna graduated from Albany High School and UC Berkeley with a BA in Public Health. [top]
: Hally Bellah-Guther started dancing at the age of 16. Inspired by her Berkeley High School dance teacher to choreograph and take modern and jazz classes, she auditioned for The San Francisco Ballet School on a whim and was accepted. After studying and performing there her senior year she went to the The North Carolina School of the Arts where she earned her BFA in ballet with a minor in modern.
After graduating she danced in the Bay Area and then for four years in NYC Some of the companies she danced with are: Deborah Slater and Friends, The Ruth Langridge Dance Company, and the San Francisco Opera Ballet. In New York: The Rebecca Kelly Dance Co, New York Theater Ballet, The Eglevsky Ballet and The Armitage Ballet. With these companies she toured nationally and internationally including two European tours, a State Department tour to Central America and a televised performance in France in the work of Karole Armitage. She also toured North America for 6 months as the lead dancer in the musical "The King and I."
In 1991 she joined the Komische Oper in Berlin, Germany where she danced for 5 years, in neoclassical productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella as well as modern works of choreographers from around Europe. She also performed as a guest artist with The Tanz Fabrik, a modern company in Berlin. Besides teaching the Beginning Adult's ballet class at Shawl-Anderson, she works as a Certified Personal Trainer and has been teaching dance and movement for 7 years at her three children's schools. In the February '05 Dance Magazine she was interviewed and pictured in an article about dancing in Europe. She has recently completed work in 3 yoga videos in which she is a featured demonstrator. [top]
: Marcia Cantillana Marcia has had an extensive international dance career. Her training in Santiago de Chile included such prestigious institutions as the Arts Conservatory of the Universidad de Chile, Ballet de Santiago, and the Centro de Danza Espiral, where she focused on learning dance pedagogy in addition to her continued training in ballet, modern, and choreography.
     At the age of 22, she was invited to dance with the Compañía de Danza Carabobo and teach at their school in Valencia, Venezuela. In 1996 she moved to Germany, where for four years she danced with Katja Bergmann Contemporary Dance in Hamburg and trained in Pina Bausch's School of Dance at the Folkwang Hochschule. Later she returned to Latin America, teaching at the Universidad Nacional and Academia Superior de Ballet de Costa Rica while dancing with Danza Universitaria. Prior to coming to the United States in the spring of 2003, Marcia was invited to dance with Ballet Ouest, of Montreal, Canada, for their 2002 fall season.
     During 2003-04 Marcia joined The Peak Ballet Theater in Colorado Springs, as a principal dancer and choreographer, as well as a ballet and modern dance teacher for the youth division of the company. It was there she melded her passions for ballet and modern into a unique approach to teaching and choreographing contemporary ballet on pointe.
     Marcia moved to the Bay Area in 2005, where she performed with Moving Arts Dance, and worked for Ross Dance Company as a guest choreographer. Presently Marcia is thrilled to be in her second year with Shawl-Anderson as part of the ballet faculty. [top]
: Marisa Castillo has been involved in the Bay Area dance community for the past 10 years. She started her early classical ballet training in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. Later she studied the Vaganova Russian syllabus with Karen Morell. She is a dedicated student of Augusta Moore and knows the benefits of Feldenkrais and Augusta's unique body awareness approach to ballet. Marisa has danced with a number of different companies including Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Santa Clara Ballet, and Columbia City Ballet. Most recently she furthered her dance training in the Certificate Program at the Ailey School in New York City. [top]
: Maurice Charrière has danced and taught in the Bay Area for over 20 years, including Berkeley City Ballet and Shawl-Anderson. He has performed many duets with his wife, Reenie, and was a member of the RPMs, Jade Dance, Sara McLennan and Rebecca Saltzer Dance Theater among others. Adept at both Ballet and Modern dance, he strives to infuse his classes with both technique and improvisation. [top]
: Sandra Chinn offers an intermediate ballet class which begins with a simple, thorough barre which allows emphasis on placement and alignment, without force. Following is a center designed to move the dancers into spacious, expansive movement. Holistic and respectful to the individual needs of each dancer, it is appealing to people from all disciplines of dance.
In New York City, she has been a company member of Dennis Wayne's Dance Theater, Finis Jhung's Chamber Ballet USA and Bob Bowyer's American Ballet Comedy. She was featured in the off-Broadway dance show "Funny Feet," for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination as "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical." She is a graduate of the National Academy of Arts (Champaign, Ill.), and she continued studies at the Joffrey Ballet School American Ballet Center and intensively with Maggie Black. Teacher training includes seminars in Vaganova technique with Karen Morell. San Francisco Bay Area teaching credits include ODC Dance Commons, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Berkeley City Ballet, IDEA project, and as guest teacher for dance companies such as ODC/Dance, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Matthew Bourne's New Adventures (Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, and Edward Scissorhands). She is a native of Berkeley,California, and has a BA in Computer Science (Mills College). [top]
: Janet Collard grew up dancing and singing her way throughout the bay area to finally discover modern dance in her young adult life. She ended up receiving her BFA in dance from CalArts and her MFA in dance from Mills College. She has danced throughout southern and northern California for noted companies such as Trip Dance Theater and Collage Dance Theater as well as a project with Joe Goode. She has also danced for Molissa Fenley, Li Chiao-Ping, Sonsheree Giles and Rebecca Gilbert. She currently dances for Katie Faulkner's little seismic dance company, and Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir. Janet's own work has been performed at CalArts, San Diego's Sushi Performance Space, Mills College, and the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason. Janet currently lives in Oakland with her husband Raja. [top]
: Angela Demmel teaches dance at Moreau Catholic High School and Cal State East Bay. She has developed and directed the dance program at Moreau Catholic High School over the past ten years. Her students have performed her choreography in festivals such as the Dance IS Festival, Vision Series, and Renaud-Wilson Dance Festival. [top]
: Wendy Diamond has trained in London, New York, and the Bay Area. She has performed ballet with Berkeley Ballet Theatre, modern with the Ellen Bromberg Ensemble, Della Davidson Dance Co., Dance Brigade, Tracy Rhodes and Frank Shawl, and aerial dance with Terry Sendgraff. Her choreography has been produced 4 times by Summerfest Dance, Into the Realm/Dance Gallery, Santa Cruz and the Emeryville Outdoor Dance Experience. She choreographed pieces for the Danza Contemporanea de Nicaragua, advanced students from School of the Arts, SF, and the university Dance Theatre at San Francisco State University. She has taught at BBT, Cazadero Music and Arts Camp, EBCPA, the CSU Summer Arts Festival and School of the Arts, SF. In addition to teaching at Shawl-Anderson (since 1987), Wendy is also on the faculty at SF State University and assists Terry Sendgraff in numerous aerial forms. [top]
: Marina Eglevsky was born in New York City and is the daughter of Andre Eglevsky, world reknowned Danseur Noble, and Leda Anchutina, pupil of Michael Fokine and former soloist with the New York City Ballet. Marina grew up backstage with New York City Ballet, taking George Balanchine's company class and travelled with her father and mother in the United States and abroad. Her formal dance training began in her parent's school and later she studied at the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre School.
     At a very young age, Marina performed professionally in New York City Ballet's productions of the Nutcracker, with the Eglevsky Ballet Company and as a guest in various companies and engagements. At the age of fifteen, Marina joined the Rebecca Harkness Ballet Company and launched her own very successful dance career. She later was principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Hamburg Staatsoper Ballet, under the direction of John Neumier. She danced with dancers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Lawrence Rhodes, Helgi Tomasson and skater John Curry, and danced leading roles in ballets such as Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Julliet, Rodeo (Agnes de Mille) and Cinderella. Marina was a featured artist in the Broadway revival production of Brigaddon under the direction of Vivian Matalon and Agnes de Mille.
     Marina's teaching career began with the North Carolina School of the Arts as a faculty member and guest artist. She has also taught all around the United States. In addition to teaching, Marina also coaches professional dancers and stages various ballets for professional companies all around the world including several Balanchine Ballets, which she has exclusive rights to.
     Marina currently lives in Berkeley, Calif. As well as teaching in the Bay area, Marina teaches and stages ballets with the Diablo Ballet. She also maintains a private practice in bodywork, specializing in medical massage work and the Rosen Method. Her private practice also includes training and instruction on the White Cloud system, an exercize system designed for neuro-muscular coordination, flexibility and strength and rehabilitating and preventing injuries. [top]
: Katie Faulkner Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Katie Faulkner studied modern and ballet and performed with a multi-age, community dance company for 10 years. She received her BFA in theatre with an emphasis in playwriting from Hampshire College in 1997, followed by an MFA in dance performance & choreography from Mills College in 2002. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2000, Katie has performed the works of Mark Morris, Trisha Brown, Jeff Slayton, Mary Cochran, Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, June Watanabe, Victoria Marks, Abigail Hosein, Kim Epifano and Ann Carlson. She has worked with several of these choreographers through her involvement with AXIS Dance Company with whom she has been performing both locally and nationally since 2003. She is also a dancer with Randee Paufve's Paufve Dance and has performed with them in the Bay Area and at the Joyce SoHo Theater in NYC. She has enjoyed teaching students of all ages and abilities around the country and at institutions such as Santa Clara University, Marin Ballet, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, The Julia Morgan Center for the Arts and Paden Elementary. Katie's choreography has been presented by the Renaud-Wilson Dance Festival, the Julia Morgan Center's Dance Is Festival, the Summerfest/WestWave Dance Festival, and her newly formed little seismic dance company is performing for the first time as part of this year's Monterey Dance Festival. [top]
: Rachelle Feldman grew up studying and performing ballet at Maryland Youth Ballet with national acclaimed teacher Hortensia Fonseca, and modern dance with Anne Waugh Allan among others. She also served as Ballet Mistress for Columbia Dance Theater and taught creative movement and beginning ballet to children. She earned a bachelor's degree in Dramatic Arts - Dance at the University of California, Berkeley where she received the Julia Payne Award for Dance Scholarship and Choreography. [top]
: Carolyn Goto has a cumulative experience of 20 years teaching beginning, intermediate and advanced levels for both children and adults. Her earliest influences were Merriam Lanova, Alan Howard and Richard Gibson. Her influences as a professional dancer include Henry Berg, Sue Loyd and Maggie Black. As a Principal Dancer with Oakland Ballet and Ballet Met in Columbus, Ohio her experiences ranged from La Sylphide, Coppelia, Nutcracker, La Boutique Fantasque to Cakewalk. She has worked with choreographers spanning ballet history from Leonide Massine, Eugene Loring and Ruthanna Boris to contemporaries such as Betsy Erickson and Val Caniparolli.
As a teacher, it is her desire to do more than demonstrate what dance and technique look like, but rather to Impart an understanding of How to achieve desired results. Her teaching seeks to achieve a blending of artistry, integrity and musicality along with a knowledge of movement, placement and technique. [top]
: Nina Otis Haft is artistic director of Nina Haft & Company, a contemporary dance performance group based in Oakland. Her choreography has been presented locally as part of summerfest/dance, Dancers' Group Bread and Butter Series, The Bay Area Dance Series, Sundays at Sinai Jewish Culture Series, Festival at the Lake, as well as in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Portland and Novosibirsk (Siberia.) Nina's work has been supported by numerous public and private funding sources, including the Alameda County Art Commission, the Clorox Company Foundation, the CA$H Program of Theatre Bay Area, the Zellerbach Family Fund, and numerous generous individuals. She has been honored as a recipient of the City of Oakland Creative Artist Choreographer's Fellowship, and has served as Artist in Residence for the California Arts Council and at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in Woodside, CA. Recently, Nina became a participating member of CHIME, Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange, a program of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. In addition to teaching modern dance at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Nina is on the faculty at the University of San Francisco and at Cal State University Hayward. [top]
: Abigail Hosein holds her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Mills College and her BA in Psychology from Goucher College. In 2002 she founded ahdanco, a modern dance company that has since preformed throughout the Bay Area in three home seasons at Dance Mission Theater and in festivals such as Summerfest, the Vision Series, Monterey Dance Festival, Julia Morgan Center's DanceIs Festival, Raw&Uncut, and Dance Brigade's Harvest Festival. Hosein's work focuses on how the life and imagination of an individual can be shaped, for better or worse, by the totality of psychological content--engaging, inspiring and provoking self-assessment and self-reflection in viewers. ahdanco's repertory consists of a wide range of modern dance diverse in style, structure and content and includes collaborations with composers, poets, and visual artists. Hosein has performed locally with DanceRepertory/San Francisco and Mills College Repertory Dance Company, as well as with the NC based Elon Dancers Repertory Company and Moving Liturgy Dance Company. Abigail teaches at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center and Santa Clara University (part time), and has been guest choreographer at Berkeley High, College Prep High, and Dance/10 Performing Arts School. She also teaches with the San Francisco Performances' Dance Mentors program which sends choreographers into public schools to share their creative vision with students. Please check on upcoming performances at www.ahdanco.org. [top]
: Antoine Hunter grew up in Oakland and began dancing with Dawn James at Skyline High School. Mr. Hunter performed in many musical plays for various companies and theaters such as The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre as Joseph in Black Nativity, The Wiz with Belazio Theater, Love Life Foundation, and OET. He attended California Institute of the Arts for two years and is currently completing his B.A degree in dance at St. Mary's College of California. Mr. Hunter studied at the Paul Taylor Summer Intensive in 2003 and 2004, West African with Masters C.K. and Betty Ladzekpo for seven years, and with Reginald Ray-Savage and Zafra Mariam for ten years. He is currently a faculty member at East Bay Center of the Performing Arts and Co-Director of Urban Ballet in Richmond, as well as a teacher at the Malonga Casquerlaurd Center for the Arts. He also performs with Alayo Dance Company and is an instructor and rehearsal director for the Ross Dance Company. Antoine hopes to show people with hearing or any kind disability that they too can reach their dreams. [top]
: Rebecca Johnson has taught at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center since 2001. She is a member of Paufve Dance and Nina Haft & Company and has appeared in work by Martt Lawrence, Carol Kueffer, Dana Lawton and other Bay Area choreographers. She brings over 20 years of dance experience to her classes, which focus on creating and releasing momentum, developing a movement voice, and exploring performance techniques. Rebecca's choreography has been presented at the Dance IS Festival and by Watchword Press as part of The Whole Story. In addition to teaching, Rebecca is a fundraiser for an Oakland-based social services agency and a graphic designer and publicist for arts non-profits and small businesses. She is also a member of the Board of Directors at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. [top]
: Yuko Katsumi was born in Tokyo, Japan. She started studying dance at the age of 3 years old in Berlin, West Germany. After that she continued her ballet training in Japan, Zimbabwe, and finally at the Royal Ballet School in London where she graduated with high honors. Yuko then danced professionally with the Matsuyama Ballet in Tokyo, Japan, the Tampa Ballet, and the Colorado Ballet where she was Principal Dancer.
She has danced the principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Raymonda, La Bayadere, Romeo and Juliet, She has also danced principal roles in ballets by Balanchine, Fokine, Loring, as well as many neo-classical and contemporary ballets. Yuko has had the honor to guest dance in Zimbabwe, Estonia, Japan, and around the United States.
Yuko has coached and taught ballet around the United States, Taiwan, and Japan. She is also teaching at the Marin Ballet. She tries to fuse her respect and love for classical ballet with the aesthetics of the time we now live in. [top]
: Ramona Kelley trained in ballet and modern dance at Berkeley Ballet Theater. She danced on scholarship at the Paul Taylor School, and was a 2006 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts' ARTS Week finalist. She is currently a student at NYU's Tisch School for the Arts pursuing a BFA in ballet and modern dance. [top]
: Katie Kruger studied dance at UC Santa Barbara, in New York, and in San Francisco. She has taught dance to high school students for the past eight years and has been teaching at Shawl-Anderson since 2002. She continues to perform with various choreographers in the area, most recently with Patricia Banchik/Kineses. Her classes focus on how to move with strength, ease, and joy while acquiring technique. [top]
: Carol Kueffer earned her MFA in Dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in Theater from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Carol lived in New York City for fifteen years, choreographing, performing and teaching dance professionally. She was a lecturer in dance at UC Santa Cruz from 1999-2002. As a core-member of David Dorfman Dance for eleven years, she performed and taught internationally, contributing to the distinctive character of the company. Her choreography was commissioned for performances in New York, California, and Brazil. Carol teaches all levels of Modern Technique, Ballet, Jazz, Improvisation, Composition, Repertory, Yoga, and Movement for Performers. Carol teaches at Shawl Anderson Dance Center where she was Artist in Residence in 2005. She also teaches at UC Davis this summer and at Sonoma State College this fall. [top]
: Dana Lawton is the director of Dance at St. Mary's College Dance Department, a faculty member at Shawl-Anderson Dance Studios in Berkeley and is a certified yoga instructor. She is a former member of Janice Garrett and Dancers based in San Francisco. Awarded Outstanding Performer in the 2000 Vision Series, she was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for her performance in Garrett's Wayfarers. Dana holds an MFA in Choreography from Mills College and a BFA in Dance from California Institute of the Arts. She is a 2006 Artist-in-Residence at Shawl-Anderson. [top]
: Suzanne Martin is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a gold-certified Pilates expert. Listed in Who's Who for Professionals, she has 25 years of experience in the health and movement fields, blending art and science into her instruction. She is a Master ACE and ACSM trainer, and maintains a private Pilates/ physical therapy practice, Total Body Development in Alameda, California. As a performing arts specialist, she conducts nutrition seminars for the School of the San Francisco Ballet, and is the lead physical therapist for Smuin Ballet in San Francisco. Through Pilates Therapeutics®, she provides instructional DVD's and courses in the Pilates Method and nutrition. She has published extensively in Dance Magazine, Pilates Style, Penguin Books, the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science as well as others. Contact: Smartin2 at pacbell dot net www.totalbodydevelopment.com. [top]
: Jenna McClintock is an Oakland native, and received her early training as a dancer with Ronn Guidi at the Oakland Ballet Academy. She joined the professional company when she was 14 as an apprentice, and at 16, became a full company member. While with Oakland Ballet Jenna danced and toured all over the country, as well as the Virgin Islands and Paris, France, with a wide range of ballets from many different choreographers, such as Ronn Guidi, Carlos Carvahal, Michael Lowe, Emily Keeler, Tom Rudd, John Butler, Val Canniporoli, Alonzo King, Eugene Loring, Michel Fokine, and Bronislava Nijinska. In 2001, Jenna joined the Richmond Ballet in VA, dancing five years. While there, Jenna had the opportunity to work with more great choreographers, such as Jessica Lang, Mauricio Wainrot, William Soleau, Colin Conner, and Malcolm Burn. She accompanied their first trip to the Joyce Theater in NYC, dancing the Maiden in Ms. Lang's "A Maiden's Hymn," and the lead in Mr. Wainrot's depiction of the Holocaust, "Now And Then." Jenna has been teaching since 1999 and has choreographed for both the Oakland and Richmond ballet academies, as well as for the University of Richmond, VA. Currently, Jenna has returned to the Oakland Ballet to continue dancing and teaching for the company and school. [top]
: Maureen "Mo" Miner recently relocated to the Bay Area from Illinois where she was an Assistant Professor of Dance at Illinois State University. She received her B.S. in Psychology and then went on to get her MFA in Dance Performance at the University of Iowa. She has performed with Jennifer Kayle and Company, Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre, Charlotte Adams and Dancers, Duarte Dance Works, Sara Semonis, and in works by Miguel Gutierrez and Lucas Crandall. In the Bay Area she has worked with Project Bandaloop and is currently dancing in a piece for Nina Haft. [top]
: Zafra Miriam has been teaching jazz dance and ballet for all levels and most ages since 1989. She counts among her most influential teachers Priscilla Regalado, Frank Shawl, and Reginald Ray-Savage. She was a founding member of Savage Jazz Dance Company under the direction of Mr. Savage, and created and directed the Savage Jazz Dance Company Summer Intensive program, which ran for over ten years at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Currently Zafra teaches jazz for teens and adults, emphasizing strong technique and movement quality. [top]
: Hope Mohr trained at the San Francisco Ballet School and on scholarship at the Trisha Brown and Merce Cunningham Studios in New York, and has performed throughout the world with a wide range of modern choreographers, including Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Douglas Dunn, Margaret Jenkins, and Della Davidson. Hope has taught dance at the London School of Contemporary Dance, P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, ODC, Trisha Brown Studio, Dancers' Group Summer Intensive Series, and at Stanford. She has studied improvisation with Mary Overlie, Wendell Beavers, Barbara Dilley, and Deborah Hay, and has studied the Alexander Technique since 2001. Hope has presented her choreography on both coasts and her new company, Hope Mohr Dance, will have their debut home season in March 2008. Visit www.hopemohr.org. [top]
: Corrine Nagata teaches a Horton based technique class. She has taught at The Ailey School in New York as well as LINES and ODC dance schools in San Francisco. Corrine is also a consultant for Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theatre of Harlem and teaches for Jacques D'Amboise at the National Dance Institute. After attending San Francisco School of the Arts, she graduated in the Advanced Placement Program from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She is proud to have danced for Bay Area's Janice Garrett and Savage Jazz Dance Company. [top]
: Marlena Penney Oden received her early training on full scholarship at The Chattanooga Ballet and attended the School for Performing Arts in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Shortly before moving to the Bay Area in 2003, she graduated Cum Laude with a BS in Dance from the University of Oregon. She currently dances with Nina Haft and Co. and Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir. She is also a member of Paufve Dance and has performed with them in the Bay Area and at the Joyce SoHo Theater in NYC.
Marlena currently teaches Adult Intermediate Modern as well as Teen Modern and is program director for the Shawl-Anderson Youth Ensemble. Her classes emphasize efficient alignment and individual artistry. She strives to maintain a fun, healthy, classroom community where dancers feel empowered, challenged, and safe enough to take risks.
E-mail Marlena: marlenapenney@yahoo.com [top]
: Nadia Oka, CMA, RYT, MFA, is a choreographer and dancer who has performed and taught movement in New York and the Bay Area. She is a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and a yoga teacher from Alison West's Yoga Union. In 2007 she earned an MFA at Mills College in Choreography and Performance. She has studied yoga with Alison West and kinesthetic anatomy with Irene Dowd and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. [top]
: Originally from upstate New York, Randee Paufve, artistic director of Paufve Dance has been working in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1988. Her choreography has been presented by west coast organizations including The Mondavi Performing Arts Center at UC Davis, Summerfest/Dance, The West Wave Dance Festival, Dancer's Group Studio Theater and Theater Artaud, and nationally by Joyce SoHo Theater in Manhattan, Conduit and Echo Theater in Portland, On The Boards/Seattle, the Dance Complex/Boston, 12 MinutesMax in LA, and the Phantom Theater in Warren, VT. A two-time Izzy nominee, Randee has been awarded multiple choreography residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program., the Red Cinder Creativity Center in Hawaii, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center and the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. She has been a commissioned guest artist and teacher at Reed College, Lewis & Clark College, Elmira College, the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Dancer's Group San Francisco and Conduit in Portland. A former member of the dance faculties at Cal State Hayward and UC Davis, she currently teaches dance at University of San Francisco, Saint Mary's College, and at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley. Randee's work has been funded by several granting bodies including the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Clorox Foundation, the Saint Mary's College Faculty Development Fund and Alumni Fund, The Regional Arts & Culture Council of Portland and CASH/Theatre Bay Area. Randee is most grateful for the influential teachings of Frank Shawl, Beth Harris, Sarah Padilla, Gregg Bielemeier, Shelley Senter, Susannah Newman, Tere O'Connor and Susan Rethorst. [top]
: Elizebeth Randall grew up in Santa Cruz, dancing with the regional youth company Santa Cruz Ballet Theater. She studied ballet with Wendy Diamond at SFSU, graduating with a BA in Dance in 2003. Elizebeth is now a teaching assistant to Dance Professor Susan Whipp at SFSU as well as teaching children and teens at Lamorinda Ballet Center, Volee Classical Ballet, Carlmont High, and various Bay Area elementary schools. Elizebeth is currently performing with local companies Dance Ceres, Davalos Dance Company, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Liss Fain Dance, and Paco Gomes and Dancers.[top]
: Jill Randall is the Assistant Director here at Shawl-Anderson. She began teaching children's and teen modern classes at the Center in 2000 and has taught in many K-12 public schools throughout the Bay Area. She is the co-founder and co-chair of the Dance IS Festival, a multigenerational festival for high school groups, college dance departments, and professional choreographers. She performs with Nina Haft & Company, Martt Lawrence, Dana Lawton, and Alisa Rasera. Jill is on the board of the CA Dance Education Association and Dancers' Group. In her classes, she strives to get children moving, creating, problem solving, and learning and expressing through our bodies. [top]
: Reginald Ray-Savage, director of the Savage Dance Company, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He began dancing, having followed an attractive young lady to class, at Katherine Dunham's Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis. His teachers there, in ballet, tap, jazz and Dunham technique, were outstanding alumni of Miss Dunham's company, including Lenwood Morris, Norman Davis, and Archie Savage. Mr. Ray-Savage does not take lightly the fact that his was the last generation of dancers to be trained by many of these "old school" teachers. His respect for them can be found today in every class he teaches and every piece of his choreography. [top]
: April Taylor has been teaching and working with children since 2000. Currently she teaches at the New Conservatory Theater and Thornhill Elementary School. She is a graduate of Mills College with a BA in Women's Studies and Dance. She has been performing for most of her life and working in a variety of artistic areas. Her Child Modern classes are full of movement, improvisation, and fun. This class will explore dance technique, choreography, and personal creativity. Suitable for all levels of young dancers. Join the FUN! [top]
: Shaunna Vella danced for the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo from 1995-1999. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. Mary's College where she double majored in Dance and Psychology. She was the recipient of the Louis LeFevre Award for Performing Arts in 2003. She teaches dance at St. Mary's College, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Volee Dance and at public schools around the Bay Area through Young Audiences. She is currently dancing for Liss Fain Dance, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Paufve Dance and Davalos Dance Company. [top]
: Amanda Whitehead trained primarily in ballet at The Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC. She danced professionally with The Washington Ballet from 1994-1996, before leaving to pursue her bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in dance at Princeton University. She choreographed for the drama program at The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, for nine years. A new transplant to the Bay Area, she believes in celebrating young dancers' individual gifts and always finding joy in movement. [top]
: Susan Edgren Williams trained and danced with the San Francisco Ballet, Oakland Ballet (soloist), Royal Academy of Dance London, Palazzo Brancaccio Rome, Alexandra Daniloua New York, and San Francisco Opera. She has taught at Berkeley Ballet Theater, St. Mary's College, Oakland Ballet, The Ballet School Walnut Creek, California Theater Arts, California Ballet, and the Orinda Ballet. [top]
: Dwayne Worthington has a BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from CSU Long Beach. He moved to the Bay Area in June 2006 to join the Robert Moses' Kin Dance Company and immediately performed at Jacob's Pillow, the Bates Festival and New York City Center's Fall for Dance series. Dwayne's technique mixes the discipline of ballet, flow of modern release and exuberance of hip hop. In addition to Shawl-Anderson, he occasionally teaches at San Francisco Dance Center and College Preperatory School. [top]