Rebecca Johnson had her early dance training on the East Coast in a Royal Academy of Dance ballet school near Boston. She discovered modern dance in 1985 and began performing professionally with Moving West Dance Company at the age of 14. Rebecca earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Dance and English Literature from Rutgers University. While in residence in New Jersey and New York City she performed in companies directed by Michael Gary and Val Suarez. Rebecca completed her Master of Education degree from the University of New Hampshire in 2001. Rebecca migrated west to California in 1999 and since then has performed with Nina Haft & Company, Paufve Dance, Abigail Hosein’s ahdanco, Rogelio Lopez & Dancers and Dana Lawton Dances amongst others. She was the Managing Director of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center from 2008-2014 after seven years of teaching modern for teens and adults at the Center as well as serving on the board. Rebecca became the Executive Director of Shawl-Anderson in January 2015. Rebecca’s administration background includes work with a range of non-profit organizations, both in social services and the arts, as well as private consulting work for numerous individuals and companies in the areas of fundraising, marketing, event production, publicity and graphic design. She also serves as adjunct faculty at Saint Mary’s College in Orinda, CA for the Master of Fine Arts program in Dance.

Jill Randall (she/her) has been a part of the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center community since 1998. During the past 23 years in the Bay Area, she has worked as a performer, teaching artist, arts administrator, and writer. Her experience in dance is wide and varied, from teaching dance in public schools to directing festivals. Jill is passionate about the many ways that dance can be a part of the East Bay community and what dance can offer youth and adults alike.As a performer, she has worked extensively with Nina Haft & Company, Paufve Dance, Martt Lawrence, and Dana Lawton. As a teaching artist, she has worked in K-12 public and independent schools and at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. She received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence in 2013 for her work at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. With Bridget Frederick, Jill co-founded and co-directed the Dance IS Festival for 7 years in Berkeley. The festival brought together professional artists, college departments, and high school students to dialogue and perform together, involving nearly 100 artists each year. Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley from 2004-2006 and then became the first Assistant Director of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in 2006. From 2006-2010, Jill expanded the Center’s offerings and enrollment for both youth and adults, restarted the master class program with visiting artists, and created the Dance Up Close/East Bay performance series. Jill’s writing covers a variety of topics including careers in dance, dance education, and arts integration. Jill currently writes for Dance Teacher and her own sites, Life as a Modern Dancer and Dancing Words (about children’s books on dance). Jill received her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and her MFA in Creative Practice: Dance at Saint Mary’s College.

Driven by the bias Bacchus before Buddha, Bianca Cabrera’s work is built by a vibrant amalgamation of baton twirling, burlesque, ballet, go-go, club, cabaret, camp, contemporary, queerness and modern dance. Cabrera directs the Oakland, CA based performance company, Blind Tiger Society which is their main conduit for choreography and performance creation. Her work was nominated for a 2014 Soul of Oakland award and has been supported through the Fleishhacker and Rainin Foundations.
Cabrera (They/She) received early training at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and later studied at the Alvin Ailey School, the Martha Graham Center and Point Park College, before receiving her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts. Their two decade performing career includes work with many celebrated dance artists and companies including: Lingo Dance/KT Niehoff, Kim Epifano, LevyDance, The Fossettes, Sonya Smith, Erika Tsimbrovsky/AvyK, Flyaway Productions, Cielo Vertical Arts and David Herrera. Bianca is a founding member of Latinx Hispanix Danza Unidxs and served on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards committee in 2019-20.

Kimberly comes to us from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles as the Senior Director of Human Resources| Payroll and Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI). She has over 15 years of experience in the Non-profit, Human Resources and Operations specter. During that time, she served as the Director of Human Resources for Santa Teresita Medical Center in Duarte, CA; Assistant General Manager- Human Resources for Paradies Shops, Los Angeles; Manager of Human Resources for Charles R. Drew University of Science & Medicine in Watts, CA; and Director of Human Resources for Burbank Community YMCA. Kimberly brings a wealth of practical knowledge, skills and employee/employer engagement expertise to SADC. She acquired her Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Management-HRM from the University of Phoenix,  an Associate of Arts-Interior (Workplace/ Ergonomics) Design- Brooks College, and Associate of Science-Sociology from El Camino College. Kimberly also holds certifications in Human Resources Management from California State University Dominguez Hills and is also a Certified Notary Public.

Movement, breath and flow are three things that inspire APRIL C. TAYLOR, a Bay Area transplant from Los Angeles who graduated from Mills College with a BA in Women's Studies and Dance. A performing and ritual artist, as well as a trained actor/singer/dancer, she has been performing her entire life and working in a variety of artistic and event areans. Her passion for the expressive arts and education have led her to teach children and adults for the past twelve years at Bay Area schools and studios. April is glad to be serving as part of the administrative team as SADC emerges from 2020 and 2021. She looks forward to more dancing and creativity while always supporting the mission of the Center where she has been an active community member since 1997. 
Find out more about April at enchantedacts.com

A Dance Practitioner, Healer, and Artist, Ting uses their art as a form of visual and oral storytelling like ancestors before them have done, and instills a holistic and spiritual approach to all forms of dance. With a long history of involvement in the ancestral arts, as well as fine arts, Ting's goal is to create a safe space for all artists and ancestral practitioners. After a brief hiatus from the dance community in their 20's Ting re-entered the dance world with the belief that youth should have safe spaces to create, move, and thrive. Ting is currently finishing their last year as an undergrad with a double major in zoology & dance and minor in music with the hopes of bridging the gap between science, the spiritual world, nature, and movement.

Ancestral Lineage: Ilokano, Cebuano/Visayan, Mindanaoan, Nigerian, Congolese/Cameroonian, Southern Chinese, Portuguese

From the East Coast of Florida to the West Coast of California, Abigail Hinson has been pursuing Dance since she was twelve. With a strong passion for education, Abigail has been teaching ages 2-adults for over eight years in styles including ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern, contemporary, improvisation, and yoga. Her classes revolve around themes of awareness, dependence, and energy. Alongside her teaching work at local studios, Abigail also enjoys choreographing for stage and film work. Her primary styles of interest are Modern, Hip-hop, and Contemporary. Her current work and training experiments with combining Western Post-Modern techniques, and texture components of Hip-hop. Abigail earned Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from the University of Florida, and an Associate of Arts degree with a focus in Dance from Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Madeline Lawder is a dancer and movement specialist. A graduate of the Performing Arts & Social Justice program at the University of San Francisco, Madeline has taught aerial dance, acrobatics, and contemporary in private studios across the Bay and guest lectured at UC Berkeley and University of San Francisco. She has performed locally and nationally with aerial dance companies Flyaway/Jo Kreiter Productions and BANDALOOP.  She currently choreographs and produces outdoor site-specific performances in northern California as part of DIRT & GLITTER.

Noah D. James III (he/his.) has esteemed over two decades of intentional dance work here in THE OHLONE. A movement journey that includes performance installations and partnership with Urban Jazz Dance Company, honoring his family origins and heritage from the Point Shipyard Project in Push Dance Company to co-developing and directing a wonderful garden with Visceral Roots Dance Company. In 2015, while home at Shawl Anderson Dance Center, Noah picked up The Collaborative Habit by Twyla Tharp. His life was forever impacted and in constant motion toward being an artist of servitude. Noah has worked over thirty different jobs while courageously carving out a dance journey of his own-at time- even against doctors' advice. While growing up with Sickle Cell Disease, Noah discovered he was deaf and hard of hearing. He learned early on to embrace the differences against societal norms and pressure by choosing joy. A quote by Rabindranath T., "I SLEPT AND DREAMT THAT LIFE WAS JOY. I AWOKE AND SAW THAT LIFE WAS SERVICE. I ACTED, AND BEHOLD, SERVICE WAS JOY.”  May the dance continue! Here are some ways to connect with Noah: https://linktr.ee/Inoahplace

Noelle is a mover, creator, and educator based in the Bay Area. She started with Shawl-Anderson during the summer of 2022, and has also become a part of the Youth staff . For the summer of 2023, Noelle will be the Youth Program Summer Camps & Intensives Coordinator! 

Originally from the East coast, Laya moved to the Bay Area in 2015. She started taking dance classes as an adult, her first ever at Shawl-Anderson, and developed a passion for movement arts. In addition to dancing and her work in the field of public health, Laya is a collage artist and baker. In her free time she can be found listening to music and practicing improvisational movement in her living room. 

Johnny Cox is a Gay, Guatemalan-American performing artist who graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.F.A in Dance in 2019. After college, he ventured to Portland, Oregon where he was an apprentice with the LGBTQ+ affirming Shaun Keylock Company. He recently moved to the Bay Area and is currently working with Shawl Anderson Dance Center (SADC). He served East Bay Tutu Schools as their only male ballet teacher and taught a modern class for 4 to 6 year old boys at SADC. Johnny recently enjoyed performing at San Francisco's ODC Theater with Lenora Lee Dance for In the Movement and is currently an apprentice with Nancy Karp and Dancers. Johnny feels honored to be working with SADC and loves dancing in this beloved community.

Connect with Johnny on Instagram @johnnycdancing and at vimeo.com/jcdancing

Originally from California’s Central Coast, Vivi (she/her) graduated from UC Berkeley in 2020 with a B.A. in Anthropology. Her career experience primarily consists of museum curation, California archaeology, and customer service but she’s been a life-long lover and occasional creator of art in all its forms- painting, ceramics, performance, literature, etc. Currently, Vivi doubles as an Admin Associate at Shawl-Anderson and a “Hot Dog Tender” at a local Berkeley restaurant. She hopes to one day attend graduate school for Museum Studies but is greatly enjoying just being a working adult in the mean time. Vivi is eager to help SADC provide a creative, nurturing environment for all dancers!

Mexican/Native American artist, Valerie Mendez (she/her), is a dancer and choreographer whose experimental work encourages self exploration of creativity and growth by reconnecting the mind and body. After moving to the Bay Area in 2016 from southern California she has worked under and collaborated with artists such as Liz Boubion’s Piñata Dance Collective, Stephanie Hewlett, A. Spearman & Co, and Andreina Maldanado, and held administrative positions with Bandaloop and Dancers’ Group. Pulling from a martial artist background and knowledge gained from her time at UCR Riverside, Mendez utilizes rhythmic acrobatics, pedestrian movements, abstraction, games and humor to intimately connect with audiences. She aims to create a platform for people to come together, activate, share and connect on social issues through artistic expression showcasing how humans, earth and animals may coexist peacefully and respectfully among each other.

Photo shot by John Barrios

Deneka graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2019–earning their BA in Literature and Theater Studies. Now they spend their time honing a number of personal crafts like writing poetry, playing the ukulele, and dancing. Their passion for community-building and art has set them on a lifelong investigation of how these worlds co-create such invaluable and rich social experiences. Additionally, they are a parrot enthusiast.