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Faculty (partial list)
Alonzo King
Marina Hotchkiss
Arturo Fernandez
Yannis Adoniou
Kara Davis
Gregory Dawson
Judy Gantz
Maurya Kerr
Benjamin Levy
Luana
Charles Moulton
Corrine Nagata
Debra Rose
Michael Velez
Mr. King is a visionary choreographer who has works in the repertories of companies throughout the world including the Swedish Royal Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Hong Kong Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, and Washington Ballet. He has worked extensively in opera, television, and film, and has choreographed works for prima ballerina Natalia Makarova and film star Patrick Swayze. Mr. King has also collaborated with artists such as actor Danny Glover, legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, and tabla master Zakir Hussain. Renowned for his skill as a teacher, Mr. King has been the guest ballet master for National Ballet of Canada, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Rambert, Ballet West and others.
In 1982, Mr. King founded Alonzo King LINES Ballet, which has developed into an international touring company. Seven years later, he inaugurated the San Francisco Dance Center, which has grown into one of the largest dance facilities on the West Coast offering over 80 open classes to adults and teenagers. In 2001, Alonzo King started the LINES Ballet School to nurture and develop the talents of young dancers through year-round and summer programs. Expanding the scope of his educational visions to the college level in 2006, Alonzo King and LINES Ballet embarked on a partnership with the Dominican University of California, creating the West Coast’s first Joint BFA program in Dance. It is the only Joint BFA program in the country to be led by an active, world-renowned master choreographer.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom presented the 2nd Annual Mayor’s Art Award to Alonzo King in October 2008, calling him a “San Francisco treasure, embodying the best of San Francisco, the creative excellence and diverse culture of this city.” In June 2008, Alonzo King was honored with the Jacob's Pillow Creativity Award, in recognition of his contribution to "moving ballet in a very 21st-century direction," in the words of Ella Baff, Executive Director of Jacob's Pillow. The Creativity Award is the third major national award Alonzo King has received in the past three years-in 2006, he was recognized as one of the fifty outstanding artists in America by the United States Artists organization, and in 2005, received the Bessie Award for Choreographer/Creator-and one of many such honors he has received over the course of his career. He is also the recipient of the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship, Irvine Fellowship in Dance, National Dance Project and the National Dance Residency Program, as well as five Isadora Duncan Awards. He has also received the Hero Award from Union Bank, the Lehman Award, and the Excellence Award from KGO, and was chosen as the recipient of the San Francisco Foundation's 2007 Community Leadership Award.
Alonzo King has served on panels for the National Endowment of the Arts, California Arts Council, City of Columbus Arts Council and Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Arts Partners Program. In 2005 he was named a Master of African-American Choreography by the Kennedy Center. He is a former commissioner for the city and county of San Francisco, and a writer and lecturer on the art of dance; his contributions appear in the books Masters of Movement: Portraits of American Choreographers and in Dance Masters: Interviews with Legends of Dance. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Dominican University of California, and the following year was given the Green Honors Chair Professorship from Texas Christian University. Last spring, he received a second honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in Los Angeles.
Marina Hotchkiss, BFA Program Director
Marina joined Alonzo King LINES Ballet in
1983, after having danced with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for four
years. In Berlin, Marina worked directly with such dance luminaries
as Rudolf Nureyev, Birgit Cullberg, Loyce Houlton, Anna Markard and
Valery Panov. In addition to the works of these artists, she appeared
in ballets by George Balanchine and Kenneth McMillan, amongst others. In
her eighteen years with LINES Ballet, Marina participated in the making
of over forty original ballets by Alonzo King, creating memorable roles
in Lila, Alkan Pas de Deux, Without Wax, Gurdjieff Piano Music, String
Quartet, The Hearts Natural Inclination, Tarab and Who Dressed You
Like a Foreigner? Since 2002, she has been an integral
faculty member of LINES Ballet School and LINES Ballet School Pre-Professional
Program, shaping curriculum and developing her workshop Metaphor ,
which explores the embodiment of meaning. She was on the faculty of School
of the Arts for four years. In addition to her work with LINES,
Marina was a tenured member of the San Francisco Opera ballet for
eighteen years. In 2001 Marina received an Isadora Duncan Award for
Outstanding Achievement.
Arturo Fernandez, Guest Teacher, choreographer
Arturo is a choreographer,
Master Teacher and, since 1992, Ballet master for Alonzo King LINES
Ballet. He has choreographed for LINES Ballet, Berkeley Ballet Theater,
Inland Pacific Ballet and Ballet Idaho's Junior Company, among others.
Arturo has taught at NYU, California State University Long Beach, San
Francisco State University and has been a guest teacher in schools
across the country. Arturo is a yearly guest teacher for Hubbard Street
Dance Company and Inland Pacific Ballet. He is an integral part of the
faculty for the Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, where he has taught for over
twenty years, and the Alonzo King Workshop and LINES Ballet Pre-professional
Program.
Yannis Adoniou, Improvisation, Choreography
Yannis is a choreographer, teacher and Artistic Director
of KUNST-STOFF. He was a member of LINES Ballet from 1993 to 1998. In
1998 he founded KUNST-STOFF with partner Tomi Paasonen, creating a unique
style of movement that blends ballet technique with Release principles
while extending the body's structure beyond codified limits. Yannis has
choreographed for Bonn Ballett, Herbst Dance in Heidelberg, Germany,
Tanz Tage Fest in Berlin, Germany, the Bay Area Dance Series and the
San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Dance Festival among others. He has been a
guest teacher nationally and internationally and is a member of the faculty
at Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, LINES Ballet School and LINES Ballet School
Pre-professional Program, for which he has also choreographed.
A native of Hutchinson, Kansas, Kara Davis has danced for Ballet Met, Atlanta Ballet, Ohio Ballet, the San Francisco Opera Ballet and Ballet Jorgen in Toronto, Ontario. For the past ten years she has lived in San Francisco and has danced for Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Pearl Ubungen Dancers & Musicians, Mary Carbonara, Robert Moses, and Kathleen Hermesdorf. She is a founding member of KUNST-STOFF and Janice Garrett & Dancers. She won an "Izzie" in 2003 for "Outstanding Achievement in Individual Performance" and was Bay Area dance critic Rachel Howard's pick for 2005's MVP. Along with teaching for Alonzo King LINES Ballet Pre-Professional & BFA programs she has taught at the San Francisco Ballet School, Berkeley Ballet, Atlanta Ballet School, Mills College, ODC, and the Guangdong Modern Dance Academy in Guang Zhou, China. Her choreography has been shown at ODC Theater, the Cowell Theater, the banks of the Eel River (Camp KUNST-STOFF) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She will be a resident at the Headlands Center for the Arts in the fall of 2009.
Gregory Dawson, Ballet,
Men’s Technique,
Partnering, Choreography
Gregory Dawson began his studies in Chicago at Ruth Page School of Ballet, then left for Southern Illinois to study ballet and Haitian dance with Katherine Dunham. He moved to San Francisco where he studied with Evelyn Schuert at Shawl-Anderson dance Studios and with Alonzo King at Dance Central. Mr. Dawson left for New York in 1982 to study and perform with Dance Theatre of Harlem. From 1983-1986 he danced with Theatre Ballet Canadien, returning to the Bay Area to perform with Oakland Ballet, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Sacramento Ballet and the San Francisco Opera Ballet. Mr. Dawson joined LINES in 1987. He feels well prepared to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of young dancers.
Judy Gantz, Anatomy and Kinesiology
Judy Gantz, M.A., CMA, is the Director and Founder for the Center of Movement Education and Research (CMER), a non-profit organization. She is an international movement specialist, teacher and lecturer, and was an Associate Adjunct Professor at UCLA in the department of World Arts & Cultures from 1982-2005. Ms Gantz has specialized in Laban Movement Analysis, dance kinesiology and creative dance/movement education. Judy’s teaching in the United States includes the University of Washington, University of Southern California, University of Illinois, and the University of Western Michigan. She has taught widely at international institutions as well. Outside the University she has worked in numerous professional certification programs for the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York.
Gantz was the former Fitness Editor for Shape magazine and Co-Editor of Kinesiology for Dance, an international publication. Her latest writings on Dance Kinesiology were published by Oxford Press in the International Encyclopedia of Dance. Her writings on fitness were requested for the first textbook published by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of American- Fitness: Theory & Practice.
Maurya Kerr, Ballet and Repertoire
Maurya Kerr danced with Alonzo King LINES Ballet from 1994-2006. She trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet and danced professionally with PNB and Fort Worth Ballet before joining LINES Ballet. Alonzo King created roles for her in many ballets, including The Hierarchal Migration of Birds and Mammals; Baker Fix; Rite of Spring; The Patience of Aridity, Waiting for Petrichor; Road; Koto; Soothing the Enemy; People of the Forest; Tango; Handel Trio; Rock; and Klang. She is currently a freelance artist, and has been a principal guest artist with Joanna Haigood's Zaccho Dance Theatre, Alex Ketley and Christian Burns' The Foundry, Robert Moses' Draft project, Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, Ballet Zinoun in Morocco, and was featured as Juliet in The Crucible's 2007 Romeo and Juliet. She is a senior faculty member for the Lines Ballet Pre-Professional Program, on faculty with the LINES Ballet / Dominican BFA program, and is a certified GYROTONIC® trainer. She was also a principal dancer in "The Matrix II: Reloaded" and the 2004/2005 model for Mirella Dancewear.
Benjamin Levy is a choreographer, dancer, and director based in San Francisco who is recognized for his cutting-edge interdisciplinary works that explore the nuance and drama of human intimacy. After earning his BA in Dance and Marketing from UC Berkeley and performing with Joe Goode Performance Group, Levy founded LEVYdance in 2002. LEVYdance very quickly became known for its innovative works and collaborations and in 2004 was named one of the “Top 25 Companies to Watch” by Dance Magazine and awarded a San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement. Levy has also been awarded a Choreographic Fellowship from the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, an Emerging Choreographer Award from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and creative residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and The Silo.
As Artistic Director for LEVYdance, Levy has presented original works at prestigious venues across the nation and internationally, engaged distinguished collaborators including Kronos Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and composers Keeril Makan and Mason Bates, and established a unique recognizable artistic aesthetic for LEVYdance.
Levy’s distinct choreographic style has been sought after for commissions and master class directorships at Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee, Scotland, the Northern California Dance Conservatory, Joy of Motion Dance Center, DeSales University, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, CSU San Jose, CSU San Francisco, SUNY Purchase, University of Oregon, Dance Place Theater, University of Utah, George Washington University and ODC Dance Commons.
Luana holds a BA in Dance from The College of Saint Theresa in Minnesota and a MA in Dance from Mills College in Oakland, California. Luana is currently a tenured professor at City College of San Francisco teaching Dance Production, Dance History, African-American Aesthetics, Choreography, Modern and Jazz technique, and runs the Repertory Dance Company. She is a co-coordinator the dance program, which is one of the largest college dance programs in the United States. She has taught at Mills College, Laney Community College, JFK University, and is presently a lecturer at Dominican University in the LINES BFA program. Before teaching at the collegiate level she taught academics through dance for 15 years at the K-12 level. She has been acknowledged for her teaching and mentoring by her peers, and the CCSF Dance Program, in which she has worked for the past 21 years, has won the prestigious Izzy Award for lifetime achievement. In addition to her teaching career, Luana successfully performed in the U.S. and in Europe. Currently she is researching the role of the African-American aesthetic as it has informed the American aesthetic and will publish her findings in the up-coming year. Her research has applications in art criticism, anthropology and education. Luana is an avid gardener, neophyte bocce player, and a long-standing student of theoretical quantum physics.
Charles Moulton danced with Merce Cunningham from 1973-76. He has set works on the Joffrey Ballet, Baryshnikov's White Oak Project, The Ohio Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Gauthier Dance (Stuttgart) and many company's in the U.S. and abroad. He is the winner of a 1983 Guggenheim Award, a 1989 Dorothy Chandler Arts Achievement Award and has received extensive funding from the NEA, NYSCA, The Jerome Foundation and Meet the Composer/Choreographer. Moulton is co-founder of Performance Space 122 in downtown Manhattan and has created many works for film and television including choreography for 1000 dancers in the “Matrix Reloaded”, dance sequences for Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton in the movie “Teknolust”.
He is widely regarded for his signature work “Precision Ball Passing,” in which teams of performers standing on bleachers pass brightly colored balls to each other to create a living human puzzle. Most recently Moulton collaborated with choreographer Janice Garrett on The Illustrated Book of Invisible Stories for 24 dancers, 7 musicians and the singer/song writer Odessa Chen, which premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum in April 2009. Moulton serves on the Board of Directors of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and lives in Oakland CA.
Ms. Corrine Nagata’s role as a teacher and contributor to the world renowned Alvin Ailey American School of Dance, The National Dance Institute with Jacques D’Amboise’s and the Dance Theater of Harlem has prepared Ms. Nagata well for teaching all forms of dance and at all levels to a wide variety of students. Whether teaching master classes at Stanford University, Mills College, LINES Ballet or beginner’s classes at The Children’s Dance Institute or at Public School 241 in Harlem, Ms Nagata’s skill, insight and professionalism have been highly praised at every level. Currently Ms. Nagata is on faculty at LINES Ballet and her dance program, NAGATA Dance, serves seven San Francisco private and public schools.
Debra Rose, Gyrokinesis, Gyrotonic
Debra joined LINES Ballet in 1984. She has assisted
Alonzo King in setting work on Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Dance
Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey. Debra is a Master Trainer in the
GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM ®,
having worked with the system for over twenty years. Debra works
closely with Juliu Horvath, creator of the system, in developing and
implementing the gyrotonic syllabus used all over the world. She brings
special expertise to the use of the system in dance training and has
created the gyrotonic curriculum for Alonzo King LINES Ballet School and LINES
Ballet Pre-Professional Program.
Michael Velez has workd most notably and closely with two dance companies in Philadelphia- four seasons with the Koresh Dance Company (Ronen Koresh) and since 2003 with Charles O. Anderson's dance theatre X on a project-by-project basis. Both of which, he’s gained the opportunity of placing choreography onto. After attending the University of the Arts (2000-2004), he continued to learn, inspire and dance for such widely recognized choreographers as Robert Battle, Zane Booker, Brian Sanders, Donald Byrd, and Itzik Galili (of the Netherlands Dance theater and Galili Dance). Michael's choreography and Modern Funk dance style has recently gained ample recognition in the 2008 National Ice dance Competition televised by CNN, where Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre placed 3rd for their division, qualifying them for the 2008 Olympics. Michael also performs as a new company member with Robert Moses’ Kin.