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Classes/Workshops
To view our full schedule of classes click
here.
MORNING BALLET FACULTY
YANNIS ADONIOU is a strong force of innovation in the Bay Area. Yannis Adoniou from Athens, Greece, got his education at The National Ballet School of Athens and John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet School in Germany. Mr. Adoniou was a member of Alonzo King's LINES Ballet for seven years. He has danced and toured nationally and internationally with Sara Shelton Mann’s Contraband, Unterwegs Theater in Heidelberg, Germany, San Francisco Opera Ballet, Bonn State Ballet and the Osnabrück National Theatre. He has worked and is inspired by artists such as Alonzo King, Sara Shelton Man, Truman Finney, William Forsythe and Jai Conzales. He is a member of the faculty for the LINES Ballet School.
In 1998 Adoniou founded the critically acclaimed multimedia dance company KUNST-STOFF where he has created a unique style of movement that blends ballet technique with release principles while extending the body's physical structure beyond codified limits.
CARLOS CARVAJAL, a native San Franciscan, began his dance career at San Francisco Ballet (SFB), then travelled overseas dancing with several companies including the International Ballet of the Marquis de Cuevas and Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas. During his ten year career overseas, he choreographed over 78 works for ballet, opera, and television. Carvajal returned to SFB as Ballet Master and Associate Choreographer. In 1970 he founded San Francisco Dance Spectrum becoming a leader in the dance renaissance of the'70s, choreographing over 50 works during his company’s decade long existence. In 1981 he received the first San Francisco Art Commission Award for Choreography and Dance, and in 1986 he received the Isadora Duncan Award for lifetime achievement. Carvajal received the Critics Circle Award in 1990 and from Spring 1995 through Spring 2004 served as Artistic Director of Peninsula Ballet Theater. Carlos has taught and choreographed all over the world and we welcome him to our teaching staff.
SANDRA CHINN, was born in Berkeley, California and began ballet training with Jane Stamps in Albany, California. She is a graduate of the National Academy of Arts (Champaign Ill.), and continued studies at the Joffrey Ballet School American Ballet Center, and intensively with independent teacher, Maggie Black. In New York City, she was a company member of Dennis Wayne's Dancers, 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 for "Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical". 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, and IDEA project. Most recently, she has taught for dance companies such as ODC/Dance, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Matthew Bourne's New Adventures (Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, and Edward Scissorhands).
LEE-WEI CHAO, a native of Taipei, trained with Xiao Lee who brought the Vaganova method to Taiwan. Mr. Chao was a member of the Milwaukee Ballet Company from 1998 to 2004 after dancing with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, Singapore Dance Theater, Taipei City Ballet, and Henry Yu Dance Company. He has performed in works by Balanchine, Choo San Goh, Robert North, Kathryn Posin, David Parsons, Jean-Paul Commerlin, and Simon Dow. Mr. Chao has been on the faculty of the Milwaukee Ballet School, City Ballet Theatre, and Danceworks Performance Company.
KEVIN CREGAN danced for many years as a soloist with the Dutch National Ballet.
Since leaving he has worked as a freelance dancer, performer, choreographic
assistant and teacher. He has worked with William Forsythe, in Ballet
Frankfurt, with Kunst-Stoff, San Francisco, Unterwegs Theatre, Germany and
as assistant choreographer to Meryl Tankerd in the creation of a London,
West-End musical.
He has guest taught for The Forsythe Company, Netherlands Dance Theatre and
the D.A.N.C.E. program mentored by Forsythe, Prejlocaj, McGregor and
Flamand. He teaches many of the contemporary dance companies in Holland and
at the Lines Pre Professional Program in the USA. He is a regular guest at
the Rotterdam Dance Academy and the ArtEZ Academy in Arnhem.
Kevin is a Practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, which aims to integrate
our awareness fully into our movement. This practice gives shape and informs
his approach to teaching of Classical Ballet.
GREGORY DAWSON (LINES 1987 - 2005) 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 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 Alonzo King's LINES Ballet in 1987 and worked with Mr. King creating many roles until he retired from the company in 2005.
XAVIER FERLA studied at the L'Ecole de L'Opera de Hamburg with Truman Finney. He was a principal dancer with Bejart Ballet in Switzerland, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet. He won the prestigious Prix de Lausanne World Ballet Competitions and was later invited to judge the competitions in 2000. He currently teaches at Dance Theater International. He accepted an invitation to teach with Tokyo Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Ballet Philippines, and Sylvie Guillem's Tour Company in Japan.
ARTURO FERNANDEZ has been the Ballet Master of Alonzo King's LINES Ballet since 1992. His career in dance includes work as a professional dancer, choreographer and master teacher. He received his training at the United States International University under the direction of John Hart, CBE and most notably Elaine Thomas.
Arturo has danced in both ballet and modern companies including San Diego Ballet, Arizona Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Les Ballet Trocadero de Monte Carlo, Oakland Ballet and ODC/San Francisco. In addition to his dancing, he was the assistant to the directors of both ODC and Arizona Ballet.
In 1991 he collaborated with Brenda Way and KT Nelson of ODC to create Krazy Kat for the San Francisco Ballet. In 1993 he began creating his own work and received critical notice for his craftsmanship and sense of humor. Arturo has since choreographed for Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, Inland Pacific Ballet, FCCJ, Los Angeles Dance Theater, LINES Ballet School, San Francisco’s School of the Arts, and Alabama School of Fine Arts. Most recently he choreographed Dracula in two acts for Inland Pacific Ballet to critical acclaim.
As a master teacher Arturo has traveled extensively teaching master classes, workshops and intensives around the country. He has been a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Company, Inland Pacific Ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Western Ballet as well as many other companies. He is a former member of the faculty of Cal State Long Beach, San Francisco State University, San Francisco’s School of the Arts, Orange County Performing Arts High School, and Marin Dance Theater.
For more than a decade he has been an integral part of the faculty of the San Francisco Dance Center and has coordinated and taught in the Alonzo King Workshop for Professional Dancers since its inception. He has set ballets by Alonzo King on companies throughout the United States and works side by side with him in the creation of new work. He has been an important and well-respected part of the Bay Area dance community for over 25 years.
VIKTOR KABANIAEV was trained at the famed Vaganova School in St. Petersburg, Russia. During the years that followed, he worked as a principal dancer in various ballet companies in the former Soviet Union, including Leningrad State Ballet Theatre under the directorship of Mr. Boris Eifman, the Jacobson Foundation and the Russian Ballet.
Mr. Kabaniaev has danced the principal role of Basil in Don Quixote, the Prince in The Nutcracker, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and principal roles in Giselle, Le Corsaire, Flames of Paris, Swan Lake and Cinderella. Many of these ballets were regularly performed by Mr. Kabaniaev in France, Iraq, Poland, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Austria.
In 1990, at the invitation of Mr. Tom Schilling, Mr. Kabaniaev joined the Komiche Opera Berlin. In 1992, he danced in several of Mr. Yuri Vamos' productions with the Dortmund Ballet, including principal roles in Coppelia, Vatek and The Nutcracker, before appearing in the work of Mr. Heinz Sporeil with the Hanover Ballet in 1996. In July of 1997, he was awarded a special prize for choreography at the 29th Annual Ballet Festival of Japan, held in Tokyo.
Since first appearing as a guest artist with Diablo Ballet in September of 1996, he has danced the Bronze Idol Solo from La Bayadere, George Balanchine's Sylvia Pas de Deux, the Pas de Deux from Stars and Stripes and Tarantella Pas de Deux as well as roles created especially for him by Diablo Ballet choreographers.
Mr. Kabaniaev has created four works for Diablo Ballet - Waltz, which premiered in August 2000 at the Chronicle Pavilion, Air, which premiered in June 2001, White Light in May 2002 and Pairs in March 2003, all to critical acclaim. Mr. Kabaniaev teaches Advanced Ballet at the San Francisco Dance Center and company class for Alonzo King's LINES Ballet.
MAURYA KERR began her training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She has danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Fort Worth Ballet, and the San Francisco Opera Ballet. She has been a featured guest artist with Alex Ketley and Christian Burns' The Foundry, Amy Seiwert's im'ij-re, Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, and Ballet Zinoun in Morocco. She was a principal dancer in "The Matrix II: Reloaded." A member of LINES since 1994, she also teaches for the LINES Ballet School and Summer Pre-professional Program.
ENRICO LABAYEN began his dance career at age 13 in the Philippines. Just three years later, he had moved to the US where he studied at the American Ballet Theater, American Dance Center, American Ballet Center and Harkness Ballet. He also studied with Alvin Ailey, Norman Walker, Maggie Black, David Howard, Patricia Wilde, Leon Danielian, Andre Eglevsky and both Madame Swoboda and Pereyeslavec.
He performed a wide range of works from Lucas Hoving, Jose Limon, Rudy Perez, David Parsons and Joanna Haigood, to Petipa and George Balanchine. Labayen worked with many ballet and modern dance companies such as the American Ballet Theater II, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Larry Richardson Dance Company, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company, Garden State Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet.
Labayen has also worked with the San Francisco Opera, Dance Spectrum, Sacramento Ballet, Bern Ballet in Switerland, Mainz Stadt Theatre, Rotebuhlplatz Stuttgart, Potsdam and Berlin in Germany, Singapore Dance Theatre, Hong Kong Ballet, Ballet Philippines, Ecole de Manille, ITTI in Amman, Jordan and Philippine Ballet Theatre.
He founded The LAB. Projekt Group which premiered its first work for the 21st Gala of Ballet Philippines, and later participated in Neo-Filipino II. He moved his company’s home base to San Francisco in 1991, renaming the group Labayen Dance/SF. Labayen won an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and was the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Awardee of The City of Manila for Dance in 2004. He divides his time between San Francisco and Manila.
CARMEN ROZESTATEN was born in Amsterdam and began her training with the Theater Academy in Amsterdam. After completing her training, outstanding choreographers Rudi von Dantzig and Choo San Goh selected her to dance in new work they were creating.
In 1976 she left to continue her dance studies in New York. She took classes at the Joffrey Ballet School and with outstanding independent teachers Marjorie Mussman, Maggie Black and Louis Falco. She danced with choreographers Nora Gutherie, Ted Rotante and Vivian Freedman. In 1978 Carmen moved on to San Francisco where she studied with Sue Lloyd, Henry Berg, Carlos Carvajal and Alonzo King. She performed with Peninsula Ballet, Golden Gate Ballet and Dance Spectrum.
Carmen is a founding member of LINES Ballet and danced with the company from 1982 - 1988. Alonzo King created roles for her in many ballets, including Awake in the Dream (Donald Fontowitz), Ictus (Harry Partch and Gamelan),Allegro Barbaro (Bartok) and Mysterious Mountain (Alan Hohvaness).
She returned to Europe in 1989 to teach and perform, working in the Netherlands with Artemis, Melkweg and Barry Stevens as a teacher, and with Niewe Dansgroep as a ballet mistress. After that she traveled the world teaching in France at the Ecole de Danse, in Belgium with the Jan Faber Company, in Stuttgart, Germany at the NY City Dance School, in Aruba at Sima Danza, in Curacaõ at the School of Ballet, and in Caracas, Venezuela at the International Dance Festival. During this period she also performed with Dance Advance in London, Josette Baïz in France and eventually joined the Dresden Ballet in 1992.
In 1993 she returned to San Francisco for a guest appearance with LINES Ballet and she was invited by Artistic Director Alonzo King to rejoin the company. Since returning, Mr. King has created roles for her in Compelling Geological Evidence (Donald Fontowitz), Garland (Peter Garland), Pavane (Shostokovitch), Ocean (Pharoah Sanders), Bach Cello Suites (Bach), Rock (Bernice Johnson Reagon) and Signs and Wonders (Traditional African Music).
KATHERINE WARNER is a dancer, choreographer & teacher who has performed throughout the United States, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. She studied with Maggie Black, Aaron Osborn, Carlos Carvajal, Alonzo King, Anatole Vilzack, Madame Sholar, and Xenia Chlistowa, among others.
She danced with San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Dance Spectrum (founding member), Zaccho Dance Theater, Santa Fe Opera, and San Francisco Opera Ballet. She was also a founding member of Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, with whom she performed from 1982 - 1996 creating a wide variety of roles. She was honored by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for her outstanding contributions to LINES as a dancer.
KAHZ ZMUDA Born and educated in Japan, she trained with Miharu Ishikawa in Sapporo, Japan and Peter Brodinoff in Tokyo. She continued her studies in the US with Alan Howard, Janet Sassoon, Marc Wilde, Richard Gibson, and Yehuda Maor. She danced with Pacific Ballet (directed by Alan Howard and John Pasqualetti), San Francisco Opera Ballet, Santa Barbara Ballet Theater, Brady Street Dance Centre, and Arabesque Concert Dance. She served as the Artistic Director of Pacific Ballet in 1978.
Kahz has taught extensively in the Bay Area: Performing Workshop of San Francisco, Pacific Ballet Center, Merola Opera, Zohar Dance Company of Palo Alto, Dancer's Stage School, San Francisco Dance Theatre, Smuin Ballet/SF, Marin Ballet and joined the San Francisco dance Center faculty in 1989. She has choreographed for Pacific Ballet, Santa Barbara Ballet Theatre and the Merola Opera production of La Rondine.
ALEXI ZUBIRIA began his studies in 1976 with Hernando Monroy in Bogotá, Colombia. A year later he joined the International Ballet of Caracas, under the direction of Vicente Nebreda and Zandra Rodriguez, where he quickly rose through the ranks. As a member of both the Ballet Nuevo Mundo and the International Ballet of Caracas, Zubiria toured the world.
In Venezuela, his early classical training was further influenced by the teachings of Hector Zaraspe and Jose Pares. At this time, his artistic experience was greatly influenced by working directly with choreographers Alvin Ailey, John Butler, Vicente Nebreda, Hans Van Mannen, Margot Sappington and Choo-San Goh. In 1982, under the coaching of former Ballet Russe ballerina Nina Novak, Alexi competed in the 2nd U.S. International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. There he won the Silver Medal, representing Venezuela.
Alexi accepted a position with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he remained from 1983 through 1985. There he had the opportunity to work directly with Rudolf Nureyev, Roland Petit, Peter Schaufuss and Valerie Panov in their own works. He also danced numerous works by choreographers that include Bejart, Bournonville, Balanchine and Jiri Kylian. Zubiria has performed in numerous dance festivals throughout France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States. One of the most memorable artistic experiences of his career was to have performed with the Ballet National de Marseille at Le Palais des Congres de Paris. There he danced Roland Petit’s Le Chat Bote (Puss in Boots) in the role of the cat.
In 1986 Alexi joined the San Francisco Ballet, where he danced until 1994. Zubiria's repertoire with SFB included works by Petitpa, George Balanchine, Lew Christensen, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, William Forsythe, Helgi Tomasson, Paul Taylor, Lisa de Ribiere, Reda, Michael Smuin, and David Bintley.
In 1995, Alexi obtained a B.S. in Biology from the University of San Francisco. He then worked as a Research Associate for Axys Pharmaceuticals (now Celera Genomics). Subsequently he received a professional certificate in Bioinformatics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Alexi works for Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara as a Bioinformatics Specialist in the field of genomics.
Alexi is currently on the faculty of San Francisco Dance Center where he teaches the advanced ballet class and the LINES Ballet School where he teaches in the summer workshop for pre-professionals.
