Marika Brussel has been teaching dance to people of all ages since 2002. She teaches movement to seniors and people with disabilities all over the San Francisco Bay area, including classes at The Institute on Aging, On Lok, Richmond Senior Center, and The Contemporary Jewish Museum. She trained to teach dance for people with Parkinson’s disease through Mark Morris Dance and has been teaching Dance for PD® since 2010.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dance for PD® at LINES
Christian Burns has been choreographing, teaching and performing in the Bay Area for 21 years. His pursuit for finding meaning and purpose through dance has yielded a dynamic range of interdisciplinary dance works for stage, video and visual art.
From teaching statement: “By approaching a work from two opposite ends of the spectrum—ballet and improvisation—I allow the mirroring to reveal truths about each that might not be at first apparent. The tension of contrast between the traditional and contemporary approaches has deepened my understanding and appreciation of each of its core principles, and led to a personal philosophy that highly developed training in both will yield more authentic results of pure expression that we strive for in Dance. For me, embracing this duality has been informative not only in dance but a helpful way to approach learning in all areas of life, and something I would like to imbue through my various teachings.”
In the San Francisco Bay Area his work has been presented by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, ODC Theater, Counter Pulse, The Garage, Headlands Center for the Arts, Z Space Theater, Dancers Group Studio Theater, Shotwell Studio Theater, Howard Street Studio Theater. Beyond, his work has also been presented at The Walker Art Center, Canal Danse in Paris, Taipei Artist Village in Taiwan, Nightingale Theater in Brighton UK, WINLAB Independent Festival in London, Escapade Festival at MovingArtsBase in London, The Dada House in Zurich Switzerland, OT301 in Amsterdam NL, The Southern Theater in MN, as well as performances in numerous independent studio locations in Brussels, Oslo, Copenhagen, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Southern France, New York and Western Massachusetts. His dance-video work has been shown at Pacific Film Archive Berkeley Art Museum, Impakt Festival (NL), Dutch National Television (NL), Moving Pictures Festival for Dance on Film and Video in Canada, Roberta Beck Cinema (NY), Santa Fe Art Institute and Stuttgart FilmWinter Festival in Germany.
His commissions include Hope Mohr Dance, The Cambrians, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, James Sewell Ballet, Stanford University, USF, Mt. Holyoke College, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, The Laban Center London, Interlochen Center for the Arts, LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University and LINES Ballet Training Program. He created over 70 dance pieces for the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance during its fourteen year history between 2004-2018.
Christian has been awarded a 2010 Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange (CHIME) grant – given by the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, a 2008 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship for Choreography, the 2004 National Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography, the 2001 Paula Citron Award for Choreography for Camera (from the Moving Pictures Festival in Toronto), 1997 McKnight Artist Fellowship and was an artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center (NY). Christian is a contributing author for When Men Dance, Choreographing Masculinities Across Borders, Edited by Jennifer Fisher and Anthony Shay, Oxford University Press 2009 and has self published a book chronicling his choreographic process titled Motion and Process: knowing not knowing, ideas on dance 2006-08.
Christian has been a guest artist with The Forsythe Company and was a company member of Alonzo Kings LINES Ballet and James Sewell Ballet. He has been researching and practicing improvisational methods since 1994 and has performed internationally with Improvisers; Kirstie Simson, Katie Duck, Michael Schumacher, Ave Karczag, and Chris Aiken among many others. Christian completed three years of training at The School of American Ballet, working with renowned ballet teacher Stanley Williams.
In 2008 Christian co-founded the interdisciplinary art center Parsons Hall Project Space Holyoke, MA. In 1998 he co-founded The Foundry, an interdisciplinary dance company based in San Francisco. The Foundry received critical and popular acclaim as well as the support of numerous private Foundations, Contemporary Art Centers and Residency programs. In 2002/03 The Foundry were exhibited in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts biannual Bay Area Now3, named by Dance Magazine one of the ‘25 to Watch‘ and the San Francisco Chronicle said, “The Foundry is at the vanguard of American dance.“
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican and Summer Program
Erin Carper has dedicated her life to the study of the body in motion. In the Bay Area, she had the pleasure of dancing in the works of Tomi Paasonen (Kunst-Stoff), Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Kara Davis (project agora), and Antoine Hunter (Urban Jazz).
In 2014, Erin Carper studied with Dance for PD® program founder David Leventhal at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York. She also is mentored in Dance for PD® by Susan Weber at Berkeley Ballet Theater. Erin holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Liberal Arts from the Saint Mary’s College of California LEAP Program. Her teaching is informed by her work as an instructor of GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS®, as a student of Body Mind Centering® with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and her offerings as a somatic ecotherapy and wilderness rites of passage guide.
Erin believes that dance is everyone’s birthright. She brings her extensive background in dance, improvisation, theater, and somatics, as well as her deep love of music and nature, to each class.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dance for PD® at LINES
Sandra Chinn is a ballet teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sandra has faculty and company positions with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, ODC/Dance, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, and Berkeley Ballet Theater, where she has been artistic advisor since 2018. She has been a visiting guest artist for Hollins University MFA Dance program, and is adjunct teacher at New York University Tisch Department of Dance Summer Festival since 2016. She has guest taught for Company Wayne McGregor, Jessica Lang Dance, the dancers of Paul Taylor Dance Company, Abraham.In.Motion, Lucinda Childs Dance, Smuin Ballet, Aszure Barton and Artists, Amy Seiwart’s Imagery, Post:Ballet, SF DanceWorks, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and BODYTRAFFIC. She is beloved for her somatically informed pedagogy that draws on Body-Mind Centering, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Franklin Method, Alexander Technique, Iyengar Yoga, GYROTONIC®, and GYROKINESIS®. She received an Isadora Duncan Special Achievement Award for “her commitment to and excellence in the training, teaching, inspiring, and motivating dancers throughout the dance community” for the 2018-19 season.
During her performing career 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 as “Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.” She is a graduate of the National Academy of Arts (Champaign, Ill.), and she continued her studies at the Joffrey Ballet School (NY), and intensively with Maggie Black. She is grateful for a performing and teaching career in the concert dance field and she looks forward to continuing her work and studies for many years to come.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dance Center and Summer Program
Photography | © Nick Korkos
Adji Cissoko was born and grew up in Munich, Germany where she trained at the Ballet Academy Munich and graduated with a diploma in dance. Cissoko attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City on full scholarship, before joining the National Ballet of Canada in 2010. In 2012 she was awarded the Patron Award of Merit by the Patrons’ Council Committee of The National Ballet of Canada. Cissoko joined LINES Ballet in 2014. Since then she’s originated many central roles and guested for galas worldwide. Cissoko has given multiple masterclasses and taught classes around the world as part of the company’s outreach program. In 2020, she became certified in health/life coaching and ABT’s National Training Curriculum. Cissoko choreographed her first piece “AZIZ “ for Ballet X in 2021. She also is a 2022 recipient of the Toulmin fellowship.
Learn more about Adji on our blog, LINESConnected:
READ INTERVIEW
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Adji Cissoko | © RJ Muna
Babatunji was born in Portland, Oregon but raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. He received his formal dance training from Center Stage Dance Studio and the University of Hawaii in Hilo before moving to San Francisco to train at the LINES Ballet Training Program on full scholarship. Babatunji has performed works by diverse choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Amanda Miller, Gregory Dawson, and Maurya Kerr. He has performed overseas in Japan and China and danced with Philein/ZiRu productions, Maurya Kerr’s tinypistol, and Dawson|Wallace Dance Project. Babatunji joined LINES Ballet in 2013 and danced with the company for six years. Currently, he is a dancer with Post:Ballet and SFDanceworks in San Francisco. He rejoined LINES Ballet in 2021.
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Babatunji | © RJ Muna
Brett Conway is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and artistic director of SFDanceworks. As a former company dancer of Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Brett has worked with many influential choreographers, including Alonzo King, Jiri Kylian, Paul Lightfoot, Sol Leon, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Marco Goecke, and Ohad Naharin. Since 2017, Brett has been on faculty with the LINES Dance Center and LINES Ballet’s education programs.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican, Dance Center, and Summer Program
Photography | © Nick Aitken
Rosie Dater-Merton is a dancer and teaching artist based in the Bay Area. She grew up in Vermont where she danced at her local dance studio. During the summers she attended many dance programs including The Ailey Summer Intensive, The Rock Summer Intensive, Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive, Walnut Hill Summer Intensive. She then moved to Michigan to attend Interlochen Arts Academy and studied classical ballet, pointe, pas de deux, under the artistic direction of Joseph Morrissey and Cameron Basden. Rosie then moved to California to attend the LINES/Dominican University program where she earned her BFA in Dance and a minor in Arts Management. During her time in the LINES BFA program she had the honor to study with many artists including Gregory Dawson, Maurya Kerr, Kara Davis, Robert Moses, and FLOCK Works Dance.
This past summer Rosie had the opportunity to attend the Hubbard Street Dance Create Intensive, as well as the NW Dance Project Summer Intensive. In addition to being a freelance artist, she currently works as an instructor/event coordinator at a rock climbing gym; she does event performances in collaboration with Barclay Broadway Dance Company; and is thrilled to be interning for the LINES community programs as well as being a teaching artist for the HeART with LINES program. In the future she hopes to become more involved in the Bay Area dance community, and eventually find a path in dance therapy/outreach where she can help bring dance to communities with limited arts access.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Youth and School Programs
Photography | © Robert Kunkle / Good Lux Photography
A native of Hutchinson, Kansas, Kara Davis has danced for BalletMet, Atlanta Ballet, Ohio Ballet, the San Francisco Opera Ballet, and Ballet Jorgen in Toronto, Ontario. She is a founding member of KUNST-STOFF and Janice Garrett & Dancers, both of whom she danced for ten years. Since moving to San Francisco in 1996, she has danced for The Foundry, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Robert Moses, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Holly Johnston, Amy Raymond, Pearl Ubungen Dancers & Musicians, and Mary Carbonara. She won an “Izzie” in 2003 for “Outstanding Achievement in Individual Performance” and was San Francisco Chronicle dance critic Rachel Howard’s pick for 2005’s MVP.
Davis has taught at the San Francisco Ballet School, Berkeley Ballet, Atlanta Ballet School, ODC, UC Berkeley, Saint Mary’s College, Stanford University, Mills College, SF State, San Jose State University, Guangdong Modern Dance Academy in Guang Zhou, China and in Cairo, Egypt. She has been a faculty member for LINES Ballet’s education programs since 2005 and co-founded project agora (project-agora.com) with Bliss Kohlmyer in 2006. The company has since presented work at the Bates Dance Festival (Artists in Residence 2015), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, SF International Arts Festival, ODC Theater, Dance Mission, and SPF. As an independent choreographer her work has been selected as a finalist (2009) and runner-up (2012) for ACDA, and has been performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cowell Theater, and the California Theater (sjDANCEco commission) and the Museum of Performance + Design. Davis has received numerous Isadora Duncan nominations for her choreography and one “Best Choreography” award for Terra Incognita, Revisited, a collaboration with Manuelito Biag, Katie Faulkner, and Alex Ketley.
Davis was an Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center For The Arts in 2009 and currently teaches at University of San Francisco. She earned her MFA from Hollins University in 2013.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA Program and Summer Program
A former Alonzo King LINES Ballet dancer, Gregory created dawsondancesf in 2007 as an outlet for his choreographic vision. The Company debuted at the California State Summer School of the Arts. With movement that is physical and deliberate, the company uses the Classical idiom, in unpredictable ways. Dawson relishes utilizing the sculptural grace, and physicality of motion, thus allowing his dancers to fully utilize every ounce of their kinetic, and animal energy.
Shortly after forming the Company, Dawson created “which light in the sky is us” for Company C Contemporary Ballet, (nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for choreography) became Assistant Director of the California State Summer School of the Arts In the fall of 2011, Dawson became Artistic Director of Dawson Wallace Dance Project in Denver, Colorado, where the Denver Post named him “the best choreographer in Denver.” Dawson received a CHIME grant, partnering him with choreographic mentor Elizabeth Streb for one year. In September 2013, dawsondancesf re-established the company in SF with the premiere of “fabricca matterasso d’argento” at Zaccho Dance Theatre. Following this, Mr. Dawson created “birds eye view” (a collaboration with the Richard Howell Quintet) for the 2014 Black Choreographers Festival, which received an Isadora Duncan Award in 2015. “MONOCHROME” at the BAN7 Festival 2014 in San Francisco.
In the Fall of 2014, Dawson premiered “in this moment” with Richard Howell and“intrinsic motion project”, and in 2015 completed it’s 5-week residency at CSSSA. In spring of 2015, dawsondancesf premiered “Intima” produced by Al’myra Communication, which collaborated with AliKaf – visuals, and Ashraf kateb – music. dawsondancesf made it’s debut in New York City in the Fall of 2014, with a return in September 2015, at Baruch College. In 2015 dawsondancesf premiered “Punctus Contra Punctum”, at Grey Area SF. In fall of 2016 dawsondancesf in collaboration with Sidra Bell NY presented an evening in SF at ODC Theater with the premiere of “lovechild”and in Summer 2016, “Altered Larynx”. In the Fall of 2016 dawsondancesf was invited to Pixar studios in Oakland to perform for the premiere of CoCo. In the Winter of 2017 the company was presented by YBCA for the premiere of “les verities”. In the Spring 2017, “RITE 17” was premiered at Grey Area SF, and in the Fall of 2018 “Floating in Mid-Air” premiered at the Bayview Opera House. In Winter 2019 dawsondancesf premiered “Champion and Lovers” at Dance Mission Theater in SF.
Dawson has made over 70 works since founding the company in 2007. “MANGAKU” is his fifth with Howell and the 18th work for dawsondancesf. The rest include commissions for other companies: Boston Conservatory, Menlowe Ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Tacoma Metropolitan Ballet, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and compositions for all of Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s education programs.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican and Summer Program
Photography | © Devi Pride Photography