People Archive

Entering their 14th year of collaboration, David and Tiffany’s studies and early careers lead them to Canada, New York, South Korea, Brazil, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic and Italy. Following a two-year residency in Antwerp, Belgium, they returned to Vancouver in 2007 to create Out Innerspace and post-secondary program Modus Operandi. They have been awarded residencies including The Dance Centre, Dance Victoria and The Banff Centre for the Arts and are Associate Artists of Agora de la danse in Montreal for the next 3 years. They have worked with students at institutions including London School of Contemporary Dance, Rotterdamse Danssacademie, Fontys Danssacademie, Hansung University and NYU. Their international performance careers include dancing with Justine Chambers, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance and Kidd Pivot.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Summer Program

Molly Rogers, MFA, teaches courses in dance studies that examine the politics of identity and representation both on and off-stage. Molly designed and implemented the inaugural dance history curriculum at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, where she serves on faculty teaching Critical Perspectives in Dance. She has worked as a lecturer in dance at UC Irvine, as well as a guest speaker at St. Mary’s College and Sonoma State University discussing the work of Alonzo King. In addition to her academic teaching, Molly’s choreography has been commissioned by Scripps College and the LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California, where she also serves as the dance department’s Integrative Coach. As a mentor and teacher, Molly is honored to guide students on their journey to becoming critically aware, multifaceted human beings. She was named Dominican University’s 2019 Teacher of the Year.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA Program at Dominican University of California, Summer Program, Training Program, Teens at LINES

Photography | © Julia Cost

Debra Rose is the founder and owner of San Francisco GYROTONIC®, primarily created to serve the San Francisco Bay Area’s dance community in 1988. Debra created the first syllabus and GYROTONIC® manual associated with a dance program for the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California. She has also created a unique GYROTONIC® curriculum for the LINES Ballet Training Program, LINES Ballet Summer Program, San Francisco State University, and, most recently, The San Francisco High School of the Arts.

As a dancer, Debra trained in New York at The School of American Ballet, after which she danced with the Oakland and San Francisco Ballets. The majority of her career was spent dancing for the San Francisco Opera Ballet and as a principle and founding member of Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Debra also served as a Ballet Mistress for LINES Ballet and assisted Mr. King in setting choreography on various companies that include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Joffrey Ballet.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican, Summer Program, Training Program

Katie Roy is a dancer / visual artist / scientist / educator who thrives off of creative process and believes there is immense power and beauty in multidisciplinary exploration.

Katie began her training at New England Ballet in her hometown of Wayland, MA. She started her performing career with Boston-area touring company Dance Prism.

Katie graduated from Dickinson College in 2015 with a B.S. with Honors in both Physics and Mathematics. Through participation in the co-curricular Dance Theatre Group, she also had the opportunity to perform work by Sarah Skaggs and NYC-based Pam Tanowitz and Christopher Williams, among others. Katie returned to Dickinson as a guest artist in the fall of 2015 to premiere a work based upon concepts in acoustic physics and presented the piece in its early stages in a collaborative salon with Professor L. Koss to discuss connections between differential equations and art.

Katie moved to San Francisco in 2017 to complete two years with the LINES Ballet | Training Program, during which time she performed work by choreographers Alex Ketley, Brett Conway, David Harvey, Erik Wagner, and Maurya Kerr. She was chosen to be a student choreographer to develop new works on her peers twice, with guidance from Christian Burns. In the fall of 2018, Katie began to teach the inaugural ChoreoLab class for Teens @ LINES, and since then, she has had the honor of watching her students perform works created in studio lab sessions at festivals across the Bay Area. Katie has also worked as the Training Program Coordinator since 2019.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | TEENS at LINES, Training Program, and Summer Program

Photography | © Katherine Brackman

Carmen Rozestraten is a founding member of Alonzo King LINES Ballet and danced with the company from 1978-1996. She is a senior faculty member for LINES Ballet’s education programs and teaches the company regularly. A native of Amsterdam, she has toured the world as a performer and educator, teaching at major ballet companies such as Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Opera de Lyon and Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza.

She has choreographed for Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Institut del Teatre, Barcelona, the LINES Ballet Summer Program, the LINES Ballet Training Program, and LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University of California.

Carmen has also made three award-winning dance films.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican, Dance Center, Summer Program, Training Program

Liv Schaffer received her Bachelor’s degree from Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California in 2013, and has spent subsequent seasons performing with AXIS Dance Company, DanceWorks Chicago, The Dance Exchange, and Robert Moses’ Kin. Liv is a Community Engagement Artist with Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, and a Lead Artist with the Pillow’s Medicine in Motion program, investigating ways in which dance is a tool for medical practitioners to enhance humane and holistic practices in their work. Liv teaches Contemporary Dance and directs University of San Francisco’s intergenerational dance company; the Dance Generators. Liv was named a Shawl Anderson Dance Center 2019 Artist in Residence, and her choreography has been presented by DanceWorks Chicago’s DanceMoves Choreographic Competition, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Performance Series, Jacob’s Pillow Lab In Process Series, the JUNTOS Collective, The Big Muddy Dance Company, LINES BFA & Summer Programs, Western Michigan University, and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival ChoreoFest.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | BFA at Dominican, Summer Program

Natalya Shoaf is a Bay Area dance educator, choreographer, and performer. She received her formidable dance education from Burbank Dance Biz, Patsy Metzger Dancers, Media City Dance, and Los Angeles High School for the Arts. Shoaf holds a BFA in Dance from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California. Natalya Shoaf is a dance educator for Oakland School of the Arts and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. As a performer, she has worked with Robert Moses Kin, OysterKnife, Flyaway Productions, dazaun.dance, and many more. Shoaf is a performing artist with dawsondancesf/works and guest choreographer for Cal State East Bay. She also joined the LINES Ballet Summer Program faculty in 2024.

Amanda Smith grew up in Orange County, CA and trained at California Dance Academy, Pointe of Grace, and Anaheim Ballet. In 2008, she was crowned Miss Dance Drill Team California and USA. She moved to New York to study at SUNY Purchase where she received her BFA in 2012. She also studied abroad and performed at the Dance New York International Dance Festival in Madrid, Spain.

After graduating, Smith joined Charlotte Ballet and worked with Patricia McBride. In 2015, she moved back to New York, where she joined New York Theatre Ballet. Smith also taught and participated in outside projects including The Black Iris Project and Kymera Dance, and she was featured in a national campaign for GAP. She then joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 2017 and was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine’s 2019 April issue. While at DTH, Smith performed many roles in ballets such as Allegro Brilliante and Blake Works IV. She also guested for Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. Furthermore, Smith has taught classes, performed as a guest artist all over, and worked with many prolific artists such as Arthur Mitchell, Carmen De Lavalade, and William Forsythe.

With an intention to create art that aims to illuminate the human soul, Dazaun Soleyn (he/she/they), has presented work in the Bay Area since 2013. He received a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of South Florida and continued his dance education at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Recently, Dazaun graduated from California College of the Arts with a Masters in Architecture (MArch). Dazaun is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, a GYROTONIC® Instructor, Reiki Master, and Apprentice Herbalists. His mediums include dance, architecture, sculpture, and interactive installations.

Alice Svetic is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Oakland, CA. Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Alice received their BFA in Dance from University of Wisconsin-Madison and their MFA in Dance from Hollins University, where they were an adjunct professor of ballet and contemporary dance practice. Their research centers around critical feminist and queer dance teaching perspectives, viewership politics, and the performative body. Alice is currently a dance artist with SF-based Alex Ketley’s The Foundry and a teaching artist with the Alonzo King LINES Training Program, Marin Dance Theater, and Marin Ballet.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Training Program

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