Wendy Allamby

Born and raised in England, Allamby began performing dance professionally at 12 years of age alongside a host of British icons including such greats as Danny La Rue and Roy Hudd.  Later she was invited to enter the prestigious Arts Education School in London, Britain’s version of The Juilliard School, where she studied dance and musical theatre, graduating in the top of her class. As a certified dance instructor Allamby has had the privilege of learning a wide variety of dance styles while teaching and choreographing around the globe to both professionals and amateurs alike.  She has the unique honor of having taught at all three top Danish teaching organizations the K.K.A., F.O.F. and A.O.F.  While in Denmark she also served as Assistant Director of the exclusive Dance Studium School of Copenhagen.  In 2000 Allamby moved to the United States and has continued her work in dance on both East and West coasts, choreographing for the theatre and teaching private classes. Allamby has performed as a soloist for the renowned Danish dance company, “Yo-Yo”; musical theatre with The London Toast Theatre; and as lead female in pantomime with the UK’s Albermarle of London Company.  Film, TV and radio clients include the BBC, DRTV - Denmark, and PBS. As a professional voice-over artist her extensive work includes narrating award winning documentary programs for Unicef. Allamby also hosted the acclaimed television quiz show “Capitol Letters” in Dubai.

Colette Brandenburg

Brandenburg began dancing with Michigan Ballet Theater at the age of seven. She became a founding member of Midwest Dance Theater under the direction of Evelyn Kreason.  After recieving her BA from Lewis and Clark College, she attended the Independent Study Program at Alvin Ailey in NYC.  Upon completion, she began performing, choreographing, and teaching in New York and Los Angeles.  Her work has been positively reviewed in the New York Times and Backstage New York.  She is currently working with Saba Dance Theater and is involved in several other projects.  Her most recent performances were at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA, and the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  Colette thoroughly enjoys working with the students at the Star Program and has enjoyed watching her students grow into great dancers.

Irani DaSilva

DaSilva is a diverse dancer who is trained in various styles including samba, salsa, belly dance, bollywood, hip-hop and jazz. DaSilva is a working performer who dances for corporate events, birthday parties and weddings. She also does industrials and has made many commercial appearances. Furthermore, she has performed for various artists such as Will Smith, Nelly and Black Eye Peas, as well as performing in various award ceremonies.

Dorothy Dillingham Blue

Blue’s love of dance & theatre began in her hometown, Columbia, SC. These loves were further nourished while she completed her bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. After working in professional theatre and improvisation in Chicago, she sought sunnier skies here in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to her work in theatre (Mark Taper New Works, NoHo Arts Festival), commercials (Quizno’s, Earthbox) and voiceover (Fry’s, animation), Blue directs and choreographs at Theatre Palisades and choreographs for Sacred Fools.

Ayanna Foster

Foster is a powerful dance fusion force that performs and teaches many different styles from all around the world. The divergent styles that Ayanna embodies are modern, jazz, ballet, belly dance, dance hall, West African, salsa, samba and contact improvisation. Foster has devoted 15 years to dance training and has been teaching for over 6 years.

Tamarra Juniel

Juniel began training in Modern, Jazz, Ballet, and Tap at the age of 3. She trained with Lula Washington for several years and at the age of 8 she was the youngest in her dance company to be accepted to the Arthur Mitchell Dance Company in New York. A talented dancer for “Step to the Mic”, a showcase for aspiring artists held at BB King’s at Universal City Walk and Hermosa Beach’s 705 Club, she proved to be one of the guys, taking her choreography and talent to a whole other level. Her dedication to her art has led her to want to give to so many. Juniel has worked with elementary schools around the Los Angeles area as a dance instructor. She has choreographed dances for several recitals and parades. At one point she was the choreographer and manager of a young dance group dubbed “2nd Nature Dance Team” with boys and girls ranging from ages 7 to 11. Spirituality is an extremely vital part of this dancer’s life. Knowing that dance comes from the heart and soul it was a must that Juniel make dancing a part of her faith. She was a former member of SGI Dance Crew and Reign. She is now the leader of her Buddhist dance group named Soldiers of Fortune.

Nick Kane

Kane’s love of hip hop dance in high school lead him to get a BFA in modern dance from UWM. His diverse background includes studying and teaching capoeira, ballroom, hip hop, Argentinian tango, poi, contact improvisation, and many styles of swing and Latin dances.

Achinta S. McDaniel

McDaniel is a pioneer of contemporary East Indian dance in the United States, working as a leading choreographer both on stage and on camera throughout the nation for 10 years. In 1999, she founded blue13 dance company, and has since enjoyed great success in creating live, critically acclaimed dance productions in her signature style, Bollywood-Tech™, along with Contemporary and Bhangra style dance from coast to coast. She also choreographs and provides dancers for private functions, weddings, corporate gatherings, and other events. McDaniel is a 2008 Horton Dance Award nominee in the choreography – long form category for her epic “Six.Fifteen and Everything Senseless.” A prolific choreographer, performer, and instructor, McDaniel’s powerful and fresh style of movement encompasses strong technique from ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, and hip-hop to Bollywood, Bhangra, and classical Indian Kathak. She is regarded as an expert on Indian dance and Bollywood, providing consultation to businesses, media and entertainment companies, as well as to the film industry. McDaniel is the premiere Indian Dance Instructor in Los Angeles, teaching her signature Bollywood.Bhangra.Beats™ and many other dance classes with The Blue School all over Los Angeles.

Alison Rootberg

Rootberg is an interdisciplinary artist whose primary focus is in dance and video. She completed her MFA in Dance and Integrated Media at the California Institute of the Arts. Rootberg also has a BFA in Dance and a BS in Inter-Arts and Technology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Furthermore, she was selected and attended the Sydney Kahn Summer Institute at the Kitchen in New York, the Music and Dance Exchange at Dartington College of Art in Devon (United Kingdom), and STEIM in Amsterdam (Netherlands) for a residency in the Electronic Performance Arts. Her work has been presented by Aalborg University Esbjerg (Copenhagen, Denmark), ADaPT (Association for Dance and Performance Telematics), Alterna Professional Haircare (CA), The Apple Store SOHO (NY), The Blankenship Ballet Company (CA), The California Institute of the Arts, the Charles B. Wang Center (NY), Dance Millennium Summer Dance Intensive (WI), The El Rey Theatre (CA), H & H Entertainment (IL), The International Consumer Electronics Show (NV), Intersection for the Arts (CA), The Kitchen (NY), the Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts (Morelia, Mexico), Niccolò Paganini Music Conservatory (Genoa, Italy), Pochron Studios (NY), Queens University (Belfast, Northern Ireland), Rivolta (Venice, Italy), Roulette (NY), San Diego State University (CA), The Southern Theater (MN), St Mark’s Church (NY), Stony Brook University (NY), the University of Arizona – Tucson, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Colorado – Boulder, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Wisconsin Union Theater, Workspace Limited (CA), and Zentrale Randlage (Berlin, Germany). She has also been accepted to and presented her work at the Artificial Reproduction Technologies Conference (NY), the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival (WA), the International Computer Music Conference, the International Digital Media and Arts Conference, the MacWorld Conference, and the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Rootberg is a board member of the New West Electronic Arts and Music Organization (NWEAMO) and the Dance Resource Center (DRC). In addition to all of this, she continues to serve as Artistic Director of Kinesthetech Sense, creating new work and traveling the world with it.

Lisa Solar

Solar was born in California and raised in Tahiti; she speaks fluent English, French, Spanish (Castilian) and Tahitian. Her career began performing and touring at the age of five with “The Tahitians,” a famous musical dance group created and managed by father Michael Faye through out the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. She has become an eclectic dancer with an extensive study in contemporary, traditional and folkloric dance. Her repertoire includes diverse dance styles such as Flamenco, Classical Spanish, Latin, Afro-Cuban, Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, and Polynesian. With a bachelor’s degree in Art from UCLA’s department of World Arts and Cultures, she is an artist who will continue to teach, perform and tour nationally and internationally. Solar is also a former member of Contra-Tiempo urban dance Ensemble and currently dances for Flamenco L.A. Furthermore, she teaches in the Los Angeles community at Plaza de la Raza, A Place Called Home, L.A leadership, North Hollywood High School, Lynwood High School and the International Sports Institute. She enjoys teaching dance and choreographing! Her latest creation consists of two amazing dance pieces—Nostalgia Tahiti and an Afro-Spanish project. She produces and composes most of her works’ music. As an artist in the community, she has volunteered her time to the “Caracole” garden in bowel heights and the L.A.D.I. in honor of Stanley Holden as a production assistant. She is grateful to Jamie Nichols for welcoming her to Los Angeles’ Dance community and for introducing her to the Dance Resource Center where she dedicates her time as a secretary. Solar recently received the Emma B. Keller Fine Arts Scholarship and a scholarship to study in the Cultural tradition program world renowned Jacob’s Pillow. After she graduates in 2008, she will continue to perform for artists, teach and choreograph dances for students and hopes in the near future to enter the motion pictures industry as a choreographer.

Harmony Turner

Photographer: Ryuichi Oshimoto

After a childhood of gymnastics and martial arts, Turner stepped into the world of dance beginning with hip-hop, jazz, and ballet. Nine years later, Turner has an extensive background in ballet, lyrical, jazz, hip-hop, street, modern, post-modern, Indonesian dance and drama, musical theatre, baroque, and Bollywood. She is a recent graduate with a BA degree in Theatre Arts, Dance concentration from UCSC.

Mona Wells

Wells has been practicing yoga and studying dance for most of her life and feels that yoga is a meditative dance. She has been teaching yoga for over eight years in NYC and Los Angeles and has worked with adults, children and pregnant at risk teens. Wells completed her teacher training with Dr. Jeff Migdow, a holistic medical doctor, through the Open Center in NYC. She has also studied with many inspiring teachers including Catherine McNamara (Santa Monica Yoga), Ana Forrest (Kripalu), Shiva Rea (Kripalu and Sacred Movement/Exhale in NYC and LA), Max Strom (Exhale, NYC) and continues to be inspired with books from Donna Farhi, Pema Chodran, and Thich Nhat Hanh. She also loves theater and has studied with Jeff Corey and currently studies writing with Terri Silverman. Wells welcomes all to enjoy yoga with her!