Faculty

Sally Streets, Director Emerita. Ms. Streets, renowned for her teaching and choreography, has been part of Berkeley Ballet Theater since 1981. Before coming to Berkeley, Ms. Streets performed with Mia Slavenska's Ballet Variante and The New York City Ballet. She also held the positions of Ballet Mistress and principal dancer with the Oakland Ballet and Pacific Ballet, and company teacher with the San Francisco Ballet. She continues to teach for BBT, is resident choreographer for the Diablo Ballet, and is their Artistic Advisor.

Sarah Marcus, Artistic Director. Ms. Marcus trained at the Albany Berkshire Ballet and holds a B.S. in Ballet Performance from Indiana University. Ms. Marcus has performed a wide variety of classical and contemporary roles including George Balanchine's Valse Fantastique staged by Violette Verdy and Western Symphony staged by Patricia McBride. Ms. Marcus performed with The Oakland Ballet for a number of years and also with Carlos Carvajal's Peninsula Ballet Theater. Ms. Marcus is co-founder and Co-Director of local dance company COUNTERPOINTe. Ms. Marcus served as BBT's Assistant Director between 2001 and 2006.

Susan Weber, Assistant Artistic Director. While dancing in the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Ms. Weber assisted Mr. Lubovitch in setting works at the Royal Danish Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Pennsylvania Ballet, le Théâtre du Silence (Paris), the UCLA Dance Company, and on Lynn Seymour of the Royal Ballet. In recent years, she has worked as assistant to choreographer Mark Morris on his pieces for San Francisco Ballet: "A Garden," "Later," and the full-length "Sylvia," and has worked with Tina Fehlandt to set Mr. Morris' "Gong" at the Royal Ballet and "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes" at English National Ballet. Susan holds M.A. and B.A. degrees in Dance from UCLA, where she began teaching during graduate school.

Photo: Fraser Bonnell

Deborah Moss, School Principal. Ms. Moss has worked and studied with Sally Streets since 1986. Prior to that time Deborah studied and taught at Stamp School in Albany, CA. Ms. Moss has participated in numerous teaching workshops where she has studied, among other things, the Cecchetti method, the Legat system, and Lester Horton technique. Deborah is a Fine Arts graduate of UC Berkeley.

Graciela Acedo. Ms. Acedo was a soloist at Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas. Ms. Acedo has also danced with Oakland Ballet and Mark Foehringer Dance Project, among others. Ms. Acedo has taught at the University of Nebraska and Western Ballet, where she was Associate Director. She conducted a teaching seminar with the National Ballet of Cuba.

Patricia Banchik. Ms. Banchik began her training in Mexico City where she was born and raised. She attended college at Teikyo Loretto Heights University in Denver, Colorado where she received a B.A. in Dance and Psychology. She has performed with David Taylor Dance Theater, Berkeley Ballet Theater, in Dance Brigade's Nutcracker and with independent choreographers. She is also beginning her career as a choreographer. Ms. Banchik has been teaching at BBT since 1988.

John Butterfield. Mr. Butterfield founded New Urban Dance Company in 1989. The Company has performed in the Bay Area and Throughout Northern California. The acting branch of the Company, Butterfield 8, has performed at the Dean Lesher Region Center for the Arts and Town Hall Theater. As a dancer Mr. Butterfield has toured the US with Dance Through Time and has performed with ODC, Left Coast Dance, and Company Chaddick. He has received two Shelly awards; one for Choreography and one for Costuming.

Sonya Delwaide. Ms. Delwaide is a native of Quebec and Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Compagnie de Danse L'Astragale. Since 1983 her choreography has been regularly presented in Canada, the United States and more recently in France and Brazil. She has taught at the National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadians, the Cegep of Drummondville and other professional studios in the U.S. and Canada. Ms. Delwaide currently teaches at Mills College in Oakland. Ms. Delwaide is a Fine Arts graduate of York University in Toronto.

Caroline Emery. Ms. Emery was born in Brazil and received her early ballet training at the Teatro Guaira School. In the United States she trained at the Joffrey Ballet School and the David Howard Dance Center. She performed for the San Francisco Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Colorado Ballet, and Ballet Teatro Guaira (Brazil). Her main roles in repertory ballets include: Acrobat (Romeo and Juliet), Cupid and Rosita (Don Quixote), Cygnet (Swan Lake), and Marie (The Nutcracker). She has performed works by renowned choreographers including: Natalia Makarova, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, and George Balanchine, among others. Since 1997 she has been teaching at schools in Oregon and the Bay Area.

Brian Fisher. Mr. Fisher has been a guest artist in BBT's Nutcracker since 1992. While living in New York, Mr Fisher performed on Broadway, in national tours, on national television, and with numerous independent choreographers. Since moving to San Francisco, he has performed as a guest artist for Jennifer Kilfoil, Mark Franko, Kevin Ware, Igal Perry, Mark Foehringer, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Sonya Delwaide, and the San Francisco Opera. He recently retired from ODC/SF where he was a member and Assistant to the Choreographer for 13 years.

Alice Gray. Ms. Gray began her ballet training at the Oregon Ballet Theatre school at the age of seven. She also attended the American Ballet school and Ecole de Danse in Perpignan, France. Upon graduation from high school she was accepted as an apprentice at Oregon Ballet Theatre. The following year she was promoted to company member. At OBT, Ms. Gray performed principal and soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Les Sylphides, and Giselle, among others. She was featured in many of Artistic Director James Canfield's contemporary ballets, and had the opportunity to be personally coached by Isabelle Fokine while rehearsing for Les Sylphides.

Robert Greer. Mr. Greer has been a principal dancer for Augusta Ballet, Northern Plains Ballet, Artisan Dance. He has also danced with Lexington Ballet, Ballet Idaho, and Charleston Ballet Theatre, among others. He recently returned to the Bay Area.

Sarah Hayward. A Berkeley native, Ms. Hayward studied at San Francisco, Oakland and Marin Ballet Schools as well as at the Joffrey Ballet School and The School of American Ballet. At 19 she was a finalist in the International Ballet Competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ms. Hayward danced professionally for 11 years (under her maiden name, Sarah Kalmar); five in New York City with Feld Ballets/New York and six in Europe. She has performed with and taught for a number of companies and choreographers in the Bay Area (including Kunst Stoff, Sonya Delwaide, and Peninsula Ballet). Ms. Hayward is co-artistic director of Company D, a pre-professional student company in Solano County.

Erica Rose Jeffrey. Ms. Jeffrey studied dance at the Pittsburgh Ballet School before joining Ballet Internationale. After dancing professionally for several years, she attended Indiana University as a Wells Scholar and has degrees in Ballet and Mediation and Conflict Resolution. She is Co-Director of COUNTERPOINTe.

Corinne Jonas. Ms. Jonas received her training at the Marin Ballet. She danced with the Houston Ballet for nine seasons, performing a wide range of principal and soloist roles. In September 1995, she joined Diablo Ballet, where she played featuring roles in Romeo and Juliet, Norbert Vesak's Ecstasy of Rita Joe, and others. She also appeared as one of six ballerinas in Andrew Lloyd Webber's San Francisco production of the Phantom of the Opera. Ms. Jonas served as Artistic Director of BBT from 2002 through 2005, and continues to divide her time between BBT and her family.

David Kato. Mr. Kato is Youth Company Director and head of the Boys' Division of Berkeley Ballet Theater. A professional dancer since 1986, Mr. Kato trained at the Palo Alto Ballet School, Marin Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet School. He has performed with Empire State Ballet, Marin Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theater, and Margaret Wingrove Contemporary Dance Company, in addition to his appearances in many BBT performances, including The Nutcracker, Chopin for Two, and Coppelia.

Xiao Liu-Moore. Ms. Liu-Moore began her training in her native Hunan Province, China, at age eleven. She won her first major award, capturing third place in the first Chinese National Dance Competition, in 1980. In 1982 she was awarded first place in the Hunan Province Dance Competition. In 1984 she took first place in the Outstanding Performers Competition in Hunan Province. She received her B.A. degree from Beijing Dance Academy in Classical Dance and Character Dance Teaching. In 1986 she was the first Chinese to receive a scholarship from the China Fund to the School of American Ballet in New York. As a dancer, instructor, and choreographer, Xiao has enjoyed working with various schools and companies around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Michael Lowe. Mr. Lowe has danced, choreographed, and directed for the Oakland Ballet. Mr. Lowe's choreography includes Table for Two, Witness, The Emperor and the Nightingale, Dim Sum and Bamboo.

Amanda McGovern. Ms. McGovern has most recently performed with Oakland Ballet. She has worked with a number of local choreographers, including Yannis Adoniou, Robert Moses, and Viktor Kabaniaev. She has been a member of Nevada Ballet Theatre, Lisbon Dance in Portugal, Peninsula Ballet, Moving Arts, and Sacramento Ballet. Amanda will receive a BA in Performance from St. Mary's College in May of 2008.

Gina Pietraroia. Ms. Pietraroia has been studying ballet for over eighteen years. She began her training at the Tracy Vedda Studio in Westlake, Ohio, and continued at Butler University in Indianapolis, where she graduated with a B.S. in Education and English. She has performed throughout the Cleveland area with the North Coast Dance Collective, and has nine years' experience teaching students of all ages. She is excited to have recently moved to the Bay Area.

Kirsten Schwartz. Ms. Schwartz began her ballet training in Los Gatos under Paul E. Curtis, and continued with Suzanee Gibson Storti in Santa Cruz, from whom she learned to teach children and adults. After a year at at the San Francisco Ballet School on a Ford Foundation Scholarship, she then danced several years with Oakland Ballet, continuing her teaching there. After a hiatus that included college and graduate school, Ms. Schwartz returned to ballet at Berkeley Ballet Theater. She teaches writing at U.C. Berkeley and ballet for adults at the Albany Community Center.

Priya Starbuck. Ms. Starbuck, a native San Franciscan, trained at the Marin Ballet. In 1994 she apprenticed with the San Francisco Ballet; she joined the company in 1995. She was promoted to Soloist in 2002. Since leaving San Francisco Ballet, Ms. Starbuck co-created AuthenticSF, a company designed to cultivate more sustainable and flourishing relationships in the world. She is currently leading courses and women's circles in San Francisco.

Teresa Taylor. Ms. Taylor received her early training with Eric Hyrst of the Royal Ballet. While attending Southern Oregon University, where she graduated with Honors in a double major of Theater and Humanities, she performed extensively with the State Ballet of Oregon. Performances include Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, The Nutcracker, and many original ballets. Ms. Taylor continued her training in San Francisco and Seattle before moving to Boston to dance with the Ballet Theatre of Boston, Ballet New England, and Boston Dance Company. During this time, she performed Balanchine ballets in accordance with the Ballanchine trust; Valse Fantastique and Concerto Barocco, as well as performing in works by Agnes de Mille, Isadora Duncan, Ted Shawn, and Ruth St. Denis. Ms. Taylor has also appeared as a guest artist with the Minnesota Dance Theater.

Susan Edgren Williams. Ms. Williams has taught at St. Mary's College, Oakland Ballet, Shawl-Anderson, The Ballet School Walnut Creek, California Theater Arts, and Orinda Ballet, where she was Director and principal instructor. She has trained and danced with San Francisco Ballet, Oakland Ballet (soloist), Royal Academy of Dance London, Palazzo Brancaccio Rome, Alexandra Daniloua New York, and San Francisco Opera.

Rudy Apffel. Mr. Apffel is BBT's principal accompanist. A well-known figure within the community of Bay Area dance studios, Mr. Apffel's attentive accompaniment helps BBT students learn to merge the skills of focus and discipline with their natural musicality.