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The Department of Dance is committed to providing student and community populations with a fundamental knowledge of the lifelong benefits of physical exercise and to developing an understanding of physical activity as a part of a total education.
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Gail G Barton Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., M.A. , San Francisco State University |
Ms. Barton has taught at CCSF for the past twenty years. She is a Fellow, US Terpsichore Association (Ballroom and Latin) and Graduate, Integral Yoga Teacher's Training.
Her instructional philosophy is to challenge herself and her students to fully realize ones' potential. In Ballroom Dance, Latin and Swing Dance forms, one can appreciate the past but prepare for maximum success on the dance floor today. Her Folk Dance class offers students the experience of dance forms originating from around the world. Yoga students feel comfortable working at their own level to integrate mind, body and spirit.
Ms. Barton has served as a Judge for SF Ethnic Dance Festival Auditions on six occasions, as a panelist for the California Arts Council, and as Vice President for the California Dance Educators Association. Her choreography appears in the film " And We Still Dance ". Her article on College Dance was the cover story for the March, 1998 issue of Ballroom Dancers Rag .
Going dancing, taking classes and workshops, attending conventions and performances, walking and browsing in used book stores are some of Ms. Barton's extracurricular interests.
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David E Blood Coordinator, Physical Education Department/Dance B.S., University of Washington |
For 10 years, Professor Blood was a principle dancer with Oakland Ballet and the San Francisco Moving Company. While with the Oakland Ballet he performed in many famous ballets such as Billy the Kid, La Boutique Fantasque, Les Noces, Rooms, and Sheherazade. He worked with choreographers such as Leonide Massine, Eugene Loring, Anna Sokolow and Frederic Franklin.
Professor Blood began swing dancing in 1998 and has been trained by Frankie Manning, Sylvia Sykes, Jason Christodoulou, Chad Kubo, Steven Mitchell, Paul Overton, Sharon Ashe, Karla Heiney and others. He has also taken balboa from Steve Garret and Heidi Salerno. He presently teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced swing at CCSF as a full time instructor.
In his leisure time, Mr. Blood enjoys gardening and keeping his lovely wife Ann happy.
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Kathleen L Burick Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara |
Professor Burick has been teaching at CCSF since 1980.
For the past 14 years her primary focus has been tap, although she still loves her Saturday morning modern dance class and believes that every dance form contributes in a unique way to the development of every very unique dancer. At UCSB she studied Humphrey-Limon technique with Alice Condita and Rona Sande, Laban Wigman with Isa Berghson, and Graham with Cristine Lawson, David Hatch-Walker and Ross Parks. Professor Burick's M.A. in Creative Arts Education focused on dance from multiple cultural perspectives. Her training in tap ranges from study at the Betty Lee Dance Studio in Ohio in the 1950's and 60's to conferences, festivals and master classes with the likes of Camden Richmond, Steve Condos, Brenda Bufalino, Jean Martin, Robert Reed, Diane Walker Jimmy Slide and Arthur Duncan over the past 25 years. She is inspired by and loves taking class from pace-setting contemporary artists such as Savion Glover, Mark Mendoca, Andrew Nemr, Derrick Grant and John Kloss. In the early 80's she performed with tw!
As to modern dance companies: Nancy Karp & Dancers and KADEKA Dances for Kids. In the mid 90's Professor Burick performed with Lynn Jassem's Stepfire Tap Ensemble. She considers myself an ever-aspiring and evolving jazz/rhythm tap dancer who loves to share her passion for tap, in particular, and dance in general.
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Brittany B Ceres Physical Education Department/Dance M.A. Dance Specialization, Department of Education, Stanford University |
Professor Ceres has been teaching at CCSF since 2008.
Instructional/educational philosophy and goals:
In an environment where we are all learning together, I can instill trust and confidence within each voice.
• to abandon surface, subjective judgments in order to instill trust and safety while pursuing an honest environment. This open environment provides a stable foundation from which the student is encouraged to take risks in order to gain knowledge of themselves as a multi-leveled individual.
• to respect art as a discipline, with the definition that art is a celebration and therefore the appreciation of life and its lessons.
• to strive to understand the history of the chosen art form, as well as complimentary disciplines to view each intersection as a potential for collaboration. Knowledge of the history of dance, music, visual art, film, stage/prop craft all add to deepen the journey to the stage and the stage experience itself. This knowledge also assists and supports choices that the artist makes within each discipline.
• to find the satisfaction that comes with accepting the process of learning as a journey without demanding or expecting a definitive final product. Maintaining humility is essential; knowing that acquiring skill in any field requires time, interest, focus and energy.
• building character should be a part of every lesson (again- encourages risk taking) and therefore laughter and failure should be present every day to experience. Awareness of spontaneity and flexibility are of key importance.
• to pursue excellence in every assignment with knowledge of the requirements.
• to awaken all the senses through a thorough awareness of the body, in communication with the mind. Neither is shut off, nor should either carry more daily weight, instilling the idea of a whole functioning being: Alive and Passionate.
Hailed by dance critic Allan Ulrich as a choreographer with "genuine craft & individual sensibility" (VOD, 7/03), Professor Ceres is the founder of Dance Ceres. With an MFA from SUNY, Purchase College and an MA from Stanford, She currently teaches choreography at SF School of the Arts and City College. Ceres is a three time awardee of the Mary Edith Clifford Award for Choreography and in 2005 & 2007 received commissions from Stanford Lively Arts. Her work has been produced in the San Francisco Bay Area, New Zealand, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont and Oregon. She directed the WestWave Dance Festival from 02-07, managed of ODC Theater from 03-06 and currently manages a SF based start-up, widgetbox.com. For more information on Dance Ceres and her academic instruction, please visit www.danceceres.org.
IN PRINT:
2006 RAINFOREST: DANCE & SCIENCE WORKSHOP MANUAL
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts presents… Deborah Slater Dance Theater Aligned with California Standards. Contributions to Cross-Disciplinary Studies & Dance Curriculum Chapters. Complete Costume/Prop design & Construction
2003 “Fiscal Sponsorship 101”
800 word Article for IN DANCE: September 2003 issue
2003 “Body Well Being” body work for Dancers in the Bay Area
1500 Word Article for IN DANCE: July 2003 issue
2002 “On Common Ground” Getting to know the California Dance Educators Association (CDEA) 2300 Word Article for IN DANCE: October 2002 issue
2002 “ARTAUD – Past, Present, Future?”
1700 word summary Article for IN DANCE: July ’2002 issue
1997 SAN DIEGO DANCE INSTITUE TEACHERS’ TRAINING MANUAL
Contributions, Essays, Examples and Lead Discussions
SAN DIEGO DANCE INSTITUTE
Written By: Margaret Marshall, Leandra Smith and Jane Blount
San Diego, California
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Chelsea N Eng Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., M.A., Stanford University |
Professor Eng has bee teaching Argentine Tango at CCSF since the Fall of 2000.
A lifelong dancer and since 1994 a devotee of Argentine tango, Professor Eng is a full-time professional performer, choreographer and teacher. Performance & choreography highlights include Confíteria Ideal/Buenos Aires, the International Dance Festival/New York City, national television (Latin Eyes), Diálogos on Hollywood’s theatre row, Leading Ladies of Tango at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and countless shows with the musicians of MonTango, Tango No. 9 and Trio Garufa. She is a founding member of the all-woman collaborative dance company Tango Con*Fusión (TangoConFusion.com) and co-leads an annual trip to the CITA in Buenos Aires. She has taught Argentine Tango since the mid-90s at workshops & festivals in many cities {Portland (7 TangoFests), Las Vegas, Seattle, Philadelphia, Honolulu, San Diego, Los Angeles}, including Buenos Aires. Professor Eng holds a Master’s Degree in Education – Dance Specialization from Stanford University. As founder & long-time director of the popular Argentine Tango Program at City College of San Francisco, she regularly teaches semester-length credit courses in Argentine Tango through PE & Dance (ccsf.edu). For further information, please visit: TangoChelsea.com
As a former transfer student (from Pomona College/ Claremont, CA to Stanford University), a Stanford University alum (B.A. & M.A.), and a City College faculty member, Professor Eng enjoys voluntarily representing Stanford University at the CCSF College Transfer Fair each Fall.
Professor Eng holds Professional Memberships in AFT 2121, Dancers' Group, and Theatre Bay Area.
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Marguerite Fishman Physical Education Department/Dance BFA, Ohio State University; MFA, Mills College, Oakland. |
Marguerite Fishman began teaching at CCSF in 2005. She also teaches Yoga at Cañada College, Redwood City; Modern Dance at Mercy High School, Burlingame; and Creative Dance at Living Wisdom School, Palo Alto.
"Dance has the power to connect us to the present moment, to that which is true, loving and good, to one's innate being and to others. The dance studio, the dance class, the rehearsal and the performance bring people together to celebrate strength, imagination, freedom, passion and beauty, and to experience the gift of life itself. Ultimately this is why I teach dance and what I intend to impart to my students."
Before moving to the Bay Area in 1981 Marguerite Fishman co-directed "Dances for Passers-By" which gave over 50 public performances in alternative spaces in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was one of four choreographers nationally selected to study with Lucas Hoving, principal dancer with the Jose Limon Dance Company, in The American Dance Festival at Duke University. Marguerite continued her studies with Mr. Hoving while at Mills College and danced in his San Francisco company in the late 80s. Since 1981 Marguerite has participated in numerous Bay Area performances, including theatrical collaborations with Jeanne Marie Hughes, director of Six Thumbs Dance Theatre and member of CCSF Dance faculty. In 1988 she served on the Board of Directors of The American Dance Friendship Tour, a group of Bay Area Contra Dancers and musicians who toured the Soviet Union during the Glosnost period. She worked with David Parr, SF Bay Revels Director, for six seasons as both choreographer and performer for the annual Christmas Revels. For the past ten years she has choreographed for the Living Wisdom School's annual Theatre Magic production. She has also taught the Alexander Technique, which she studied extensively with world-renowned teacher Marjorie Barstow.
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Theresa M Gensler Coordinator, Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., M.S., San Francisco State University |
Biography is unavailable at this time.
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Jeanne M Hughes Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., M.F.A., Mills College, Oakland |
Biography is unavailable at this time.
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Luana Coordinator, Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., College of Saint Teresa; M.A., Mills College, Oakland |
Luana has taught at CCSF since 1989.
She has trained with the Martha Graham Studio and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre studio.
In her own words: "Each student has a brilliance, a genius so to speak, and I encourage the student to apply his/her own brand of intelligence to the subject I am teaching (history, choreography, dance technique, or performance). Therefore I teach to the "internal teacher" which resides inside the student. I find students understand quicker, retain information longer and can aptly apply the information in a multiplicity of situations. Additionally, I am a systems theorist, so I believe in an interconnectedness of all subjects which demands from me multidimensional teaching and contextual presentation. Finally, each class is a learning experience for me because the students are teaching me how to teach them - it's very exciting! At the beginning of each semester I say to the students that ALL of us should be transformed in some way (physically, intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually) BECAUSE of the experiences created in my classes."
She is on the board of directors of several arts education organizations and involved in the mentorship program at Mills College. Luana also is a conference lecturer on the subjects: "Using the Arts in K-12 Education", "The African American Aesthetic in Education", "Teaching the Three R's Through Dance".
Luana is a member of the California Dance Educators Association and the National research group- subject: African American aesthetic
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Anne Marie Roake Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., San Francisco State University; M.A., California State University, Dominguez Hills |
Ms. Roake has taught at CCSF since 1996.
She believes that varied and innovative classes and teaching procedures reflecting changing times and attitudes are a must! Student projects and involvement in classroom activities are encouraged as well as group interaction, especially in dance classes. Ms. Roake also uses video to tape dance programs.
She is an advisor for the CCSF Cheer/Dance Squad and is the Student Activities/Rams Club representative ICC. She has written the curriculum for hip-hop dance, boxercise and cheer classes.
Ms. Roake is involved in St. Anthony's Center, San Francisco, Little Brother - San Francisco, NITA Law Workshops, College of San Mateo-Teacher, Chabot College, Hayward-Teacher and Children's Miracle Network.
In her leisure time, Ms. Roake enjoys travel, equestrian, swimming, archery, softball, music and drama classes.
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John Steven Rockwell |
Mr. Rockwell has been teaching at CCSF for four years.
His instructional philosophy is to embolden students to get in touch with their natural talents for movement and expression, and to use physical methods of communication for building positive and successful relationships on the dance floor.
He also hosts monthly swing dance parties at CCSF and is Director of The Jump Blues Dance Project (which brings swing dance to public schools), CDEA and the World Swing Dance Council.
His hobbies include hiking, reading and cooking. Mr. Rockwell also works part-time at the California Supreme Court.
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Gail A Stepanek Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., University of Colorado; M.A., Columbia University |
A teacher at CCSF for the past two years, Ms. Stepanek's educational goal is to create an educational atmosphere that facilitates somatic, holistic, creative learning with an opportunity for full self-expression.
Her hobbies include yoga, dance, hiking and reading.
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Valerie M Watson Physical Education Department/Dance B.A. Dance, San Francisco State University |
Professor Watson has taught at CCSF for the past 28 years. Her goal is to provide a strong foundation in the discipline of dance while instilling the importance and responsibility of building good character. This is needed to facilitate and heighten student's awareness of themselves as essential components in the unity and well-being of all humanity.
Her instructional/educational philosophy and goals:
1. Commitment to continued study, teaching, choreography, performing, and researching dance
forms from around the world.
2. Through Dance exchange information with my students so we all grow.
3. Create a nurturing, safe, and welcoming environment for City College students
4. Use dance as a transformative learning tool to foster understanding of the importance of peace,
unity, tolerance, patience, harmony, compassion, and love.
Professor Watson is Founder, Director, Choreographer and Performer "Alafia Dance Ensemble" (15 years).
Hearty Group-formed by CCSF attendees to the "Heart of Higher Education" Conference in San Francisco in January 2007.
CCSF Dance Concert Performance, Low Tech performance, Performance in World Cultures Concert, McKenna Theater of San Francisco State University.
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Jacquelene Wesley Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., San Francisco State University |
Professor Wesley has taught Physical Education/Dance for the past 36 years..
However, her first teaching experience at City College was as a substitute instructor for theTap, Modern, and the African-Haitian classes during the Spring of 1990. She assumed the duties of teaching a semester of Jazz, late Wednesday nights, during the Fall of the same year. After a five year hiatus, Jacquelene returned with a purpose. She hopes that her instructional approach will impart continuous epiphanal lessons to students, lessons that open channels which will help them acknowledge their own mental, physical and emotional potential within--breeding educational success. Her classroom activities reflect learner-centered techniques integrating a variety of methods for instruction.
Professor Wesley directs mini-concerts for her three week Summer Sessions at CCSF; has co-directed the "Weave The Web To Peace" Fall dance concert, in 2003. She is a current member of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. As an outreach effort, she has coordinated, choreographed and performed for U.C. Berkeley's Black Staff and Faculty Organization fund raiser,"Collage of Spirit," 2003. In 2004, she created "The Funktion," an open movement forum showcase intended to bring students and dance faculty together on Saturday mornings. This event provides lecture demonstrations, dress rehearsals, performances, and the ability for the beginners, who have never taken a Physical Education/Dance class prior, to observe and become familiar with various genres/movement styles/techniques as well as participate and look forward to "The Funktion" each semester. Jacquelene's most recent contributions to the curriculum of CCSF were the courses she wrote--Movement Improvisation and Dance Improvisation.
In her leisure time, Professor Wesley enjoys writing poetry, attending orchids, performing on occasion for educational events, cornrowing hair styles, designing and sewing costumes for informal student performances/photo shoots. One design is featured on our CCSF dance web site.
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Kirstin E Williams Physical Education Department/Dance B.A., San Diego State University; M.F.A., Mills College, Oakland |
Ms. Williams strives to create a positive and energetic learning environment. Her goal is to build stamina, strong technique and stage presence in her students.
She is the founder, artistic director, producer and choreographer for the Kirstin E. Williams Strong Current Dance Company, an all-women dance company, which deals with societal issues from a woman's perspective.
Her hobbies are surfing, scuba diving, swimming, hiking and kick boxing.
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Alyssa Wilmot Physical Education Department/Dance B.A. in Philosophy, Dance, and Political Science from The College of Wooster, Ohio |
Professor Wilmot has been teaching at CCSF since 2003.
Professor Alyssa Lee Wilmot has been teaching courses in Hip Hop, Jazz, Yoga, Body Sculpting, and Boxercise at City College since 2004. She is also a certified Pilates instructor. In addition to her part time position at City College, she teaches the subjects of tap, ballet, modern, choreography, improvisation, Pilates, and aerobics at a variety of schools, colleges, and universities around the Bay Area.
Professor Wilmot is a dancer, performance artist, and choreographer who draws upon various dance vocabularies, techniques, and life experiences to create original experimental work. She is the founder, choreographer, and artistic director of group A, a multimedia dance company committed to making dances in collaboration with other art forms. She and her company group A perform regularly in the Bay Area and beyond, http://www.groupAdance.com.