Our Faculty
GINA MYER BA, Director of Dancenter, Theater Arts/Dance, UC Santa Cruz. Gina has been dancing her entire life. She grew up in the Bay Area where she took dance at a studio in San Jose. She was also part of the Cheer Team and Musical Theater program her entire time in High School. In college she choreographed and performed in numerous projects and co-founded/directed the UCSC Dance Team. Later on Gina was hired on to teach the Jazz dance program at UCSC. Along with her traditional dance training, Gina also trained in Ballroom dance. She has taught and choreographed at various venues in the Bay Area and has completed the Broadway Dance Center Teacher Training. She recently became certified with Acrobatic Arts and is excited to bring Acro Dance to Dancenter. She has two daughters who love to dance as well. Dance is a passion for Gina and she loves bringing the joy of dance into all of her students’ lives.
LILA SALHOV
LILA SALHOV, BFA, dance performance, The Boston Conservatory. Lila is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She has performed with MoveSpeakSpin and Micha Scott Dance, Windhover Dance Company, the Handel and Hayden Society, and Jessica Danser/Dansfolk,. Lila has been on the faculty of Ballet Hispanico, the Marymount School, and Christie Street Ballet. She is an alumnus of Dancenter.
RUTH GABRIELLE FISHER
RUTH GABRIELLE FISHER, B.F.A. Dance and Teaching Credential in Dance/Physical Education, U.C.I. She began her dance studies with Alice Ashford in a small dance studio in Southern California, where she learned most everything important about being a good dance teacher. Ruth’s specialty is teaching dance to young children and dancers with special needs.
Ruth danced with Andrei Tremaine’s Pacific Ballet Theatre and studied modern and Afro-Cuban with Elle Johnson, then went on to the U.C.I. to study with Eugene Loring, Anthony Tudor, and other greats. She taught dance at El Monte High School for five years, then went on to develop dance programs in four recreation departments in Santa Cruz County before opening the Dancenter dance school in 1987.
LAUREL SHASTRI
LAUREL SHASTRI, M.S. in Geology, is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. She is a dancer with MoveSpeakSpin, a contemporary dance company directed by Karl Schaffer, and a teaching artist who inspires students —as well as educators—to learn, move, & think differently about science, language arts, & dance. Her work is featured in Claudia Cornett’s college text ‘Creating Meaning Through Literature & the Arts.’ She has worked with Arts Council Santa Cruz County, Montalvo Arts Center, Tennessee Art Commission, & ArtsBuild. She served 25 years at Ballet Tennessee as Associate Director, dancer, grant writer, and faculty and was honored to receive Ballet Tennessee’s Dance Alive Legacy Award.
MICHA SCOTT
MICHA SCOTT has danced on stages around the world as a senior member of the renowned Garth Fagan Dance Company. She has been a featured dancer in many of Mr. Fagan’s works. She was also assistant professor of dance at SUNY Brockport, and taught at the School of Arts in Rochester, New York. She now resides in Santa Cruz with her family, and has been choreographing and dancing for colleges and companies.
KELSEY SCOTT-BEHRENDS
KELSEY SCOTT-BEHRENDS grew up dancing at Dancenter and participating in the company. She danced, performed, and choreographed at Cabrillo College and continues to choreograph and perform in the area. She is also a certified Rhythm and Motion instructor.
SESE
SESE, Belly Dancer of the Year 1994, and 1996 Complete Belly Dancer, performs solo as well as directs her belly dance groups Intisar and Baktiari. She is also a comedienne and improv sketch artist. She has performed with Loose Cannon Theatre and wrote and starred in her one-woman show “Yearbook.”
TAMMY PRESTIGIACOMO
TAMMY PRESTIGIACOMO, has taught in Santa Cruz County for more than 20 years. Her performance and teaching background includes Sheri Lynn’s Dance School, UCSC, and Cabrillo Stage.
DONNA VON JOO-TORNELL
Donna Von Joo-Tornell, A.A. in Dance from Cabrillo College, B.A. in Dance from San Jose State University, is the Artistic Director or Atelier5: A Contemporary Dance Company, and ArtPath, both based in Santa Cruz. Donna is a Limon-trained dancer, and is certified in PBT. She has taught in Santa Cruz Public School as well as at Shuffles, UCSC, TWDCC and Dancenter. She has performed with Shipp Dance Theatre, Crash, Burn & Die, and Stamping Zebra. One of her greatest joys is found in collaborations with other artists, including Installation Artist Sieglinde Van Damme and composers Scott Soble and Eric Ocho.
SUE ROSSO
SUE ROSSO, has danced at Dancenter for over 20 years. She teaches dancers with special needs and is our awesome Office Manager.
ELIZEBETH RANDALL
Elizebeth Randall Rains is a mama, dancer, and educator who grew up dancing in Santa Cruz with many wonderful teachers including Ruth Fisher, Rebecca Blair, Vicki Bergland, Cathy Warner, and Valentina Belova. She earned her BA in Dance from San Francisco State University and her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied on full scholarship. Elizebeth danced professionally in the SF Bay Area and toured nationally and internationally with companies including Liss Fain Dance, Davalos Dance, Paco Gomes and Dancers, Dance Ceres, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Dance Visions and Paufve Dance. She has been teaching for thirty years at studios and schools including Boston Ballet School, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco State University and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Elizebeth is currently pursuing a Somatic Dance Educator certificate, studying embodied pedagogy and somatic dance techniques with master teacher Bill Evans. She is a member of the dance faculty at Cabrillo College and enjoys teaching ballet, contemporary dance, creative movement and improvisation at Motion Pacific, Dancenter and her kids’ elementary schools. Elizebeth is deeply grateful to have journeyed full circle back to Dancenter, the studio where she took her very first class.