It all started with dance.
When Gillian was just two years old, she accompanied her Dad all across the Bay Area to his rehearsals and dance classes. This sparked a shared joy of dance between them.
Dancing
with
david
David first entered into the dance world with folk dance in Berkeley in the 70s, touring nationally with Khadra International Folk Ballet and in Europe with Westwind International Folk Ensemble. He trained in ballroom at Arthur Murray, and explored modern dance while studying at UC Berkeley, which eventually introduced him to ballet. Though he started training at a late age for the ballet world, he rose to the corps at Oakland Ballet, and was also a member of Berkeley Ballet Theater, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Solano Civic Ballet, Palesch Pacific Ballet, and Redwood Empire Ballet. He went on to guest star at Berkeley City Ballet, Petaluma Dance Theater, and Ballet Fantastic. In a different expression of dance, he performed with Tuju Tasksu (an improvisational masked theatre company) and Omega West, a liturgical dance group. He continues to perform seasonally with Alameda Civic Ballet, Omega West, and with his daughter Gillian. Throughout his career, he has been teaching American and International Ballroom as well as Latin style dance.
sharing
dance with
gillian
Gillian was first introduced to the world of dance sitting on the floor of the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley during ballet class and watching her Dad rehearse for Nutcracker and other story ballets in Petaluma and Solano. She had her first role as a lead bon-bon in the Nutcracker at the age of four, and promptly started intense ballet training. She performed many times with her Dad in Petaluma Dance Theater's and Alameda Civic Ballet's Nutcrackers, and then performed in Contra Costa Ballet's productions. David also shared his love of folk dance with Gillian, and they participated in many folk dance workshops and communal dance events both locally and internationally. Upon returning to the Bay Area after living away for a few years, Gillian began studying ballroom with her Dad, and they began to choreograph and perform ballroom dance pieces together. Gillian now assistant teaches David's ballroom classes in Oakland.
