Company Dancers
2025 – 2026 Season
Click on an image to view each dancer’s bio.

Lawrence Chen
Lawrence Chen (he/him) grew up in Southern California, studying ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop from the age of thirteen under the care of Victor and Tatiana Kasatsky and their faculty. He went on to compete in the YAGP, placing in the Top 12 Pas De Deux in the New York Finals of 2014 as well as in the Top 3 soloist divisions at regional venues for several years. At Pomona College, Lawrence obtained a BA in chemistry with mathematics, took on collegiate ballroom, and performed as a principal dancer for the Inland Pacific Ballet under the watchful eye of Victoria Koenig. In addition to dancing with the Oakland Ballet Company, Lawrence teaches ballet at Berkeley Ballet Theater, Alameda Ballet Academy, and The Hills Swim and Tennis club. He also tutors high school STEM subjects. At OBC, he has performed as the deer in Graham Lustig’s Luna Mexicana, the titular role of The Nutcracker, and several other original works by Graham Lustig. Lawrence has also been featured in new works by choreographers Caili Quan, Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and Phil Chan, a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface. Lawrence received an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance by an Individual for his work in OBC’s 22-23 season and is a contributing choreographer to OBC’s Angel Island Project. This is his fourth full season with the Oakland Ballet.
Lawrence Chen

Alexander Griffith
Alexander Griffith (he/him) welcomes his second season with Oakland Ballet. He began his training with the Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina before joining Rochester City Ballet in New York. There he danced the role of Quint in Salvatore Aiello’s Turn of the Screw as well as featured roles in their production of The Nutcracker. Since joining Oakland Ballet, Alex has been featured as Diego in Viva la Vida, Chocolate in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, and in the Dancing Moons Festival. He has appeared as a guest artist with San Jose Ballet, Ayako School of Ballet, and the Westlake School of Performing Arts. Alex finds teaching an enriching experience and has offered his expertise and training to adult and youth students in both private and group classes at various studios across the Bay Area.
Alexander Griffith

Mimi Lamar
Mimi Lamar (she/her) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in Dallas Texas. She started her Dance training at the age of 9, training at various dance studios in North Texas before moving to Boca Raton Florida at the age of 15 to study at the Harid Conservatory. When the COVID pandemic was at its worst, Mimi moved back home and trained with Elite Classical Coaching. In 2021 She joined SF Ballet school as a trainee and in 2023 Mimi became an apprentice with San Francisco Ballet. She has worked with brilliant choreographers such as Aszure Barton, Val Caniparoli, Nicolas Leblanc, Victor Plotnikov, and many more.
Mimi Lamar

Pakela Newalu-Gomes
Pakela Newalu-Gomes (they/them) was born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and moved to Los Angeles at thirteen, where they began their dance training in hip-hop. They later earned a BFA in Dance from Dominican University of California under the direction of Marina Hotchkiss. While there, Pakela had the opportunity to work with Gregory Dawson’s dawsondancesf and James Graham’s Dance Theatre. After graduation, Pakela danced with Contemporary West Dance Theater in Las Vegas under the direction of Bernard Gaddis, and joined Post:ballet in the 2024-25 season led by Robin Dekkers. This is their first season with the Oakland Ballet.
Pakela Newalu-Gomes

Jazmine Quezada
Jazmine Quezada (she/her) is from Ventura County, California where she began her ballet training at age 11 with Ventura County Ballet and was the first to receive the Ron Noblin Full Scholarship Award. Jazmine attended American Ballet Theater’s New York summer intensive in 2011 followed by the Joffrey Chicago International summer dance intensive on full scholarship. In 2016 she moved to San Francisco to continue her training on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School. There she performed with the San Francisco Ballet in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and in the leading role of Grace in Helgi Tomasson’s Meisten Mozart. Since joining the Oakland Ballet in 2018, she has performed the role of Luna in Luna Mexicana, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, Frida Kahlo in Viva la Vida, Elaine Kudo’s Duet and Phil Chan’s Quartet from Exquisite Corpse, created roles in works by Caili Quan, and Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and appeared in the dance films Brief Encounter, In Plain Sight, and What I See. When not dancing at Oakland Ballet, you can find Jazmine at her ballet school, Tutu School Union City, twirling with her dancers.
Jazmine Quezada

Ashley Thopiah
Ashley Thopiah (they/she/he) holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University. Their dance training began at the Christine Rich Dance Academy and was further honed through summer programs at State Street Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. At Butler, Ashley took on various roles including corps, soloist, and principal in productions such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadere, Cinderella, and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. As a choreographer, Ashley has created two significant works for Butler University’s dance department: Jyoti and Ekta. These pieces intertwine modern dance with Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form, reflecting the dual aspects of their identity. In the summer of 2018, Ekta was performed at the National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland, and traveled to Prague, Krakow, Poznan, and Bratislava. Since joining Oakland Ballet in 2019, Ashley has made notable contributions, including creating the role of Coffee in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker and performing in works such as Caili Quan’s Layer Upon Layer, Alyah Baker’s 4 Parts Jazz, Graham Lustig’s Dialogues, and Seyong Kim’s Duet from Exquisite Corpse. They are also a contributing choreographer for OBC’s Angel Island Project, collaborating with distinguished artists Natasha Adorlee, Ye Feng, Elaine Kudo, Phil Chan, and Lawrence Chen.
Ashley Thopiah

Alyssa Viray
Alyssa Viray (she/her) began her training at Westlake School for the Performing Arts where she performed the Sugar Plum Fairy, Princess Flora, and the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, as well as Odile in Swan Lake. She received her BFA in Dance from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Program at Dominican University of California. During her time there she performed works by Gregory Dawson, Dexandro Montalvo, Kara Davis, Liv Schaffer, and Jay Carlon. She furthered her training at Orsolina’28 Nunes/Flock Intensive, BalletX Winter Intensive, and Modus Operandi Summer Intensive. Most recently, Alyssa danced with DawsonDanceSF, under the direction of Gregory Dawson where she performed the world premiere of The Joy Protocol in collaboration with Richard Howell and The Middle Period for the Tannery Winter Dance Festival and Black Choreographer’s Festival. This is her first season with Oakland Ballet.
Alyssa Viray

Phoenix Wilkins
Bio Coming Soon!
Phoenix Wilkins
Company PT

Charissa Chaban, DPT, OCS, ATC, NCPT
Charissa Chaban, DPT, OCS, ATC, NCPT is a Physical Therapist at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital Center for Sports Medicine in Walnut Creek and a former dancer with Oakland Ballet Company. She has worked the majority of her 20 year PT career in orthopedics and sports injury settings, with a love of working with dancers of all ages and experience. Having trained in and performed ballet as a child through professional level, and with her training in Pilates, she brings a focus on movement quality, control, precision, and stability into injury rehabilitation. She looks at each patient as an individual, and tailors their treatment to their own body abilities, functional needs, and goals. In 2012 she became PT board certified as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. She received her Pilates Rehabilitation Certification from Polestar Pilates in 2010. And prior, in 2004, she attained her Athletic Training Certification through working with the athletes and dancers at UC Irvine. Charissa received her BA in Dance and BS in Biological Sciences with a Physiology specialization from UC Irvine, her Masters in Physical Therapy from CSU Fresno, and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Western University of Health Sciences.
Charissa Chaban, DPT, OCS, ATC, NCPT