Company Dancers
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Alberto Andrade is from Queens, New York. He trained at Sugarloaf Ballet, the Colburn School, and the Milwaukee Ballet School. He has previously danced with Milwaukee ballet 2, Ballet Fantastique, and American Contemporary Ballet |
Alberto Andrade
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Samantha Bell, from Orange County, California, trained with the Anaheim Ballet on full scholarship and joined their company in 2008. She won third place at Youth American Grand Prix and went on to the New York City finals. From 2010-2015, Samantha danced with the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara (SSB) where she performed soloist roles including the Autumn Fairy in Rodney Gustafson’s Cinderella and Bianca in Robert Sund’s Taming of the Shrew. She originated the lead role of Mrs. Medlock in Josie Walsh’s premiere of The Secret Garden. Samantha’s piece, titled Pistolero, became the first-ever dancer choreographed creation to be added to the company repertoire. She toured extensively with SSB, including a two month tour of China. Samantha has danced in television, film, as well as the MTV Video Music Awards. Bell has performed with Menlowe Ballet, Western Ballet and ARC Dance in Seattle. Since joining OBC in 2017, Bell has been featured in leading roles such as Shere Khan in Jangala and the Bride in Luna Mexicana. This is her third season with Oakland Ballet |
Samantha Bell
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Lawrence Chen grew up in Southern California, studying ballet under the care of Victor and Tatiana Kasatsky since the age of thirteen. 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 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. Lawrence currently teaches ballet at various schools, tutors high school STEM subjects, and performs with Oakland Ballet Company. |
Lawrence Chen
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Karina Eimon is a classical and contemporary dancer and teacher from the Bay Area. She began her training at Ayako School of Ballet in Belmont, California and continued her studies at Milwaukee Ballet II and Colorado Ballet’s pre-professional program. She spent two summers in Madrid studying Forsythe improvisation techniques. Karina’s professional experience includes Ballet Memphis, Colorado Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Des Amerique, and the Oakland Ballet. |
Karina Eimon
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Paunika Jones was born and raised in Miami, FL. Is an alumnus of New World School of the Arts. After graduating, she began her dance career at Dance Theatre of Harlem under Direction of the late Arthur Mitchell, where she ascended the ranks from Dancing through Barriers Ensemble®️ training program to Principal Dancer. From there, she worked in various ballet, contemporary and dance theatre companies nationally and internationally. Such as Dance Theatre of Harlem, Collage Dance Collective,Complexions Contemporary Ballet,Ballet Noir, DEMA,Urban Jazz Dance Company,Brooklyn Ballet, Sign Dance Collective and Columbia City Ballet. |
Paunika Jones
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Aidan O’Leary completed his BFA at the Alonzo King Lines Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University, where he studied and performed works by Arturo Fernandez, Gregory Dawson, and Laura O’Malley, among many others. During his time there he performed classical and contemporary works with Stapleton Ballet, SAFEhouse Arts, and Grace Cathedral’s San Francisco Movement Arts Festival. Since graduating he has been active around the SF dance scene, performing with Quirk Dance, Man Dance Company, Kathy Mata Ballet, and CRAFT Dance Series. This is his second season with Oakland Ballet. |
Aidan O’Leary
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Jazmine Quezada 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 with Ventura County Ballet. Jazmine attended American Ballet Theater’s New York summer intensive in 2011 and was accepted to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT that same year. She then attended the Joffrey Chicago International summer dance intensive on full scholarship and in 2016 she moved to San Francisco to continue her training on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School. Jazmine has performed San Francisco Ballet productions such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and the 2018 Gala, and danced the lead role of Grace in Helgi Tomasson’s Meisten Mozart. With the Oakland Ballet, she has performed the role of Luna in Luna Mexicana, and the Monkey Queen in Jangala. This is Jazmine’s second season with the Oakland Ballet Company. |
Jazmine Quezada
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Ashley Thopiah has a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler university. She began her dance training at the Christine Rich Studio Dance Academy. She has performed at Dance Chicago and has trained during the summer at State Street Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Ashley has performed corps, soloist, and principle roles in ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadere, Cinderella, and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. Joining Oakland Ballet in 2019, she has performed Luna Mexicana, The Nutcracker, and Borderlines by Graham Lustig. As a choreographer, Ashley has created two works for Butler University’s dance department, Jyoti and Ekta. Using both modern dance and Bharatanatyam, a form of classical Indian dance, she expresses the two distinct but intertwined aspects of her identity. Both styles use motion and gesture to express emotion and illuminate the joining of two cultures. During the summer of 2018, Ekta was performed in the National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland, across Prague, Krakow, Poznan, and Bratislava |
Ashley Thopiah