Angel Island Project Artists

Angel Island Project Artists

Meet the Angel Island Project Choreographers

Click the images below to learn more about each choreographer.

Natasha Adorlee Headshot

Natasha Adorlee

Phil Chan Headshot

Phil Chan

Lawrence Chen

Ye Feng Headshot

Ye Feng

Elaine Kudo Headshot

Elaine Kudo

Ashley Thopiah Headshot

Ashley Thopiah

Wei Wang Headshot

Wei Wang

Meet the Angel Island Project Supporting Artists

Click the images below to learn more about each of the artists.

Huang Ruo Headshot

Composer – Huang Ruo

Del Sol Quartet picture & bio coming soon

Del Sol Quartet

Dr. Wei Cheng Headshot

Conductor – Dr. Wei Cheng

Volti Photo

Vocal Ensemble – Volti

Jiebing Chen Headshot

Angel Island Immigration Station Musician

Jiebing Chen – Erhu Soloist

Emma Rodrigues Headshot

Lighting Designer – Emma Rodrigues

Picture & Bio Coming Soon

Co-Costume Designer – Alysia Chang

Kaori Higashiyama Headshot

Co-Costume Designer – Kaori Higashiyama

Click on the images below to further support the Angel Island Project.

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Natasha Adorlee

NATASHA ADORLEE is an Emmy Award-winning choreographer, filmmaker, composer, and educator based in San Francisco, CA. A first-generation Asian American woman, Natasha began choreographing in 2016 while maintaining an award-winning dance career with Robert Moses’ Kin, ODC/Dance, Kate Weare and Co., and The San Francisco Symphony. She was the final Artistic Fellow with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery. 

After winning over ten international awards for her acclaimed short film Take Your Time in 2018, she has been a sought-after filmmaker, choreographer, and composer ever since. After attending SUNY Purchase and graduating from UC Berkeley, Natasha was invited to join ODC/Dance. As a performer, Natasha has danced a vast repertoire of works and contributed original choreography, sound design, and art direction to over 20+ ODC/Dance repertory works.

In addition, Natasha has created over 20 original dance-based works spanning stage, film, and immersive performance mediums. Most recently, she was commissioned to create for Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works, Kansas City Ballet, Richmond Ballet, BalletX, Ceprodac (Mexico), Kawaguchi Ballet (Japan), Ballare Carmel, Ballet22, and Imagery.

Natasha has also created original work for Pixar Animation Studios, Oculus, National Geographic, and The New Yorker Magazine. Natasha founded Concept o4 to create multimedia dance-based experiences advocating for more accessibility to the arts.

In 2024, Natasha was awarded the Grand Prize at the Palm Desert Choreography Festival for Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon and received an NEA Grant, a Dresher Fellowship, and a Jacob’s Pillow Choreographic Fellowship. She is currently pursuing a prolific creation period while sharing her deep knowledge of movement and film with the greater community through Dance on Camera workshops. Natasha also serves as an Artistic Advisor for Ballet22.

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Phil Chan

Phil Chan is a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface and the President of the Gold Standard Arts Foundation. He is a graduate of Carleton College and an alumnus of the Ailey School. He has held fellowships with Dance/USA, Drexel University, Jacob’s Pillow, Harvard University, the Manhattan School of Music, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, NYU, and the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art in Paris. As a writer, he is the author of Final Bow for Yellowface: Dancing between Intention and Impact and Banishing Orientalism, and has served as the Executive Editor for FLATT Magazine and contributed to Dance Europe Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Australia, and the Huffington Post, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of Dance Magazine. He served multiple years on the National Endowment for the Arts dance panel, the Jadin Wong Award panel presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance, and is currently on the advisory council for the Dance Data Project. He has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard University, Carleton College, and was named a Next 50 Arts Leader by the Kennedy Center. His recent projects include directing “Madama Butterfly” for Boston Lyric Opera (garnering “Best of 2023” in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Broadway World), staging a newly reimagined “La Bayadere” for Indiana University, and producing a series of 10,000 Dreams Asian Choreography Festivals (‘Best of 2024” in Minneapolis Star Tribune, Utah Review, and Pointe Magazine). His dances are currently in the repertory at Ballet West and Oakland Ballet, where he serves as Resident Choreographer. He received the 2024 Dance Advocate Award from Dance/NYC.

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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.

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Ye Feng

As a dancer, choreographer, and educator, Feng Ye is dedicated to bridging tradition and innovation through dance. Holding the professional title of China First-Class Dancer, she previously served as Artistic Director and President of the Dance Company of China Oriental Song and Dance Troupe. Her works have graced prestigious stages, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2014).

Since relocating to the U.S., Feng Ye has continued to push artistic boundaries. As a faculty member at San José State University, she shares her expertise with the next generation while leading her own Feng Ye Dance Studio and Dance Troupe. Her company has produced full-length performances and represented Chinese dance at major festivals such as the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the Peninsula International Dance Festival (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 & 2024).

Her choreographic work merges Chinese classical and ethnic dance with contemporary movement vocabularies, exploring themes of cultural identity, history, and modernity. Recently, she was commissioned by Oakland Ballet to create Seascape, inspired by the Angel Island immigration history. Additionally, her participation in Palladium (2024) and Aurum (2023) with Kinetech Arts reflects her interest in the intersection of dance and artificial intelligence, using movement to examine humanity’s evolving relationship with technology.

Beyond performance, Feng Ye is an advocate for cultural exchange and integration in the arts. She founded the Asian Cultural Foundation to promote artistic exchange and preserve Asian heritage, ensuring that dance remains a dynamic force for storytelling, innovation, and connection.

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Elaine Kudo

Elaine Kudo raised in New York City, received her early ballet training at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School, later spent six years at the School of American Ballet and was a scholarship student at the American Ballet Theatre School.

Ms. Kudo was a member of American Ballet Theatre from 1975 – 1989 was promoted to soloist in 1981. She danced soloist and principal roles in a wide range of works mostly in the contemporary repertory. She has had the honor of working with choreographers Anthony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Eugene Loring and Sir. Kenneth MacMillan on featured roles in their ballets, and has had roles created for her by Twyla Tharp, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Chu San Gogh, and David Gordon.

In 1982 Ms. Kudo along with other members of ABT performed at the Spoleto Festival in Italy in a group assembled to recreate the Jerome Robbins Company Ballet USA. She also toured extensively during the summer seasons as a member of Baryshnikov & Co. from 1983 – 1986, and was Mr. Baryshnikov’s partner in “Sinatra Suite” and “Push Comes to Shove” in the PBS Great Performances special “Baryshnikov by Tharp”. In 1987 – 88 she joined the Tharp Dance Co. for a national tour and tour of Australia and New Zealand. From 1990 to 2020, Ms. Kudo began staging the works of Twyla Tharp, both nationally and abroad, with eight pieces in rotation.

Ms. Kudo assumed the position of ballet master for the New Jersey Ballet 1994-97 & American Repertory Ballet 1997-2003. Most recently the Washington Ballet from 2011 – 2020.

She with partner Buddy Balough founded and directed Theatre Arts Dance America – located in Verona NJ.  from 1997 through 20I0. In addition to teaching at TADA, Ms. Kudo has served on the faculty of the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive program from 1998 – 2003, Ballet Tech, Jacob’s Pillow – Contemporary Traditions in July 2007 as well as guest teacher at Princeton Ballet School and Steps on Broadway in 2011.

Ms. Kudo was given her first opportunity to choreograph at the New Jersey Ballet in 1997. That piece was later staged at the Carolina Ballet for its inaugural season in 1999. She choreographed four ballets for the American Repertory Ballet during her tenure as ballet master. One for director Septime Webre, three as part of director Graham Lustigs’, Dancing Through the Ceiling project designed to promote women choreographers. In addition to these works for professional companies she has choreographed a number of solos for her students receiving a choreography award from the Youth America Grand Prix. She has also contributed three ballets for the ABT summer intensive program and five pieces for TWB summer intensive as well as numerous pieces and a Pas de Duex for Theatre Arts Dance America.

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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.

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Wei Wang

Wei Wang, born in 1992 in Liaoning, China, is an accomplished dancer and choreographer with a distinguished career in ballet. After graduating from the Beijing Dance Academy in 2011, he moved to the US to study at the San Francisco Ballet School, where he began his professional journey in 2012 as an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet. 

His exceptional talent and dedication led to his promotion to Soloist in 2015, and he made history in 2018 as the first Chinese male principal dancer of the company. Throughout his career at the San Francisco Ballet, Wang has performed principal roles in renowned full-length ballets including Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Frankenstein, Giselle, and Raymonda. His artistry has been showcased in original roles created by esteemed choreographers such as Aszure Barton, William Forsythe, Liam Scarlett, Yuri Possikhov, Helgi Tommasson, Christopher Wheeldon, and Justin Peck. 

In addition to his performance career, Wang is a talented choreographer. He has created several works, including Focus, a piece for the San Francisco Ballet trainee program, a pas de deux titled Silent Woods, performed at the Festival Mosaic with cellist Johan Kim, Reminiscence, a solo for the Napa Valley Festival, and Aphrodisia, a dance film created in collaboration with the Marsh Theater for the Festival of New Musical Voices. Wang’s innovative contributions to both performance and choreography continue to influence and inspire the ballet world.

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Huang Ruo

Composer Huang Ruo has been lauded by The New York Times for having “a distinctive style.” His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls “Dimensionalism.” Huang Ruo’s diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, architectural installation, multimedia, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. His music has been premiered and performed by the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, National Polish Radio Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Royal Danish Opera, Asko/Schoenberg, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, and conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marin Alsop, Andrew Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, and James Conlon. His opera An American Soldier (with libretto by David Henry Hwang) has recently received its world premiere at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in June 2018, and was named one of the best classical music events in 2018 by The New York Times. His installation opera Paradise Interrupted was premiered at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2015 and was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2016. Another opera, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2014. His recent new opera M. Butterfly (with libretto by David Henry Hwang) received its world premiere with the Santa Fe Opera in 2022. His future opera commissions will be for the Met Opera and the San Francisco Opera. He served as the first composer-in-residence for Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and was the visiting composer for the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. Huang Ruo was born in Hainan Island, China in 1976 – the year the Chinese Cultural Revolution ended. His father, who is also a composer, began teaching him composition and piano when he was six years old. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, when China was opening its gate to the Western world, he received both traditional and Western education at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. As a result of the dramatic cultural and economic changes in China in the 80s and 90s, his education expanded from Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Lutoslawski, to include the Beatles, rock and roll, heavy metal, and jazz. Huang Ruo was able to absorb all of these newly allowed Western influences equally. After winning the Henry Mancini Award at the 1995 International Film and Music Festival in Switzerland, he moved to the United States to further his education. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the Juilliard School. Huang Ruo is a composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music in NY, and is the artistic director and conductor of Ensemble FIRE. He was selected as a Young Leader Fellow by the National Committee on United States–China Relations in 2006. Huang Ruo’s music is administered exclusively by European American Music Distributors Company (ASCAP). For more information about the composer and his music, please visit: (www.huangruo.com)

 

Headshot photographed by Max Lee.

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Del Sol Quartet

Bio Coming Soon!

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Dr. Wei Cheng

Dr. Wei Cheng is the Director of the Choral Program and an Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Music. She oversees the UCB Chamber Chorus, University Chorus, Vocal Program, and conducting instruction. For her outstanding contributions, she has been named the Virginia Chan Lew Distinguished Professor in Music for 2023-2028, following her tenure as the Jerry and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers Distinguished Professor in Music from 2020-2023.

Originally from Beijing, China, Dr. Cheng earned her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in choral conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Recipient of the Dale Warland Conducting Award from the American Prize, Dr. Cheng is revered as an accomplished performer, educator, clinician, and adjudicator, engaging
musicians across the USA and China. Her choirs have embarked on numerous international tours, collaborating with renowned musicians and ensembles such as the Ethel String Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Phillippe Entremont, the Munich Symphony
Orchestra, and Essa-Pekka Salonen and the London Philharmonia Orchestra. Under her guidance, the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus won the American Prize in 2022 (college
division), attesting to Dr. Cheng’s commitment to excellence in choral performance.

Dr. Cheng’s primary professional focus lies in China, where she serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Beijing Harmonia Choir and frequently conducts the Young People’s Chamber Choir at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing. She has also led residencies at prestigious institutions such as the China National Opera House and the Lanzhou Performing Arts Group. Additionally, she guest conducted the Stara-Zagora
Opera Chorus and Orchestra in Bulgaria and was invited guest teaching by the Portugal Choral Association.

As a clinician, Dr. Cheng has worked with diverse age groups, from children’s choirs to conservatory-level ensembles, in both the USA and China. Her expertise includes contemporary choral repertoire, conducting pedagogy, and the advancement of choral
music in China. Committed to promoting Western choral traditions in China, she has served as a guest lecturer and conducting master teacher at prestigious conservatories.
Additionally, Dr. Cheng has adjudicated numerous contests and presented at conferences at the state, national, and international levels, further solidifying her reputation as a leader and innovator in the choral community.

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Volti

Volti’s professional singers, under the direction of founder and Artistic Director Robert Geary, are dedicated to the discovery, creation, and performance of new vocal music. The ensemble’s mission is to foster and showcase contemporary American music and composers, and to introduce contemporary vocal music from around the world to local audiences. The group has commissioned more than 120 new works, by emerging as well as established composers.

Hailed by San Francisco Classical Voice as “undoubtedly the finest collection of new music singers we have,” Volti boasts a 45-year track record of some of the most sophisticated vocal performances in the nation. Composers seek opportunities to partner with these stellar musicians, who are known for their sheer technical brilliance as well as their vibrant, passionate sound. Nationally recognized as a pioneer in new vocal music, Volti has won the prestigious ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music seven times – the only vocal ensemble to ever be honored with this award so many times – a testament to the fresh perspective and new voices the group brings to life — and is the 2023 recipient of Chorus America’s highest award, the Margaret Hillis Award for Excellence. 

Art is redefined in every generation by the best and the brightest, artists who are paying attention to the world around them.  Volti seeks composers who explore timely issues of the modern human experience.  At a Volti concert you might hear music addressing such topics as social justice, political and class strife, and different conceptions of God/spirit.  Volti explores the nexus between poetry and sound, the translation of inspiration to creation, the evocative power of an artist compelled to express this thing, at this time, in this way. At its best, it’s the aural equivalent of a sunspot — an explosion of energy, a flash of brilliance, a glimpse of some eternal truth seen in a new and breathtaking way.

Attending a Volti concert is like visiting a modern art gallery, stimulating the mind, the imagination and the heart.

https://www.voltisf.org/

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Jiebing Chen

Jiebing Chen has been hailed as one of the foremost erhu virtuosos in the world. Her world-renown is based on her mastery of the classical Chinese repertory for the erhu and for her award-winning contemporary innovations using the two-stringed instrument. 

Chen’s incredible musicality and interpretive skills have resulted in overwhelming international acclaim as a solo interpreter of her instrument. Beyond that, with Chinese, American and European orchestras Chen was the first to bring the erhu into the symphonic concert hall, performing as a featured soloist. Her playing brought a new sound and excitement to classical music audiences. Perhaps most compelling are her achievements as a cross-cultural performer. Chen has virtually reinvented the erhu for the 21st century, performing in partnership with some of the most notable jazz and world music artists of our time. Her artistry has made her the most recorded erhu artist in the world with over 20 CD titles available internationally. In addition to her classical repertory Chen’s work received a Grammy-nomination for Best World Music Album for her jazz improvisations with Bela Fleck and Vishwa Bhatt.

Jiebing Chen began performing at age 5 in her native Shanghai. Recognized as a child prodigy, her talent was saved during the Chinese Cultural Revolution when, at age 9, she was taken into the Chinese Navy Orchestra, (one of China’s few musical organizations at the time).  As a very young musician she found herself playing martial music along with performing in the orchestra that accompanied Madame Mao’s ‘model operas’.  As changes in China took place, Chen studied and graduated with top honors from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1982 after studying under China’s most distinguished musicians. That same year she won first prize in China’s Ministry of Culture sponsored National Competition of Traditional Instruments.  Shortly after, she made her first recording on a major label, Jiebing Chen Erhu Recital, the first solo recording of the erhu by industry leader, China Records.  Five years later, Chen was the youngest performer to be named “National First Rank Performing Artist”, the highest honor the Chinese Government awards to artists in recognition of their talent and achievements.

As a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony and Chamber Orchestras at the Shanghai Concert Hall, Chen performed for the first time using the erhu as a solo instrument with Western orchestral accompaniment. These broadcasts and others on radio and television in China brought Chen enormous popular acclaim and special recognition as one of the few erhu virtuosos in China.  Since 1988, Jiebing has frequently appeared as soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Chamber Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House.  Chen then began to tour Australia, Asia and Europe as a Chinese cultural exchange artist in “Marvelous Strings”.  

In 1989 Chen came to the United States to study at the State University of New York in Buffalo, receiving a MA degree in Music Theory. The total freedom Chen felt in the United States deeply affected her exploration of the possibilities for her instrument and the ways in which the erhu could be integrated into the classical and contemporary repertory for orchestra, along with other music styles, including jazz and Indian classical music.

Her appearances as a featured soloist with orchestras include dates with Buffalo Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the New Moscow Symphony, the Hungarian Symphony, Taipei Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and others.  Besides performing as a featured soloist in classical concertos, her contemporary work as a soloist include “Double Concerto for Violin and Erhu”, “Concerto for the Erhu and Hammer Dulcimer”, “String Calligraphy”, “Awakening for Erhu and Orchestra” and “Fiddle Suite for Erhu and String Quartet”.  

Stepping out in a new direction, Chen began performing a series of concerts with the Jon Jang Sextet and The Billy Taylor Trio in New York City. These successful events led to even more innovation.  In Beijing in 1998, Chen performed on her erhu with the Jon Jang Sextet at the International Jazz Festival with James Newton, Jon Jang, Santi Debriano, Billy Hart and David Murray to great audience acclaim.  With fast-rising recognition and success in jazz and world music, Chen recorded with the well-known American banjo player Bela Fleck, flutist James Newton and Indian violinist L. Subramanian.  Her CD, Tabla Rasa, in collaboration with Bela Fleck and Vishwa Bhatt, was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best World Music album.  A new and acclaimed partnership was formed in 1999 when The Beijing Trio came into being.  In that year, Chen began a stellar collaboration with pianist and composer Jon Jang and legendary jazz percussionist Max Roach.  Recently, Chen started a new collaboration with a Blue Grass Band Brothers Comatose and incorporated the erhu in with the American country music.

Most recently, she played at the Philadelphia Orchestra Opening Night Gala at Verizon Hall Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.  In addition, some other notable performances included the Kennedy Center in DC, at the Lincoln Center as the featured soloist in the Great Wall Capriccio and the Butterfly Lovers with the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Texas.

Chen’s accomplishments has led to three documentary television programs produced by China’s CCTV4 International Station: “Chinese World”, “Speak To The World” and “Chinese Story” to recognize her contribution to the music world.

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Emma Rodrigues

An East Bay native, Emma Rodrigues has been a stage technician in community theater for two decades and is honored to now be light designing for the Oakland Ballet. Her past designs include
The Livermore Valley Opera’s production of Tosca, America’s got Bollywood with the talented Mona Khan Company, and a nationwide tour with rock legends, Los Lobos and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno. She looks forward to continuing her career in stage lighting and is grateful to connect with her community in such a special way.

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Alysia Chang

Alysia is excited to be back at OBC in a different vicinity, designing for Oakland Ballet’s Angel Island Project. She holds a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase and recently completed her MFA in Fashion Design from Academy of Art University. She has danced with Sacramento Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, SF Opera, Dawson Dance, Smuin Ballet, SFDanceworks, Radiocity and Oakland Ballet. With a passion for design instilled in her from a young age, she most recently was a Presidential Scholar at AAU, choreographing and creating the designs for her MFA thesis collection “V”. Alysia is winner of the CCSF Fashion Sphere Competition, has created costumes Ziru Dance and for Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, designing costumes for Natasha Adorlee Johnson’s Izzie Awarded “Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon” and winner of the Palm Springs Choreographic Festival. Alysia currently works as a designer in the Bay Area. And you can catch her newest work as an AIR Artist in Residence at Jettison Creative July 10-13. 

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Kaori Higashiyama

Kaori is originally from Shiga, Japan. She is currently a dancer for Sacramento Ballet and also a costume maker, designer, and choreographer. She began her ballet training at Kitamura Ballet Studio in Japan and finished her training at the Royal Ballet School in London, England. She danced for professional ballet companies including Colorado Ballet, Saint Louis Ballet, Kiev Classic Ballet before joining Sacramento Ballet in 2012. This current season marks her 13th with Sacramento Ballet.
Besides dancing, Kaori found an interest in and taught herself to design and make costumes and leotards.  Kaori’s family owns a textile factory in Japan, so working with textiles gives her a strong sense of nostalgia and connection to her home and family. Her designs are influenced by Japanese minimalism and the beauty of nature. Through her dancer and choreographer background, her costume design goal is to be simple and effective and to always find the best ways to highlight the dancer’s beautiful body movement.
She is a founding member of the Capital Dance Project in Sacramento as a dancer and choreographer and has also been in charge of the costume department for over 10 years creating more than 300 costume pieces. She has worked with choreographers such as Ron Cunningham, Rex Wheeler, Julia Feldman, David Fernandez, and Amy Seiwert. Her works have appeared on stage with companies including Sacramento Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Texture Ballet Theatre, Mid Columbia Ballet, and Smuin Ballet. During the pandemic, Kaori launched her own dance wear line “by Kk” that sold one-of-a-kind leotard and ballet clothing online. Also, her costumes were worn by Lady Camden on the TV show “Raul Paul’s Drag Show.”
She is very excited to work with various talented choreographers and to be a part of the Angel Island Project with Oakland Ballet.
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