KT MOWER has been dancing since the age of four and is a founding company member of CODA. She has trained with Richard Cammack and Zola Dishong at Contra Costa Ballet Centre, as well as Pamela Hayes, Kimberly B. Valmore, and Beth Hoge. KT absolutely loves working with her CODA dancers and appreciates the opportunity to perform with the company.
MALVINA BRENIMANwas a founding member of COterie DAnce. She began dancing at the age of thirteen. Told this was a ridiculously late age to start, she did not allow herself the luxury of dreaming of a career in the art. Even so, she dove into her training, pointed feet first. She took classes in ballet, jazz, tap, and later, modern, ballroom, and African-Caribbean dance. She was offered her first teaching position after only five years of dancing, and fell in love with working with young children. She earned her Bachelor's degree in dance from CSU Sacramento. She currently resides in San Antonio, Texas, where she is focusing her energy on her two young children, Emily and Caleb. She hopes to return to the studio in the near future.
CRISTINA
BALLESTEROS began dancing at eight years old at The Academy of Arts and Ballet. She has trained in ballet, modern, jazz, lyrical, flamenco, and African dance styles. Cristina later trained at Solad dance school. She has attended intensive dance study programs at Idyllwild Art Academy. This is her sixth season with Coterie Dance Company and she is thrilled to be dancing with the CODA family.
ASHLEY GAUTHIER-CABRERAhas been dancing since the age of four years old, starting at Academy of Arts and Ballet. She has studied various types of dance including ballet, lyrical, modern, flamenco, and hip-hop under the direction of many instructors and choreographers, including Summer Lee Rhatigan and Viktor Kabaniev. She has been a participant in intensive programs at Alonzo King's Lines Ballet and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. She has also been a member of the Diablo Ballet Apprentice Program, and is a graduate of Ballet Celeste International of San Francisco. She continues her dance education under the direction of Kimberly Valmore at Diablo Valley College and is excited to be a member of CODA!
BRIAN CARLSONwas raised in the Bay Area and has always had a great interest in both art and music. He began studying dance at Diablo Valley College with Kimberly Valmore in 2011. After earning an A.A. in Dance in 2013, he transferred to San Francisco State University where he trained with Cathleen McCarthy, Wendy Diamond, Roko Kawai, and Christy Crowley. He recently completed his studies and received a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography. His training includes Corvino, SAB, Horton, Limon, Cunningham, and Contact Improvisation. He is a Guest Artist at Benicia Ballet Theatre and has performed various roles including Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty, Toreador in Don Quixote, and Von Rothbart in Swan Lake. In his spare time, he enjoys Pilates, video games, and costume design. This is his third season with COterie DAnce and he is honored to be working with such a talented and thoughtful group.
MONICA CASONbegan dancing at the age of 12 with several hip hip groups throughout Oakland. At 14, she began to train in Ballet, Modern and Jazz at Skyline High school in Oakland. She began training at Diablo Valley College under the instruction of Kimberly Valmore in 2008 and has transformed as a dancer in many ways. This is her first season with the company and she is honored to work and train with such talented and gifted individuals.
DANIELLE FLORES has been dancing since the age of 12. She first started her training with Kimberly B. Valmore in 2009 at Diablo Valley College in the styles of Modern, Ballet, and Jazz. Danielle transferred to UC Santa Barbara and earned her B.S. in Biopsychology in 2013. While at UCSB she trained in Ki Aikido for two years under Sensei Steve Ota and reached 4th Kyu rank. Danielle first started taking Ballroom and Latin dance at UCSB. After graduating, she returned to DVC to advance her technique in all styles and obtained her A.A. in Dance in 2018. She found choreographing for DVC’s Dance Production class to be incredibly rewarding and showed her work at San Francisco’s Dance Mission Theater. She will begin teaching ballet at Danspace in fall 2019 and is very excited to share her passion for dance with others. Danielle became a member of CODA in the summer of 2015 and is honored and delighted to be a part of this spectacular group.
KATIE GWIZDAKhas been dancing since the age of four and began her training in Ballet, Tap, and Jazz at Dance Connection Performing Arts Center. She then continued her training at Diablo Valley College under the instruction of Kimberly Valmore from 2012-2014. After transferring to San Francisco State University in the Fall of 2014, Katie expanded her training with Wendy Diamond, Cathleen McCarthy, and Ray Tadio. In the Spring of 2016, Katie graduated from SF State with a B.S. in Kinesiology and a minor in dance. She aspires to go on to complete a doctoral degree in Physical Therapy in the near future. Katie joined COterie DAnce Company in the summer of 2012 and thoroughly enjoys training and performing with such accomplished and talented dancers.
HALEY LAMBhas been dancing since the age of five years old. She has studied many forms of dance under the directorships of Arlene Newhouse, Viktor Kabanaiev and Tina Kay Bohnstedt. She has attended Contra Costa Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Lines Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and the Kirov Ballet Academy. She is a graduate of Ballet Celeste International of San Francisco and was an apprentice with Diablo Ballet. Haley graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Biological Sciences, and was a founding member of the Davis Ballet Company. Haley is excited to perform her second season with CoDA!
OSCAR MENDOZAstarted dancing at the age of 14 as a Latin dancer. In 2013 he began training under Kimberly Valmore at Diablo Valley College in Ballet, Modern, and Jazz. He quickly found a deep interest in Modern dance. This is his third season with the company and he is very honored to be sharing a stage with such diverse and talented dancers.
CASEY MOORHEADbegan dancing when she was 16 in Southern California. She fell in love with ballet and made it her dream and goal to dance professionally. When she relocated, she began dancing with Kimberly Valmore in 2012 at Diablo Valley College. Since coming to dance under Kimberly's instruction, Casey has learned many different styles of dance. Casey has also learned the in depth mechanics of dance such as the history of dance, the art of choreographing and music theory. In summer of 2015, Casey traveled abroad to Ghana, Africa where she studied culture and tribal dances in five of the seven regions. As a current teacher at Danspance, Casey encourages her young dance students to explore all different aspects of movement in a safe, uplifting environment. This is Casey's third season with CODA and she is thrilled and honored to dance alongside her friends and talented dancers.
CHELSEA ORTIZhas had a passion for dance all her life, but did not begin exploring options in dance until High School when she was captain of the Dance Team. In 2010, she attended Diablo Valley College where she began to study ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop and acting. These classes, along with her inspiring instructor Kimberly Valmore, advanced Chelsea’s knowledge and technique. She became determined to study dance and received her B. A. in Dance & Biology from Mills College in 2017. This is Chelsea’s third season with CODA and she is thrilled to be performing with such an amazing company, alongside very talented dancers.
TAWNI PIZZAGONI first started her dance training at the Clayton School of Dance when she was 5 years old. There, she trained in ballet, tap, jazz, and even pointe technique. She took her training further at Dance Connection Performing Arts Centre where she joined the company teams in jazz, lyrical and contemporary. Seeing dance as her passion, she continued her training at Diablo Valley College where she met Kimberly Valmore and many other CODA dancers in 2012. She is currently pursuing a double major in mathematics and dance as well as teaching jazz at Stage 1 Dance Center in Benicia. This is her first summer with COterie DAnce, and she is very excited to be back on stage and working with a wonderfully talented company.
LINDSAY KAY
RIGALIwas born and raised in Danville, CA. She began dancing at the age of 6 years old at San Ramon Dance Academy. She took more of an interest in ballet and has done some of her later training at Oakland Ballet and Contra Costa Ballet Centre. Lindsay took a break from technical training and was with the Oakland Warriors for 2 years. After taking time away from dance in her early 20's, Lindsay is so happy to have dance be part of her life again and has been greatly inspired by training with Kimberly Valmore. This is her fifth year with CODA and considers working with CODA to be a privilege.
JULIUS SALANGAhasn't been dancing for very long. He started at the very late age of 19 when he joined an independent winterguard group, Deviation, which he performed the productions "Abducted Eyes," "The Unwanted Card," and “Christine.” He currently dances with Infinitus Winterguard, as well as instructs the winterguard group from Hogan Middle School. While working with Deviation, he enrolled in Modern Dance classes at Diablo Valley College, instructed by Kimberly Valmore. Julius immersed himself in the world of dance at a quick pace, and fell in love with performing. This rapid dive into dance fanned the flame for the appreciation of performance and excellence; with Kimberly and COterie DAnce, that flame continues to burn bright.
SEAN
ONG TRANfell in love with the innate capacity of movement within the human body. He values the boundless possibilities one can create in the most profound ways. At the age of sixteen, he found his passion of movement when he entered the entertainment business at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. He has performed various shows and works such as a suite of José Limón’s master work of A Choreographic Offering – restaged by Gary Masters, Walk choreographed by Vanessa Voskuil in Footprints at the American Dance Festival 2016, the Gala Show at American College Dance Association 2016, Darkside, Cirque Dreams Splashtastic2013 and shared his original works, [ling-goh] at intimately informal in UC Davis and HATCH / Dance Works in Progress at the Crocker Art Museum, “Ah-Choo!” in the Choreographers Collective 2015: Dimensions of Identity and Ash in HATCH / Dance Works in Progress at the Crocker Art Museum. This led him to further explore the world of dance and graduated with two B.A. Degrees in both Dance and Deaf Studies at California State University, Sacramento. He has studied with Gary Masters, Ernesta Corvino, Sebastian Grubb, Lorelei Bayne, Philip Flickinger, Dr. Linda Goodrich, Dr. Roberto Pomo, Nolan T'sani, Lisa Ross, Nicole Manker, Aubri Siebert, Nhan Ho, James Wheatley, Pepper Von, Kimberly B. Valmore, Esther Pryor, and among many others. In addition, he is a company member of Nhan Ho Project in Sacramento, CA and an ensemble member of COterie DAnce Company in Oakland, CA. As he strives to grow and learn as an artist, choreographer and performer, Sean intends to fulfill his dreams and share the beautiful art of dance with the world.
DANIELLE TUCKERstarted dancing with Benicia Ballet at the age of four. In high school she also studied modern and jazz with Benicia High's Advanced Dance. She continued dancing at Diablo Valley College and with CODA under the instruction of Kimberly Valmore. This year she graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular and Cell Biology-Immunology and a minor in Dance and Performance Studies.
SHANNEN ZUVELLAVEGAstarted dancing at Deer Valley High School in 2002, studying jazz, ballet, and, later, competed on their award winning dance team. After graduating, she continued dancing at Diablo Valley College taking jazz and modern. It was there that she met choreographer Kimberly Valmore and has been with CODA ever since! This is her TENTH season performing with the company and she is honored to share the stage with her amazing CODA family.
ZACK RAMICONE has been dancing since the age of 16, beginning training in ballet and jazz at Clayton Valley Dance Academy. He has danced with CODA since 2012 while training with Kimberly Valmore in Modern and Ballet at Diablo Valley College. His training also includes swing and various styles of Latin dance, and he is honored and excited to dance in his second repertory show with CODA!
APRIL KLASSENbegan dancing at the age of six training in forms of ballet, tap and jazz. It was love at first ballet shoe. she continued to dance recreationally until the age of fourteen when she joined Studio A's award winning competitive dance team, under the direction of Aggie Eidson. While she continued her dance education for herself she began to student teach and soon go on to teach her own dance classes in: children combination classes, tap, ballet, and jazz from ages three to adult. After graduating High School April joined COterie DAnce, under the direction of Kimberly B. Valmore. April continued to train within the company as well as at the dance division at Diablo Valley College. Today, april attends Saint Mary's College of California where she is studying Liberal and Civic Studies with an emphasis on Education and a minor in Performing Arts Dance. She also continues to teach at several dance studios in the Bay Area.
KATIE TAYLORis a founding member of CODA and after taking time off to go to college is excited to be back with CODA! She just completed her Bachelors of Arts in Public Policy and Spanish and Hispanic Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Ecstatic to be back in the Bay Area, Katie is the Manager of the Rhythm Room Dance and Movement Center in Lafayette. Katie has been dancing since she was in Kindergarten and enjoys a variety of styles from modern, ballet, hip hop, jazz and many more. She hopes to one day be the little old lady in the back of a tap class dancing up a storm.
