Instructors

Shannon Cullem, Director/Instructor
Shannon Cullem received her BFA cum laude in dance from Southern Methodist University, after attending The Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan. She received early training in dance at The Studio of Classical Ballet, in downtown Santa Cruz and further training at the San Francisco Ballet, Royal Academy of Ballet in London, Steps on Broadway and The Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Shannon has studied under some of the finest master teachers in dance, studying choreography, pedagogy, labanotation and music, as well as performing original works. She has performed across the country in both classical and contemporary roles. She now teaches ballet, jazz, modern dance, theater dance and yoga. Additionally Shannon is a certified fitness trainer and flight instructor.

Vicki Bergland, Ballet Instructor
Ms. Bergland has taught ballet for over 20 years at many schools throughout the area, including The University of California, at Santa Cruz, Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz, Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel Valley and The Studio School of Classical Ballet in Soquel. Formerly Ms. Bergland was the Associate Director of Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. She has also worked with the Moscow Ballet as The Children's Coordinator and Rehearsal Assistant for the Nutcracker Ballet.
Ms. Bergland has studied the Vaganova Syllabus (Pedagogical Method of Classical Ballet), Years I-VI, extensively with Karen Morell in San Francisco and Walnut Creek. She has also worked with the Spectra Program of Santa Cruz County, which brings the arts into the schools.
Ms Bergland has choreographed both repertory and full length ballets. Highlights include the Nutcracker, The Fantastic Toyshop, Peter Pan, Serenade for Spring and ballets for the Youth Concerts with The Santa Cruz Symphony. Vicki has been teaching ballet at the I.A.D. since 2005.

Marcie Rice, Tap/Jazz Instructor
Marcie has over 20 years of dance experience, in all areas of dance, with a focus on tap and jazz. She offers a creative and fun approach to dance for students who are looking for a supportive and relaxed dance experience.

Rita Rivera, Modern Instructor
Rita is an accomplished dancer, teacher, and choreographer, and has been dancing professionally since 1976. In New York, she studied the modern dance styles of Jose Limon, Martha Graham, and Jennifer Muller. Her greatest influence is Erick Hawkins, the master of natural and fluid movement, with whom she apprenticed for several years. Her range of movement experience has been broad, from Classical Ballet to a variety of ethnic styles including African dance, Brazilian Samba and Middle Eastern Belly dance.
In New York City, in her late teens, Ms. Rivera danced with Ballet Interim and the Berhard Ballet Company before going on to intensive study in Modern Dance. She performed with the Phyllis Rose Dance Company, the June Anderson Dance Company, and with Gloria McLean/Lifedance before moving to Santa Cruz, California in 1983 at which time she started the Rita Rivera Dance Company, and was the founder and Artistic Director of the Santa Cruz Dance Gallery.
She has taught classes and workshops across the US and has been a guest instructor at Cabrillo College and San Jose State University. She was on faculty at UC Santa Cruz and at Sonoma State University. Abroad she taught for several months in Paris, France and in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where she appeared on national Dominican television.
Her interest in deeper levels of movement awareness include training with Andre Bernard of New York University in experiential anatomy and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, the acclaimed founder of the School of Mind Body Centering. She is a practitioner of the Alexander technique and Craniosacral therapy. Rita has been teaching Modern at the I.A.D. since 2005.

Micha Scott, Modern Instructor
Micha Scott, a native of southern California, has recently returned to the west coast after living in upstate New York for the past 18 years. She has danced on stages around the world as a senior member of the reknowned Garth Fagan Dance (Fagan is most popularly known as the Tony award winning choreographer of Broadway's The Lion King). From 1991 - 2000 and most recently from 2005-2008 she has been a featured dancer in many of Mr. Fagan's works. She has appeared as a soloist on the PBS series Great Performances and has appeared in many publications such as Dance Magazine, Time Magazine, and Essence. She was a founding teacher in the Garth Fagan Dance School, teaching children, teens and adults in all levels of Fagan Technique. She has taught at State University of New York at Brockport, UCSC, Cabrillo College, San Jose State, and at several dance studios throughout the Santa Cruz area. In 2003 she was the featured dancer in Tandy Beale's piece 'Compass Rose", performed at the Mello Center. She currently lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and 3 children.

Janelle Rodriguez, Belly Dance Instructor
Janelle Rodriguez is a native Californian and has been performing as a dancer since the age of 5. Janelle's early background in dance includes jazz, tap, ballet, modern dance, gymnastics, and Mexican Folklore. In 1995, she decided to explore foreign dance territory by experiencing the exotic and mysterious Middle Eastern bellydance.
Janelle first studied bellydance with Cory Zamora in Fresno, California. Janelle was immediately enamored by the isolated movements and unique rhythms; feeling her body move in ways she had not realized possible. While the dance was completely new to her, the movements felt very natural---sprouting the seeds of inspiration which have flowered into a lifelong passion of study and personal growth.
Janelle moved to Santa Cruz in 1997 and began studying with Beth Frue, who became a wonderful friend and an undying source of inspiration and confidence. Beth's supportive mentoring gave Janelle the courage to teach and choreograph a bellydance piece for Cabrillo College's 1998 spring dance performance. This successful performance and review ignited her love for choreography and teaching.
Janelle continues to take countless workshops of various dance forms. Instructors who have become personal mentors include Beth Frue and Helene. Jamila and Suhaila Salimpour have also strongly influenced Janelle's journey in dance. These women have taught Janelle the importance of history, culture and professionalism that is intertwined with the dance. A strong physiological outlook of the dance has sharpened Janelle's movements and given them a clarity and distinction that makes the subtleties of the dance visible to untrained eyes. The understanding of muscle use and development is primary in all of Janelle's classes.
In 2003, by request, Janelle started teaching small classes for friends and fellow dancers. Janelle began to teach in more formal studio settings to accommadate her growing student body. Janelle's talent for teaching has provided a natural evolution in her students that has led to the formation of the Desert Dream Dance Company, and has made Janelle a prominent instructor within the Santa Cruz community. Janelle enjoys sharing her knowledge through teaching, which further encourages her to improve and expand upon her own dancing.
For more information on Janelle and Desert Dream visit www.janelledance.com.

Linda Preston, Irish Step Dance Instructor

Teresa Sullivan, Pilates Instructor
Teresa is a Certified Level II Teacher of the Ron Fletcher Work, Certified Pilates Instructor of the Pilates Method Alliance, and a Certified Yamuna Body Rolling Practitioner. She is also on the faculty of The Ron Fletcher Program of Study. Teresa's study of movement began with gymnastics and dance as a child. She worked with local and nationally touring dance and theater companies as performer, teacher, choreographer, and movement coach from 1997-2005. She enjoys working with a wide range of age groups, from teen to adult.

Valmarie Levine, Yoga Instructor
Valmarie is a local mother of four children, three to 16 years of age. She feels it is an honor and a priveledge to teach this ancient tradition of hatha yoga. Valmarie found yoga at the dawn of the new millenium when her life was going through major uprooting and transformation. Through yoga she found meditation and was able to be centered and grounded as she foraged ahead in her new life. "With Yoga, I have witnessed the interconnectedness of all things, great and small! Beginning with the breath, we start to cultivate a meditative quality that transcends into all areas of our life. With the asanas, we prepare our bodies for such stillness."
This past winter Valmarie felt a calling to share this practice with both teens and adults. Shortly thereafter she began a Yoga Alliance registered, 250 hour yoga teacher training program with her teacher and local yogi, Mark Stephens. She has studied Vinyasa Flow which stems from Viniyoga or the style of Desikachar. Her style incorporates inspirational quotes, meditation, pranayama (breathing practices) and an invigorating flow of asanas that nurture the mind, body and spirit. Focusing on proper body alignment, she guides her class in the development of a sustainable practice.
Additionally Valmarie is beginning a yoga club at local charter school, Pacific Collegiate, where one of her three daughters is a student. She feels yoga can be especially beneficial to teens while they are going through adolescence and are searching for their true selves.
Valmarie continues to expand her spectrum of knowledge by attending teacher trainings led by some of the foremost teachers of hatha yoga in the West! This promises to bring new energy and ideas to her teachings!