Ann Fisher
Owner, Director & Choreographer
Ann Fisher established Conservatory of Classical Ballet in 2001 after teaching and directing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 1988. From 1997 to 2001 she was the Direcor of Berkeley Ballet Theater, and founded their Pre-Professional Youth Ensemble. Her students have gone on to have professional careers as dancers, teachers, choreographers and company directors. Ms. Fisher received her early training from Oakland Ballet Academy, and for nine years, performed with the Oakland Ballet Comapany both nationally and abroad. Sharing her enthusiasm and knowldege of dance with her studens is one of her greatest joys.
Sonja Dale
Student Division & Adult Ballet & Yoga
Sonja Dale is a Bay Area native, trained by Sally Streets at Berkeley Ballet Theater. She later attended UCLA and the Boston Conservatory, and then began her dance career in San Francisco, where she performed with FACTS/SF and The Mark Foehringer Dance Project. Sonja moved to New York City in 2010, where she performed with SYREN Modern Dance and began teaching contemporary dance for Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theater. She then moved to Boston, where she taught ballet at The Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Sonja moved back to the Bay in 2015 and is currently dancing for Liss Fain Dance, Sharp and Fine, and the Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and teaching for many ballet schools around the Bay Area, including Steppin' Out and Marin School of the Arts, as well as Conservatory of Classical Ballet.
Carlos Carvajal
Student Division & Adult Classes
Mr. Carvajal has been teaching at Conservatory of Classical Ballet since 2006. He is an internationally known choreographer of more han 200 works for ballet, opera and television. Director Emeritus of Peninsula Ballet Theater and the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Mr. Carvajal began his dance career with San Francisco Ballet. In Europe, he danced with International Ballet of the Marquis de Duev, Theater der Freine Hansastadt Bremen, Theater de Bordeaux and Ballet Nueveo Mundo de Caracas. After ten years abroad, he returned to the San Francisco Ballet as Ballet Maser and Associate Choreograper. In 1970, he founded and directed San Francisco Dance Spectrum. Mr. Carvajal received the first San Francisco Art Commission Award of Honor for outstanding work in choreography and dance in 1981. In 1986 he received the Isadora Duncan Award for a lifetime of significant work, and received the Critics Circle Awared in 1990.
Pope Flyne
West African Dance (Summer Intensive)
Ghanaian performer /composer/educator Pope Flyne was once know as lead vocalist for the lead legendary Sweet Talks band of Ghana, where he helped bring the art of Highlife music to new heights. When not on stage, he shares his joyful spirit and vast knowledge of African folk music, dancing and percussion with his legions of American students. Pope is also a recording artist publishing under Akwaaba Records and Spiriling Music.
Deborah Hurley
Pre-Ballet and Adult Classes
Deborah Hurley holds an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College. She trained in the Vaganova Syllabus with Karen morrell, and has been teaching at CCB for the past 17 years. Ms. Deborah thoroughly loves and enjoys teaching both children and adults.
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Thea Patterson
Student Division Ballet & Modern Dance
Thea Patterson, from Oakland, California, began dancing at Conservatory of Classical Balle in San Leandro under the direction of Ann Fisher-Ratto, performing an array of classical ballet repertoire as well as original works by noted Bay Area choreographers, Carlos Carvajal and Michael Lowe. From 2009-2013 she attended UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts, where she continued her training in ballet as well as modern, jazz, and improvisation and performed in a variety of choreographyc works and dance concerts. After graduating Cum Laude with degrees in Dance and English, Thea apprenticed for Peninsula Ballet Theater for their 2013 Nutcracker season. Thea is a current member of No Strings Attached Dance Company. She has performed with other companies and choreographers around the Bay Area including Sarah Bush Dance Project, Kathryn Roszak, Alyssa Mitchell, Jaq Dalziel, Yuki Fujimoto and Garrett +Moulton Productions. She has been a teacher at CCB since 2013.
Emilie Skinner
Student Division & Adult Ballet Administrative Assistant
Emilie Skinner began her classical training at the age of six with Gilbert Rome and Victoria Vittum performing with their company Houston Repertoire Ballet until graduating High School. She has studied at summer intensives including Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Austin Ballet and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She has also attended the SIBA international training program in Salzburg, Austria. While the primary focus of her training is classical ballet, she also has experience in modern, jazz and contemporary dance. Emilie received her BA in French studies with a minor in Art history from the Univiersity of North Texas, while performing with local ballet companies. In 2011, Emilie founded the nonprofit professional ballet company, Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet (DNCB), and served as its Artistic Director until moving to the Bay Area in June of 2019.
Tami Oei
Student Division Ballet
Tami began dancing at the age of six at Kirkpatrick School Dance in San Mateo, California, where she studied and completed grades one through seven of the Cecchetti method. She has had the opportunity and pleasure to dance various roles in The Nutcracker with Peninsula Ballet Theater, Peninsula Youth Ballet, and Santa Clara Ballet. Tami started teaching dance while in graduate school and fell in love with it. Although ballet is not a full-time profession, it has remained a constant passion in Ms. Tami's life.
Sophia Rumasuglia
Class Substitute
Sophia Rumasuglia is a Bay Area native that has performed professionally with Joffrey Ballet in New York, Ballet Austin, and Bay Pointe Ballet. She is currently a freelance performance artist in the Bay Area and has worked on projects with Ballet Bernasconi, No Strings Attached, Emotion Arts and Metamorphosis Ballet. She received her Yoga Instructor certification from Black Swan Yoga in Austin, Texas, her BFA from St. Mary’s college, and is a certified GYROTONIC® trainer.
Dallis Wright-Morash
Pilates
Dallis currently teaches movement and dance at the San Francisco Opera Center, Pilates and Myofascial Release Techniques at CCB, and choreographs locally for community theater and schools. She graduated with a BFA (specialized honors) in dance from York University in Toronto and is certified as an ACE Health Coach and fitness instructor. Originally from Victoria, BC, Dallis has been choreographing, and teaching for over 25 years.
She performed in many musicals across Canada and she was Artistic Director of KaBoom Interactive Parties Inc in Toronto.