15th Anniversary Season Company Members – Dancer’s Bios:
Jaclyn Stryker grew up dancing in Los Angeles and received her core training from CaliforniaDance Arts. She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and went on to study at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from which she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance in 2008. She was a member of the UCSB Dance Company which had the opportunity to dance with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre in their tour of Beijing, China. After graduating she was offered a position with California Contemporary Ballet and danced with the company for 2 seasons. Jaclyn is recently new to the Bay area and is also dancing with Napoles Ballet Theatre. This Jaclyn’s first season with MFDP|SF.niversity. This is his 14th season with MFDP|SF.
David Martinez has recently moved to San Francisco from New York and is excited to be a part of MFDP. He graduated from New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida, under the direction of Daniel Lewis. In New York he had the pleasure to dance with ZviDance, Parsons Dance Company, Daniel Ezralow, Company XIV, in the newly created opera Grendel created by Julie Taymor and choreographer Anjelin preljocaj, and was with the Martha Graham Dance Company since from 2006-2010. He has ta US ught in the and all over Italy. In 2009, he cocreated the successful Ricordiamo project with Gisella Zilembo's EventiDanza in Italy, and hopes to continue the project in the states. His choreography has been presented at BAX, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Palu Qualto in Sardegnia, Italy, televised nationally from the San Galgano Summer Dance festival in Tuscany, Italy, and locally at the LEVYDance Salon at Studio Gracia. He is currently teaching at LINES Ballet School. This is David’s first season with MFDP|SF.
Chad Dawson was born and raised in New Orleans, LA where he began his dance training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. In 2008, he received a BFA in Dance Performance from SUNY-Purchase where he had the opportunity to perform the repertory of Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, Lauri Stallings, and Paul Taylor. He has also studied at the Ailey School, American Repertory Ballet, and Paul Taylor intensives. Since arriving in San Francisco, Chad has premiered work for/with Heidi Schweiker, Nol Simonse, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, Erika Chong Shuch, and RAWdance. In addition to his work with MFDP, he is also a current member of Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, and Gretchen Garnett and Dancers.
Josie Garthwaite was born in Oakland, CA. She trained on scholarship at Marin Ballet and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, earning a bachelor's degree in dance and journalism. Josie later received a master's in communication from Stanford University. She has performed in Austria, Ireland, and throughout the U.S., including works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane. Since returning to the Bay Area in 2007, Josie has enjoyed working with Amy Foley, Copious Dance Theater, Printz Dance Project, Robert Moses' Kin, and Shift>>>Physical Theater This is Josie’s first season with MFDP|SF.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Annette Williams has been dancing since she was four. She received her early training at Los Gatos Academy of Dance and the Boston School of Ballet. She trained with David Grenke, formerly of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. She danced
with the Margaret Wingrove Dance Company and was the Assistant Director as well as Principal Dancer. She produced performances and set her own choreography with MWDC and independently throughout the Bay Area, and she has performed with Nina Galin Music and Dance, Andrea Weber, Footloose Dance, Karl Schaffer, and Mark Foehringer Dance Project. This is Annette’s four season with MFDP|SF.
Emily Kerr was born and raised in Mountain View, CA. She trained at Pacific Ballet Academy and at Boston Ballet School in their professional division. Emily has danced professionally with the Boston Lyric Opera, BalletMet Columbus, and Los Angeles Ballet and has appeared in works by Gerard Charles, David Nixon, Tom Gold, Devon Carney, George Balanchine, and Graham Lustig. Emily is currently a member of Oakland Ballet Company and this is her first experience working with Mark Foehringer Dance Project. This Emily’s first season with MFDP|SF.
Katherine Wells grew up in Sunnyvale, CA and began her professional career with Mark Foehringer Dance Project in 1996. She has danced with Colorado Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Amy Seiwert's im-ij're and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. She has staged several works by Mark Foehringer and taught master classes while on tour with Lar Lubovitch. Katherine has been a member of Robert Moses KIN since 2004. This Katherine’s 13th season with MFDP|SF.
Michael Howerton is a native of California and has been dancing since he was just 7 years of age. Mr. Howerton trained in classical ballet with Paul Curtis and Shawn Stuart, Francesca Romanoff and Benjamin Harkarvy, among others. His extensive modern dance training came from Margaret Wingrove (MWDC) and David Grenke, former dancer of Paul Taylor Dance Company. In 1994, he became one of the original members of MFDF and has performed many of Mark Foehringer’s works in the San Francisco Bay Area, Aruba and New York. Mike is also a 25-year veteran of the Margaret Wingrove Dance Company, where he has had many roles ranging from Artistic Director, Choreographer, Teacher, Assistant Rehearsal Director and Principle Dancer. Mike is thrilled to be performing with MFDP again. This is Michael’s fifth season with MFDP|SF.
Brandon Freeman, better known as “Private”, hails from Colorado. He started dancing at Colorado State University and with Canyon Concert Ballet, before a very successful 12-year career with ODC. In the Bay Area, Private has also had the privilege of working with Berkeley Ballet Theater, Marin Ballet, Western Ballet, Peninsula Ballet, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Janice Garrett and Dancers, Kevin Ware, Katie Faulkner (Little Seismic Dance), TheaterWorks in Palo Alto, Amy Seiwert’s Im ‘ig re, Oakland Ballet, and Sonya Delwaide; and was a principle dancer in the movie, ‘The Matrix II: Reloaded.’ Mr. Freeman earned an Isadora Duncan Award, with Brian Fisher, for Ensemble Performance in 2002, and received a nomination for Individual Performance in 2004 for his role in Brenda Way’s masterpiece, Investigating Grace. He was also recently nominated, with Yukie Fujimoto, for Ensemble Performance in Sonya Delwaide’s duet, Lettre ‘a Dos. Brandon’s choreography includes works for Berkeley Ballet Theater, Marin Ballet, Canyon Concert Ballet, and the Lines Contemporary Ballet BFA program. In addition to teaching ballet and modern dance technique (including Dance for Parkinson’s Disease), he plays the cello, and is a Military Police Sergeant in the California Army National Guard. Private gratefully acknowledges all who have influenced his dance career, specifically Brenda, KT, Sonya, and Randy. This is Private’s sixth season with MFDP|SF.

Brian Fisher began dancing at New York University Tisch School of the Arts where he received a BFA in dance. While in New York he danced for, or appeared in works by, numerous choreographers including Rosalind Newman, Igal Perry, Ali Porfarouk, Alvin Ailey, Lar Lubovitch, Kurt Joos, Kenneth Rinker, Nina Wiener, Doug Varone, and Choo San Goh. Along the way he also danced on Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles, and in national tours of the Music Man and Wizard of Oz Live where he danced for legendary Broadway choreographer Onna White. He was also handpicked as one of 44 dancers nationwide to dance for the Presidents of the United States and France at the re-opening of Liberty Island
after the renovation of the Statue of Liberty.

Since moving to the Bay Area he has danced for many choreographers and companies including such longtime associations as ODC Dance San Francisco, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and Sean Dorsey Dance. He has also appeared in works by Amy Seiwert, Rebecca Salzer, Victoria Morgan, Corinne Blum, Sonya Delwaide, Corinne Jonas, Robert Moses, Kathryn Rozak, Kevin Ware, Brandon Freeman, and Richard Chen See among others. He has appeared as a guest artist for Diablo Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Anima Mundi and has danced several seasons with the San Francisco Opera Ballet. In 2001 Brian was awarded the Isadora Duncan Award for Ensemble Performance. He was nominated for the Isadora Duncan Award again this year with Heather Cooper in Mark Foehringer’s Another Time.

Brian teaches both modern and ballet technique classes and has taught as a faculty member at the ODC School Curriculum, Teen Dance Company, Danspace, and Berkeley Ballet Theater. He has also served as a faculty member for the Lines BFA Program through Dominican University, and as a guest lecturer for Stanford University. This is his 14th season with MFDP|SF.

Heather Cooper is on faculty as Assistant Professor in The Dance Program at San Jose State University, teaching all levels ballet and contemporary. She choreographs for The University Dance Theater, and Senior Portfolio Concerts. Last year, at The American College Dance Festival, Ms. Cooper’s University Dance Theater’s work Cradle was selected for the Gala performance in Tempe, Arizona. Ms. Cooper is a founding member of sjDANCEco where she has made annual contributions as a choreographer and performer. Her latest work, Threshold, premiered at The California Theater last October. With the company, she has danced in the Jose Limon works The Waldstein and The Winged, as well as works by Artistic Directors Gary Masters and Maria Basile. Ms. Cooper owned Adage School of Performing Arts, in Milpitas. The school was home to over two hundred students, and included a preprofessional program for university bound dancers. Along with Mara Williams, she directed and performed with The Adage Repertory Company. Ms. Cooper was also a founding member of the professional company in residence, KT Davis Dance. Ms. Cooper’s New York performing credits include Muller/The Works, Sensedance, and JoAnna Mendel-Shaw. Recent performance credits include Mix and Match with Hsiang Hsiu Lin and her dancers from Taiwan. Other teaching credits include Western Ballet, West Valley College, guest artist roles with Northern California Dance Conservatory, Lines Ballet School, TDC, ACDFA, Modesto Junior College, Vision Series, as well as various other master classes throughout California. Ms. Cooper has a BA in Dance from UC Santa Barbara and a MA in Dance from Cal State Long Beach. Ms. Cooper received a 2011 Isadora Duncan Award nomination along with Brian Fisher for “Another Time” by Mark Foehringer. This is her first season with MFDP| SF.

Adam Richard Peterson was born and raised in Sacramento, California, USA. From age 4 to 13, Adam studied Kotaka-Ha Shito-Ryu karate where he received international and national recognition for his achievements. Adam began his dance training at Sheldon High School in Elk Grove, California. In his senior year of high school, he had the great opportunity to perform with the Limon Dance Company in Jose Limon’s work, Missa Brevis. Upon graduation of high school Adam continued his training and education as a member of Alonzo King LINES Ballet/ Dominican University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program in San Francisco. In 2008, Adam was invited to perform alongside LINES Ballet in their Fall Home Season. Since the summer of 2008, Mr. Peterson has worked closely with Kara Davis, performing as part of San Francisco based Project Agora, as well as with Gregory Dawson in several projects throughout California. Adam has performed works by Alonzo King, Gregory Dawson, Arturo Fernandez, Yannis Adoniou, Nathan Trice, KT Nelson, Maurya Kerr, Kara Davis, Jose Limon, and Christian Burns. Adam will graduate with his Bachelors of Fine Arts in May 2011. This is Adam’s first season with MFDP|SF.

Taylor Ullery is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Dance. At Irvine, she performed works by Douglas Becker and Molly Lynch and performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has performed with Janice Garrett/Charles Moulton, Printz Dance Project, and most recently with ODC/Dance in Architecture of Light. She currently teaches creative movement to Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade at The Nueva School and teaches ballet at Westlake School for the Performing Arts. This is her first season with MFDP|SF.