office@zaccho.org



Photos: Liz Zivic

Shereel Washington is an accomplished performer, choreographer, and presenter in local, regional, and national venues; Belhaven College in Jackson, MS; Kodak Theater's Babylon Court in Hollywood; Union Square Park in San Francisco, CA; Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA; The Malonga Casquelourd Center Theater in Oakland, CA; ODC Theater, Venue 9, Dance Mission, and Brady Street, all in San Francisco; and Temescal Arts in Oakland, CA. She was assistant choreographer for the University Dance Theater at San Francisco State and was assistant instructor for Albirda Rose for Pacific School of Religion and for CSU Summer Arts, Long Beach. She has taught dance for the West Contra Costa Adult School in Richmond, Ross Dance Company in Emeryville, San Leandro Adult Education, San Mateo Parks and Recreation, the Teen Dance Company of Mountain View, Wajumbe Cultural Institute in San Francisco, Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, Bally's Total Fitness in Hayward and Hayward Area Recreation District. Shereel served as guest dance faculty at Belhaven College in Jackson, MS, in 2005.

Shereel has danced with some of the Bay Area's finest artists and organizations: Joanna Haigood's Zaccho Dance Theater, Fua Dia Congo, founded and directed by the late Malonga Casquelourd, professor of Dance at San Francisco State; Robert Henry Johnson, award winning choreographer and playwright; Dr. Albirda Rose, professor of Dance at San Francisco State, Director of Certification for the Katherine Dunham Seminars, and published author in Dance Technique; New Trails Dance Theater, directed by Cynthia Newland, Chair of the Department of Dance at Belhaven College in Jackson, MS; and Bantaba, directed by Moshe Milon, Master Drummer and Instructor.

Shereel is also director and co-founder of B-PAN, Black Performing Artists Network, and co-founder of The Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now. In 2005 she was guest co-curator of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival ChoreoFest and, in 2006, co-produced the ChoreoFest Youth Dance Day. Shereel is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco International Arts Festival, directed by Andrew Wood. Shereel studied dance at U.C., Santa Barbara, and earned a BA in Choreography and Performance at San Francisco State University. Her professional training, performance, and choreography experience include: Ballet, Modern/Limon/Dunham Technique/Hawkins, Post Modern, Jazz, Tap, Congolese, Guinea, Caribbean, and Afro Haitian, and Hula. Shereel is currently training with Halau Hula 'O Kupukalau'ie'ie uner the direction of Kumu Hula Analu (Andrew) Akao.


Shakiri has a long history as a dancer, choreographer and arts educator. She has directed her own dance and theater company SHAKIRI/ROOTWORKERS, and is presently rewriting one of her pieces in novel form to be published by Edgework Books. Shakiri has been a member of Zaccho Dance Theatre since1988.


Dwayne Worthington, a Paterson New Jersey native, hails from Durham, North Carolina. Dwayne received his MFA in dance from California State University Long Beach and his BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts. He is currently touring with Robert Moses' Kin and has also been a company member of Randy James Dance Works and Nicholas Leichter Dance. Dwayne has had the great pleasure of working with such choreographers as Betty Jones, Sherone Price, Lynn Jackson, Mark Dendy, and Dominique Boivin.


Raissa Simpson is an independent dancer, choreographer and A.D. of Push Dance Company. An award-winning dancer, she worked & toured extensively with Robert Moses' Kin (2002-2007) including prestigious tours to Jacob's Pillow, Bates Dance Festival & City Center New York. As a guest artist she has performed with numerous companies including her work with Zaccho Dance Theater's Departure & Arrival (SFIAF) & Invisible Wings (Jacob's Pillow '07). She has been on the faculty of San Francisco Dance Center, City Dance Studios, and Santa Clara Ballet. Raissa holds her BFA from SUNY Purchase and has trained at Dance Theatre of Harlem, San Jose Dance Theater & the Paul Taylor School. She master taught at UC Santa Cruz and Berkeley High School among many others. Ms. Simpson was recently featured in Dance Spirit Magazine, the Village Voice and The New York Times. Her work was curated at the Black Choreographers Festival, Cowell Theater, American Cancer Society, and 418 Project in Santa Cruz. Since its formation in 2005, Push Dance Company has received critical acclaim as well as the 2007 ³Peoples Choice Award,² from San Jose State University.


Maurya Kerr has danced as a principal dancer with Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, an international touring company acclaimed for its visionary choreography and for the extraordinary quality of its dancers. She trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet and danced professionally with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Fort Worth Ballet before joining LINES in 1994. Alonzo King created roles for her in many ballets, including The Hierarchal Migration of Birds and Mammals; Baker Fix; Rite of Spring; The Patience of Aridity, Waiting for Petrichor; Road; Koto; Soothing the Enemy; People of the Forest; Tango; Handel Trio; Rock; and Klang. She has been a featured guest artist with Alex Ketley and Christian Burns' The Foundry, Robert Moses' Draft project, Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, and Ballet Zinoun in Morocco. She is a senior faculty member for the Lines Ballet School and Summer Pre-Professional Program, and is a certified Gyrotonic® trainer. She was also a principal dancer in The Matrix II: Reloaded and the 2004/2005 model for Mirella Dancewear.


Paul Benney comes from a large family where rough-housing was not discouraged. His professional dance career began in 1986 at Brown University, where he also began his partnership with Jessica Lutes. In 1987, he and Lutes attended the Harvard Summer Program and studied with Elizabeth Streb, who proved to be a major influence in the development of their performance style. Since then, Benney and Lutes have created numerous performance events in the San Francisco Bay area and abroad. Their company, OnSite, has received several grants and residencies and was awarded the San Francisco Bay Guardian GOLDIE for best new dance company in 1993. Benney has worked with Margaret Jenkins, Joanna Haigood's Zaccho Dance Theater, and the Joe Goode Performance Group, among others. His one-man show, ³Whatever Happened to Baby John,² was voted ³Best of the Fringe² in the 1995 San Fancisco International Fringe festival. Benney moved to New York City in November 2002, and he is a 2002-03 Artist-In-Residence at Movement Research. He is currently touring with the infamous San Francisco-based experimental art rock band, The Residents, playing a dancing demon.


Amara Tabor-Smith has worked in theater and dance for over 20 years. Her dance credits include work with Ed Mock Dance Co., Pearl Ubungen Dancers & Musicians, Anne Bluethenthal & Dancers, and she was Associate Artistic Director of The Urban Bush Women Dance Co. in New York. Her work in theater includes performing with the S.F. Mime Troupe, Make-A-Circus and with Anna Deveare Smith on House Arrest at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. She has collaborated on projects with musicians Martin Reynolds, Regina Carter and David Murray, and Keith Terry's Crosspulse. Amara has studied and taught Capoeira for over 10 years, and has created Dance Workout and Roots Modern Experience: a technique fusing modern dance with traditional dance of the African Diaspora.


Robert Henry Johnson is a dancer and playwright who mixes movement style and literary influences with equal fluidity. The son of jazz singer Lady Mem'fis and guitarist Robert Gonzales, he was one of the first students to graduate from San Francisco's School of the Performing Arts. He attended the San Francisco Ballet School on full scholarship. His performances are an arresting mix of muscular virtuosity, manic energy and naked emotion.

In addition to founding the Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company in 1993, Johnson has created works for Oakland Ballet, Bavarian State Opera Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater and others. He has since disbanded his company to focus on solo work mixing dance and text, and is working on several new plays: "The Othello Papers," commissioned by the African American Shakespeare Company, and two plays commissioned by the Buriel Clay Play Reading Series.


Sheila Lopez has been working in all aspects of dance/theatre since 1980. She loves her garden, cloud formations and the creatures that miraculously inhabit the sky defying all human limitations. She has been a member of Zaccho Dance Theatre since 1985.


Noe Serrano, a native of Puerto Rico, has danced with Oakland Ballet, with Smuin Ballet, and with Tulsa Ballet. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and an Master of Business Administration in Arts Management.


Bob Ernst


Ramon Ramos Alayo started his dance education at the age of eleven in Santiago Cuba and graduated in 1990 from Havana's National School of art with a degree in dance and education. He was ranked one of the top modern dancers in Havana and a key dancer in Narciso Medina Contemporary Dance Company. Since coming to the U.S in 1997, he has taught a multitude of dance forms ranging from Modern to Cuban Popular and Folklore. Since 1999, he has been a recipient of the California Arts Council Artists in Education grant where he teaches children at Dover Elementary School. He Currently teaches and dances with many different companies around the bay area and beyond, including Zaccho Dance Theatre, Robert Moses' Kin, Dance Mission Theatre and more.


Ashley Taylor


Jodi Lomask - The Royal Ballet Academy, Merce Cunningham Studio, London Contemporary Dance School and the Rotterdam Dansacademie preface her cum laude graduation from the dance conservatory at SUNY Purchase. With performance credits in the Purchase Dance Corps, NMH Performance Group, Erica Essner Performance Co-op, Project Bandaloop and Kneejerk, Lomask now directs Capacitor, founded in 1997 to explore the fusion and explosion of varied artistic disciplines in dialogue with audiences.