Youth Program

Creative Movement

This class explores the joy of movement while improving balance, coordination and motor skills. Children will learn the flow and basics of being in a dance class: warming up, dancing across the floor, focusing and following direction. Each one of our teachers has their own personal approach to teaching this introduction dance class. Children are encouraged to perform in our recital at the end of the semester, but have the option to opt out of this portion of our program.

Modern Ballet

This class is a fusion of Modern dance and ballet. Students will learn the basic positions of ballet, become acquainted with working at the barre, and express themselves through contemporary dance movement.

Modern Jazz

This class teaches Modern technique with Jazz influences. Students will learn the basics of ballet, work toward creating a strong technical Modern base, and learn Modern Jazz choreography. Modern Jazz I & II are the pre-requisite classes for trying out for the Jr. Grrrl Brigade.

Modern Technique Beg/Int

Students will learn Modern technique form and positions, train and perfect form and foundation at the center and do across the floor movement. Emphasis is on staying focused and strengthening technique.

Modern Technique Int/Adv

This class is for Grrrl Brigade and Jr. Grrrl Brigade members. Students with extensive Modern experience may also audition on the first day of class. This class focuses on strengthening technique and is designed to support and improve student’s dance vocabulary and expression.

Hip-Hop

Our hip-hop classes are taught through movement across the floor and choreography. Students are also encouraged to create their own choreography in class as well. This class is designed to build confidence, coordination and skill through the art of dance.

Belly Salsa /Belly Dance

These classes teach a fusion of Belly Dance and Salsa, as these forms of dance have some similar isolations and movements of the hips & torso. Students are taught to isolate throughout their entire body, move with fluid and staccato quality, and perform with flare!

Taiko

Taiko is an expressive form of Japanese drumming. In this class students are taught several powerful rhythms and movements. Taiko I & II are the prerequisite classes to trying out for Jr. Grrrl Brigade Taiko.

Grrrl Brigade & Jr. Grrrl Brigade

Please see the Grrrl Brigade page for more information.

Dance Brigade’s Youth Program’s goals are to provide high quality dance classes to the children of San Francisco in a non-competitive, socially aware environment. We believe that the arts enrich the life of the student and family and builds community through cultural awareness. Our students are encouraged to become technically proficient and at the same time build self-esteem, cooperation, leadership skills AND HAVE FUN! We also provide wonderful performing opportunities and all children are encouraged to perform. In order to achieve these goals we provide financial aide and scholarships to insure the most culturally and economically diverse attendance. We ask the parents to respect the financial aide opportunity and to donate generously to the program if a family is financially able.

Our youth program and the Grrrl Brigade are sponsored in part by The Kimball Foundation, Sam Mazza Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, The Bothin Foundation and Crescent Porter Hale Foundation, our generous families and the in-kind donations of our talented staff.

CONNECTYouth Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 11am-5pm

Grrrl Brigade & Registration: Fredrika, fredrika@dancemission.com
Youth Program: Bianca, bianca@dancemission.com

BIANCA MENDOZA-PRADO
YOUTH PROGRAM DIRECTOR, TEACHER, & CREATIVE MOVEMENT PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR

Bianca Stephanie Mendoza-Prado was born and raised in the Bay Area where she began her training in classical ballet with principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet; Carmela Zegarelli Peter and Zoltan Peter.  Bianca was accepted into the BFA dance program at the California Institute of the Arts which was proclaimed the United States number one art school the year she graduated, 2012. Bianca is trained in various dance techniques by various well renowned artists which include Colin Connor; Limon Company director, Andre Tyson; original Alvin Ailey company member, Cynthia Young; of the San Francisco Ballet and more alike. Bianca was the creator and choreographer of her very own dance company entitled Binki Danz founded in 2013, an activist dance company that showed evening length works across the Bay Area. Bianca has also shown works across the United States such as Jonnek’a Nok, a solo which was accepted to go to the American College Dance Festival in Champagne, Illinois in 2010, as well as Loaded Yoke which was chosen to go to Walt Disney’s REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles in 2012.  Bianca’s piece Colloquy was accepted into Dance Missions D.I.R.T festival in San Francisco in 2015 and her work My Self was invited to be part of the West Wave Dance Festival 24 in 2016. Bianca is currently dancing and choreographing at Dance Mission Theater and dances with Krissy Keefer’s Dance Brigade Company where she has assisted choreographically in their work The Butterfly Effect and Match Grrrl. Bianca is a Latinx American feminist, choreographer, dancer, writer, herbalist, and artist and continues to create political work in the Bay Area.

FREDRIKA KEEFER
GRRRL BRIGADE DIRECTOR, REGISTRAR, AND TEACHER & CREATIVE MOVEMENT PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR

Fredrika is a Hip Hop, Ballet, Contemporary and Traditional Japanese Taiko drumming teacher. She is currently a member of Dance Brigade And Alayo Dance company. Born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission district, Fredrika started her dance training at age 5. When she was 14 years old, she started her hip-hop dance training with the well-renowned choreographer and Mind Over Matter’s director, Allan Frias. She proceeded to dance with his company for 6 years. Since then, she has worked with choreographers such as Kim Epifano, Anne Bluethenthal, Christy Funch, Krissy Keefer, Ramon Ramos Alayo, just to name a few. Fredrika’s broaden experiences have brought her to travel to teach and perform nationally and internationally (Ukiah, Oregon, New York, Cuba, Lebanon, Egypt, and St. Maarteen).

DEBBIE TAYLOR
TEACHER

Debbie Taylor moves in the whirld as a dancer, taiko drummer, teacher, ASL interpreter and activist. She currently teaches dance improvisation and composition as a faculty member of the Lines Ballet School. She has taught modern dance in San Francisco, Berlin, Santa Fe and around the U.S. She has both taught and performed with the National Theater of the Deaf. Debbie choreographs her own work, and has danced with Bay Area choreographers Sara Shelton Mann, Kim Epifano, Dance Brigade, Scott Wells and Dancers, Company Chaddick, and others. Nationally and internationally she has toured with David Rousseve/Reality, and with Dance Berlin. She trained extensively in taiko with Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo and with Jimi Nakagawa. She apprenticed with Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble and has performed with Taiko Ren for the last 16 years. Debbie teaches and composes taiko/dance pieces for the Dance Brigade’s youth programs.

BRANDIE NORRIS
TEACHER

Brandie is a dancer, Hip Hop teacher and San Francisco Native. She trained as a gymnast in her youth, inspiring her to be the dancer she is today, and found the courage to perform in front of large crowds as a High School Cheerleader. Brandie teaches youth dance classes at Dance Mission, TruDance and private Hip Hop lessons in San Francisco. She has danced in various music videos and has performed with many choreographers, including the Sarah Bush Dance Project. Currently, Brandie performs with Allan Frias’ ‘Mind Over Matter,’ is an honorary member of the Bay Area house of Vogue ‘House of Prolific’ and takes classes at the Community Music Center. She believes that the more you involve yourself in your art form, the more you become one with the Universe.

EMMA MILLER
TEACHER

Emma is a San Francisco native who began dancing at Dance Mission at the age of 3. She is a graduate of the Grrrl Brigade program and attended the Dance program at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Before becoming a teacher, she trained as a youth program teaching assistant for four years. Currently, Emma attends the University of San Francisco where she is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Performing Arts and Social Justice with a focus in Dance. She has performed in dance festivals including CubaCaribe and Summer Feast, and continues to perform with Dance Brigade.

RAMON RAMOS ALAYO
CHOREOGRAPHER AND TEACHER

Ramón is a Cuban-born dancer, teacher, choreographer, is well known for his forceful performances and bold choreographic vision. Well versed in both Afro-Cuban modern and folkloric genres, Ramos is fearless in both his dance and choreographic style. At the age of eleven, Ramos was selected by the Cuban government to study dance in Santiago de Cuba and later earned a master’s degree in contemporary and folkloric dance and dance education from Havana’s National School of Art. He was the principal dancer with Compa–’a Teatro de la Danza del Caribe in Santiago de Cuba and Narciso Medina Contemporary Dance Company in Havana, where he was ranked one of the top modern dancers and toured throughout Cuba, Europe, Canada, Belize and the U.S. Since leaving Cuba 1997, he has performed with some of the most respected choreographers in the Bay Area, including Robert Henry Johnson, Kim Epifano, Sara Shelton Mann, Joanna Haigood, Robert Moses and Krissy Keefer. Ramón Ramos Alayo has directed and produced seven full-length performances including Anora–za de Una Epoca (1999), Mis Sue–os, Mis Ideas (2003, 2004); A Piece of White Cloth (2004, 2005, 2009); La Madre (2005); After Rain (2006); Three Threes & Traces (2007); and his latest full-length choreography, Blood + Sugar (2008). Ramón Ramos Alayo has received grants including: CASH (2005); Zellerbach Family Foundation (2005, 2006, 2007); LEF Foundation (2005); and San Francisco Arts Commission (2008). Ramos was also awarded the prestigious Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation’s “Emerging Choreographer Award” (2005). In 2003 Ramos co-founded and became artistic director of the renowned annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music. Since 2004 he continues to teach and choreograph for the Grrrl Brigade, Dance Mission’s program for dance, self-empowerment and leadership for girls 9 – 18.

BRUCE “MUI” GENT
TAIKO MASTER

Bruce earned a degree in Modern Dance/Choreography from California Institute of the Arts in 1990 and went on to perform with notable dance and theater companies such as Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. and Berkeley Repertory Theater. He began his study of Taiko under Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka in 1993, where as a principal member of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo he toured internationally and performed with some of the great masters of Traditional Japanese Folk Music. Currently, he serves as resident Taiko Instructor/Composer at Dance Mission for Grrrl Brigade, and Dance Brigade for whom his work was nominated for a 2000-2001 Isadora Duncan Award. In October 2010 he will curate the 3rd annual Harvest Moon Taiko Festival at Dance Mission Theater.

DOMINIQUE HARGROVE
GRRRL BRIGADE CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

Dominique is a powerhouse. A divine vibrant being. She is a storyteller; revisiting and reimagining all aspects of herself,allowing her experiences to shape her reality. Diving into realms of love and collaboration, she is exploring empathetic and compassionate ways of listening and learning from her ancestors, family, and friends on how to cultivate and sustain a thriving community. She is creating a blueprint that explores healing through integration of spirit, mind, body, and emotions. She is inviting the process of self reflection in her teaching and encouraging her students to swim in the pools of their inner truth. She is opening up again and is so excited to be back in the sacred space of the studio;diving into the ritual form that is movement medicine. asé. amen. and so it is.