Wailana Simcock

Wailana Simcock was born in Angeles City, Philippines and raised on O'ahu, Hawai’i since age five. In 1995, he became principal dancer for the award winning modern dance company Pearl Ubungen Dancers and Musicians (PUDM) of San Francisco, traveling with them to New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Philippines. While in the San Francisco Bay Area, he had the opportunity to work and study with such innovators as: Steamroller, Kunstoff, Terry Sendgraff, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Joe Goode, and Barbra Dilley of Naropa University. Through his full time work with PUDM, he also became Artist Teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District teaching creative movement to children and subsequently for the Hawaii Public School System in O'ahu and in Pahoa, Hawai'i. Returning to the Hawaiian Islands in 2000, he performed with Iona Dance Theater, Tau Dance Theater and the pre-eminent aerial dance troupe, Samadhi Hawaii. Wailana graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo in 2006 with a Liberal Arts degree he penned, “Culture and Performance in Contemporary Hawai’i”. While in Hilo, me ka ha'aha'a, he studied with Hawaiian teachers and cultural practitioners Dr. Kalena Silva, Larry Kimura and Hälau O Kekuhi. In June of 2007, he joined the ground breaking production ‘Ulalena by ARRA Montreal in Lahaina, Maui. In 2008, he was part of the original cast of Waikiki Nei, the sister show to 'Ulalena. Through his studies, he pioneered a program using the Hawaiian language exclusively to teach creative movement and developed a public performance in the Hawaiian immersion school, Ka 'Umeke Ka'eo in Keaukaha and most recently at Nawahiokalaniopu'u in Kea'au in 2010. On and off since 2001, he has taught aerial dance, modern dance, yoga, Hawaiian studies and language classes at Kalani Honua in Kalapana where he currently lives. He is now choreographing for the Puna Men's Chorus' ExtrABBAganza and is Artistic Director of the Kalani Performing Arts Festival this July 5 - 11, 2010.

Evelyn Tosi

Evelyn Tosi is a professional dancer and instructor classically trained in jazz, ballet, modern and belly dance. Her dance career, spanning 25+ yrs and various countries and U.S. cities, has included performances from live theatre to the "silver screen". She began studying dance as a young child, continued as a dance major at Long Beach State in Ca. and was awarded two terms of scholarship at Dupree Dance Academy in Hollywood, Ca.  Highlights of her career include living and dancing for 5 1/2 yrs on the south pacific island of Guam where she danced all of the female roles, earned the position of line captain, and understudy for the lead adagio team and taught company class. After leaving Guam and moving to Baltimore, Md. Evelyn had the fabulous experience of dancing with The Eva Anderson Dancers, Ltd. an ethnic modern dance company exploring the roots of African Dance and its history in the U.S.  Earlier in her career she was a principal dancer in the movies Grease 2 and A Chorus Line. 

Amy Hamel

Ms. Hamel, originally from Florida, trained and performed professionally with Ballet Florida and Demetrius Klein Modern Dance. Upon receiving her BA in Theatre Arts, she was offered and accepted the role of Demeter in the National Tour of CATS. From the tour she went to the Broadway company of CATS where she had the honor to be a part of the closing cast performing as Tantomile. Amy has many regional theatre credits both in NY and FL, and also performed as lead singer and dance captain for Norwegian Cruise Lines. She has been teaching in the NY/NJ area for the last five years and continues to teach now in NC.

Kim Saunders

Ms. Saunders has taught, performed, directed and choreographed in all 4 corners of the country. From New York to Florida on to California and up to Washington! Her training started at The School of American Ballet where she had the privilege of studying under Danilova as a scholarship student. She also received scholarships at Alvin Ailey, Step’s, and Broadway Dance Center. Kim performed with The American Ballet Theatre in Romeo & Juliet at Lincoln Center and was a principal dancer with The Empire State Opera, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Janlynn Dance Company. She was a guest artist with The Medford Civic Ballet as well as with Marge Maddux’s company Dancing Through Dreamtime. She has performed and choreographed many musicals, among them are: Silk Stocking’s, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Buddy the musical, Miss Liberty and The Taffetas. Kim is well versed in several historical dance styles – English country, Morris, Sword dance, Italian court renaissance, Baroque, Scottish country and early 19^th century waltz. Kim’s teaching methods always include humor and a sense of adventure! She believes in a strong foundation in dance and then using each student’s special and unique qualities to create a complete dancer.

Andrea Andresakis 

Ms. Andresakis, a native New Yorker, began her career performing at Lincoln Center with the New York City Ballet as a student of the School of American Ballet. She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts and appeared in both the film and television series Fame. Other performing credits include: the Majestic Theatre on Broadway; the Metropolitan Opera; the New York City Opera; Alvin Ailey III; Radio City Music Hall; the Goodspeed Opera House as well as international and national tours. Some of the distinguished artists that she has worked with are, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Franco Zefferelli, Mercedes Ellington and Onna White. Ms. Andresakis assisted Jacques d'Amboise on Dancin'Man, Peter Gennaro at the Broadhurst Theatre and was Mr. d'Amboise's dance assistant on his production of Romeo and Juliet which incorporated students from the National Dance Institute along with Broadway stars.

Ms. Andresakis was resident choreographer for the Alaska Dance Theatre, on the adjunct faculty at CUNY, Queens College. taught at The National Dance Institute (Jacques d'Amboise, founder), The Main Street Theatre, NYC, Frenchwoods Festival of Performing Arts, NY, Gateway Playhouse, NY and the Great Neck Arts Center, NY. Her Ballroom Dance experience includes teaching for the Arthur Murray and the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in New York City and studying with Pierre Dulane (about whom there are two films, the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom and Take the Lead, with Antonio Banderas). 

Jacqueline Briar Baligian began her dance training at the age of 13 in Warwick, R.I. at the Carolyn Dutra Dance Studio. After graduating from California State University, L.A with a degree in Theatre Arts & Dance, she moved to NYC where she became a scholarship student at the Broadway Dance Center. While studying at BDC Jacqueline was hired to co-direct the children's dance program.

Since then, Jacqueline has taught around the world including England, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Her students have appeared in commercials, at Disney World , on Broadway, numerous television shows , and as Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. 

Jacqueline is also an accomplished writer, having written for Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit Magazines.

Also a performer, Jacqueline has danced in live industrials for Suave shampoo with Sofia Vergara, the star of the hit sitcom “Modern Family” and Allabouteyes.com. Jacqueline recently performed on the Rachael Ray show on the Halloween episode.

Jacqueline is also the creator of “Dance Dice”, an innovative game and teaching tool for dance teachers and students, which has taken the dance world by storm.

Currently Jacqueline travels all across the country as a master class teacher, choreographer, and competition judge. Her choreography has won numerous awards and cash prizes. In the October issue of Dance Spirit magazine , Jacqueline was voted one of the most popular judges/instructors of 2006. 

Most notably Jacqueline has recently completed work assisting Sheila Barker on "Invitations to a Dancer",  a show starring Savion Glover to be performed at the Joyce Theater in NYC. Recently, Jacqueline was very excited to add “producer” to her list of accomplishments and is one of the producers of the Broadway revival of “Godspell”.