AVA TOWNE BISHOP

I began my dancing career at the age of 2 at La Mesa Recreation Center. Truthfully I was too young and hated it, so I quit. At 3 years I decided that I was finally ready and took tap and ballet at the El Cajon Recreation Center. While I continued my studies in tap, and ballet I trained in Mexican Folklorico and Aztec dancing where I performed professionally through-out California with the Lanuza Brothers Ballet Folklorico. Continuing my desire to learn all kinds of dancing I returned to La Mesa Recreation Center where I trained in Hawaiian and Tahitian. From this experience I became a Luani Hula Dancer working mainly in the San Diego area. At the age of 15 I was asked to take over teaching the Hawaiian and tap classes at the La Mesa Recreation Center.

While teaching at La Mesa I took classes at the San Diego Recreation Center (Balboa Park Club) where I became a member of the first San Diego Performing Company, which lead to being a Sue Hamilton Dancer. Also at this time I danced in Starlight opera's production of Once Upon a Mattress.

After High School I continued my dance studies at Grossmont College and returned to the City of San Diego's dance program, this time as an instructor of tap, jazz and Hawaiian at the age of 18 where I have been teaching for the last 34 years.

Outside of dancing I am a wife of 31 years, mother of two. I have been very active in PTA and a founding member of our classic car club, Tri-Five Revolution.

RACHEL MITCHELL

When Rachel was 5 years old, she proclaimed to her parents that she wanted to tap dance. So she danced with the Civic Dance Arts Program and appeared in several Recital Productions such as Mary Poppins and Pinocchio. In 1988, Rachel became a member of San Diego Civic Dance Company, and during the seven years as a Company member, she performed with the San Diego Symphony as a "Rockette" and had the opportunity to perform her first student choreography. Also, while still in Company, she taught tap, jazz and hip hop with the dance program.

Rachel went on to study dance and acting at Palomar College and UCSD. She studied under Jean Issacs, Margaret Marshall, Faith Jensen-Ismay, and Buddy Ashbrook. She had the pleasure of choreographing her first major piece under the tutelage of Don and Bonnie Ward. Rachel's choreography has been performed throughout Southern California . Rachel has broadened her scope of work to include stage managing and directing of several productions including Swingin' Cindarelly and The Adventures of Stan Starburst. She directed Dance Through the Decades, Collage 2006.

Rachel thanks all her San Diego Civic Dance teachers (especially Kathy), and her mentors: John Mitchell (her dad), Debbie Hardesty for awakening her weirdness, her guinea pig, her living room co-choreographers, and her Backyard Dance Extravaganzas.

KATIE McMAHON

This is Katie's second year teaching with the San Diego Civic Dance program, however, she has been dancing with the program since she was 4 years old. Katie was a member of the Civic Dance Company for four years and appeared in Dance Collage and several Recital Productions including Swingin' Cinderelly, The King and I, and Tom Sawyer. Many teachers have come out of the Civic Dance Arts program and Katie is no exception with her years of excellent training put to good use. Katie has been teaching tap, jazz and ballet. This year she adds Irish dancing to her teaching roster.

LESLIE HAYSE PADILLA

From interior and graphic design, to dance, theatre and writing, Leslie's lifetime pursuits have been in the arts. While attending New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), in addition to obtaining a degree in interior design, and studying modern jazz dance, Leslie worked as a layout and paste-up artist, and enjoyed the exciting cultural offerings of the Big Apple.

A vacation to sunny San Diego opened this native New Yorker's eyes to new possibilities, and two years later Leslie found herself employed at Anco Home Design Centers, Solana Beach . (Ultimately, this led to her own home-based business, designing and manufacturing roman shades, and providing interior design services.) However, it wasn't long before Leslie needed a dance-fix. Her search turned up an intriguing dance program with the San Diego Park and Recreation Department. A move near Balboa Park allowed Leslie to begin jazz and tap classes at the Casa del Prado studios.

Through Grossmont College , Leslie was able to broaden her dance skills in ballet, modern and jazz, as well as hone her writing skills. She received Showcase Writers' Club awards for poetry and a short story, and continued to perform in many dance venues. Leslie's dance and theatre experiences were a perfect fit at Benchley Weinberger Elementary School, where she became choreographer and production assistant for the annual variety shows.

Fortunately for Leslie, dance became a family affair when her son, Vincent, began pre-tap classes with Miss Dana at Allied Gardens Rec Center. After over two decades with the program, Leslie continues to take classes and is a member of the Adult Dance Ensemble. Vincent is now a senior Company member, and Leslie's husband, Oscar, has danced on stage with his wife and son, but the three have yet to dance together at the same time!

Leslie has been an active member of the San Diego Civic Dance Association Board of Directors for five years, and has enjoyed watching children blossom through participation in the program. Now that she is teaching jazz, tap, and ballet classes for Civic Dance Arts, she has come full circle in her involvement with Civic Dance.

DANA DALY

Dana started taking tap, jazz and ballet at the age of 4 in the Lincoln Acres Elementary School's Auditorium in National City. The cost was 25 cents a lesson. Later, when Dana's parents realized how much she loved to dance, they took her to Totten dance studio in Chula Vista where she studied acrobatics with Kay Walker and took adagio classes with her brother. At 14, she switched to Miller's dance studio in National City where she took dance classes as well as began teaching a tap class. At 15, the owner of Miller's studio broke her foot and Dana was asked to take over all of the classes. She taught after school and on the weekends until her first year of College at which time she got a small business license and began to teach out of her family's home in National City.

In the Fall of 1967, Dana came on board with San Diego Park and Recreation under Maria Fielding. In 1971, she left the program to open her own dance studio "Dana Lynn's School of Dance" in Golden Hills on 3oth and Broadway. However, in 1975 the owner sold the property and Dana moved with her family to Arizona. Four years later, she moved back to San Diego and enrolled her oldest daughter into dance classes with the San Diego Park and Recreation. Following the June recitals, Dana decided to teach again for the program as she believes it is a great program that teaches many children and Adults at a very affordable price. Dana has been teaching for San Diego Park and Recreation's Civic Dance Arts program for 29 years. She also helps backstage as Head Dresser during Collage and June recitals. Dana hopes to continue working for the Civic Dance Arts program for as long as she can.

KATHY LANDRY

A 27-year veteran of the Civic Dance Arts program, Kathy Landry started her career in dance by taking tap classes at the age of 7 with Inge Dickens, former Cultural Arts Manager. Her passion for dance allowed her to overcome any fears she may have had in teaching dance. At 18, she acquired the confidence to discuss her dream with her dance instructor, Janet Groves. The rest is history.

Kathy's dance classes are very large, but she never neglects to educate the children in a fair and encouraging manner. She feels that it is important that the City dance program continue to provide children with quality dance instruction at a reasonable cost. Kathy knows that there are many children with limited positive outlets for their energy, and that dance is a productive way to channel that energy. Civic Dance Arts offers a safe place to develop skills, make friends, and have fun. Kathy remembers how important the dance program was to her when she was a child growing up in a family with limited opportunities for extracurricular activities. She was able to participate in dance because of its affordability and easy access.

Kathy is remarkable in her ability to teach, but her overwhelming enthusiasm is absolutely contagious! She motivates and promotes. Kathy believes very strongly in the success of our productions and always goes the extra mile to fill the theatre for our performances. She is thrilled to have her students participate, and she shares her excitement for dance with them and it shows.

CAMILLIA BRADLEY

Camillia Bradley was born at the kick-off on Superbowl Sunday in 1983. The youngest of 3 children, she started dance just to be like her big sisters but she continued long after her sisters stopped. Camillia has been tap dancing since she was 5 years old, and over the years she has studied with a number of influential teachers including Kirby and Kelly Ward, Donna Flournoy, and Jan Ellis. Presently, Camillia is studying dance at Grossmont College where she plans to continue her dance education. Camillia also educates others in dance at Civic Dance Arts. In 2001 Camillia was honored with the "Star/Pal" Youth Award as outstanding youth volunteer. Her hard work, spirit and commitment were recognized by a 36-member panel of judges. Camillia is not only an inspirition to other volunteers, but also an inspiration to her Civic Dance Arts students.

RICARDO "RITCHIE" VALENZUELA

Ricardo is originally from Texas where he was active in the arts at school and in his community. He was an All State Choir member and performed in various local theater productions including Fiddler on the Roof, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Music Man, and Viva El Paso.After graduating high school, he moved to San Diego where he began taking dance classes from choreographers such as. He has taken Jan Ellis, Alicia Ricon, Debbie Toth and Kristen Archidiacono. In 2001 Ricardo was in several musical productions including Traditions of Christmas, Footloose, and Hello Dolly! After two years there Ricardo wanted to further his education and decided to go to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.While at AMDA, Ricardo had intensive training in jazz, tap, ballet, theater dance, singing, and acting. After graduating in 2005, he decided to move back to San Diego and become a teacher himself because he was very inspired by his instructors at AMDA. He choreographed several numbers for the musical Anything Goes at San Diego City College and was asked continued to choreograph their summer showcase. Ricardo has a great passion for the arts and he is looking forward to continue teaching the dance students of San Diego ’s Park and Recreation program.

TIFFANY GOFF

Tiffany has been dancing since the age of five with San Diego Civic Dance and was a former company member for seven years. She first started taking tap with Miss Sharon at Ocean Beach Rec.Center and has been in several recital productions including Peter Pan and Annie and was a guest performer in many Collage concerts. Tiffany has studied dance with San Diego Civic Youth Ballet and had the wonderful privilege to study under Tessandra Chavez, founder of Unity Dance Ensemble, for three and a half years. While teaching, Tiffany attends Grossmont College, where she continues to pursue her love of dance and is majoring in Child Development with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education.This is Tiffany’s second year teaching with Civic Dance and she currently teaches tap, jazz, and ballet.

ELIZABETH MYRICK

At the age of three, Elizabeth was given a choice to either be a gymnast like her older brother or a dancer like her older sister. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to be just like her sister. So she started taking tap and jazz classes with Kathy Landry at Kearny Mesa Rec. Center. These classes enabled her to perform in several recital productions such as Alice's Adventures and Sleeping Beauty.

In her pursuit to be just like her older sister, she too joined the Company at the age of twelve. While in the Company she was blessed to work with such choreographers as Jon Engstrom, Kelley and Kirby Ward, and Peggy Hickey-Perez just to name a few and to learn original pieces of work from shows like 42nd Street and A Chorus Line. Also she was blessed to debut her first work of choreography and be introduced to other styles of dance such as Hawaiian, Swing, and Modern. During her time with the company and well after, she started taking classes at Palomar College and Culture Shock to add to her growing love of dance, which included ballet, hip-hop, dance kinesiology and choreography.

After a seven year run in the Company she left and joined The Rock Dance Troupe which mainly performed hip-hop and jazz. During her time with the Troupe she was able to use one of her other passions, sign language, to co-choreograph a dance that the deaf could enjoy as well. Also she was blessed again to take her passion for dance and helping others to New York City to encourage the souls of people after the loss of 9/11.

Sadly her stay with the Dance Troupe was short lived due to an injury which forced her to take a break from dance all together. Yet before she knew it she was back in classes again gaining her strength back and had a new passion for dance. Her new passion was no longer to be like her sister but was the desire to pass on the knowledge and passion that she has gained through her lifetime of dance and therefore, her joining the San Diego Civic Dance Program's talented teaching staff.

JILL McNUTT

Jill has been dancing with the San Diego Civic Dance Arts program since the age of seven. Up until she started teaching Jill was a member of the Civic Dance Company for 4 years and was also an original member of T-Troupe under the direction of Kathy Landry. Jill is currently a senior at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SDSCPA) and in addition to her academics, studies ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. In addition to SDSCPA and The City Arts program, she has trained with California Ballet, and the Academy of Performing Arts (APA). She is currently a member of Dreamgirls Dance Company at APA and performs in dance competitions around San Diego.

Vincent Padilla

Vincent Padilla has been dancing his entire life. His studies began at Allied Gardens Recreation Center when he was 4 and he remained a student of the Civic Dance Arts program for 14 years, including 6 years in the Civic Dance Company. He attended SCPA, where he was a member of the Theatre Dance and Ballet Ensembles, studying tap, jazz, Irish, ballet, and modern and performed in several productions in both vocal and dance roles. For the last 6 years, Vincent has been studying ballet in the Russian Vaganova method with the San Diego Academy of Ballet.

Vincent’s theatrical appearances include Starlight Theatre, Moonlight Amphitheatre (most recently in Me and My Girl) and the Lawrence Welk Resort Theatre. His most recent dance appearances include Don Quixote and Le Bayadere at the San Diego Academy of Ballet.

Mr. Padilla is currently a student at University of San Diego, majoring in philosophy and computer science. He enjoys sharing his love of dance with his Civic Dance Arts students, and also in occasional guest appearances with the Company. Vincent is very grateful for all the teachers he’s had over the years and the work they’ve put into helping him, a male dancer, find his passion.

Theresa Landry

Having a mother with a love for dance, there was little surprise when Theresa began tap dancing at age 4 with the Civic Dance Arts. At age 6, she graduated into jazz and by 8, had integrated ballet as well. Theresa danced with the Company for seven years, and began teaching for this program at the age of 16. Most of her dance training was from The San Diego Civic Dance Arts; however, she also danced with California Ballet Company, Civic Youth Ballet, and SDSCPA (San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts) where she graduated High School in 2004. Theresa moved to Las Vegas where she danced in the show Jubilee at Bally's Hotel. After a year of dancing professionally, she realized that there's no place like home, so she moved back to follow her true passion: teaching. She is currently a full time student working on getting her degree in math, and enjoys spending time with her family.

ANDREA FEIER

Andrea's love for dance blossomed at an early age—2 years old! At age 5 she entered ballet class, but like our Recreation Centers located throughout San Diego, it ended up being a small dance studio in Andover, MA that fueled Andrea's lifelong passion for dance. Like she did at other studios over the years, Andrea studied a number of dance disciplines, including tap, ballet and jazz, as well as related activities such as acrobatics and even baton, but it was at Joe Dussault's studio (the one in Andover) that instilled a love of dance that burns just as brightly within her now. The camaraderie of getting together with other dancers and studying all day every Saturday (even in snowstorms), as well as the numerous opportunities to perform in front of a live audience in varied surroundings created an atmosphere that truly brought home to her the joy of dance. It is this atmosphere that Andrea sees within Civic Dance Arts and why she handles her role as Dance Specialist with such passion.

Andrea earned her BFA Degree in dance from the dance program at The Julliard School, New York City's renowned Performance Arts Institution, after attending the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center under full scholarship. Given her impressive educational background, as well as her career as a professional dancer spanning more than twenty years, Andrea brings a diverse dance vocabulary that includes expertise in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, creative movement, and Musign Dance (a discipline which combines sign language with dance movement).

Andrea's professional dance and choreographic credits are extensive and diverse. While in New York City, she served as Artistic Director of American Dance Theatre of the Deaf, and as a performer helped found several performance arts companies, including Neta Pulvermacher and Dancers, Doug Elkins and Dancers, and Hit and Run Theatre among others. She also danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company; danced at the renowned Rainbow Room; and danced throughout the region with several other NYC-based Dance Companies. Locally, she has performed at La Jolla Playhouse, the San Diego Ballet, the San Diego Repertory Theatre, and under the direction of Don and Bonnie Ward at Starlight Theatre (where she met her husband). Her diverse talents also include that of artist, where she founded her own successful line of greeting cards called Feierworks.

Presently, Andrea's capacity of Dance Specialist for San Diego Civic Dance Arts programs, require her to handle a myriad of functions—all of which require planning, coordination, implementation, maintenance, and a constant use of her directorial and teaching skills. It is Andrea's passion for dance that was fostered in her as a young dancer that she hopes to impart on our program's dancers—and it is with her experience, dedication, and love of the arts that the dance program is thriving under her supervision.