Tai Vogel – Director
Tai Vogel began her ballet training at Berkeley City Ballet at the age of 5. While she received most of her ballet training through BCB’s Pre-Professional Program with Elizabeth Godfrey and Alexis Drabek, Tai also attended summer intensive programs at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet where she studied with teachers such as Michael Owen, Kathy Kozul, Melinda Howe, and Lazlo Berdo. She performed lead roles in BCB’s annual ‘Nutcracker,’ including Clara, Rose, and Sugar Plum Fairy. Tai continued her dance training at Butler University, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts Administration with a minor in Dance. At Butler, she was able to not only perform in Butler Ballet productions, but also coordinated the annual Nutcracker boutique and worked as the House Manager at the Schrott Center for the Arts. Tai worked at San Francisco Ballet School for several years, most recently as the School Registrar and Summer Session Coordinator. Tai has been teaching dancers of all levels at BCB for over 10 years. She was appointed as Assistant Director in 2022 and Director in 2024.
Elizabeth Godfrey – Artistic Director
Elizabeth Godfrey began studying ballet when she was 6 years old at the Centre de Danse Classique in Mons, Belgium with Daniel Lambo, soloist with Bejart Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels. At 16, she entered the Koninklijke Balletschool Antwerpen (Royal Ballet School) in Belgium, where she trained professionally as well as competed internationally. Ms. Godfrey was selected by her school to attend the 1980 Prix de Lausanne, where she was a semi-finalist, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Other participants that year included Alessandra Ferri and Patrick Armand (former Director, San Francisco Ballet School). Her professional career encompassed dancing with both classical and contemporary companies that included the Koninklijke Ballet van Vlaanderen (Royal Ballet of Flanders) (Antwerp, Belgium), the Dayton Ballet Company (Dayton, OH), the Claudia Murphey Dance Company (Fairfax, VA), and the Daniel West Dancers (Washington, DC). Ms. Godfrey has taught dance for over 38 years. She was on faculty at The Washington School of the Ballet, directed by Mary Day, (Washington, DC) for six years. She also served as the Director of Dance at the Holton-Arms Center of the Arts (Bethesda, MD) for seven years. Ms. Godfrey has taught at BCB since 1998 after relocating to the Bay Area. She began her term as Artistic Director of Berkeley City Ballet in 2000. She also studied at Columbia University and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland.
Frances Lai Baca
Frances Lai Baca has a MFA in Dance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she graduated with honors. In addition to her dance career Frances has been a fitness instructor teaching Pilates, GYROKINESIS®️, GYROTONIC®️Expansion System, CARDIOLATES®️, and more. She has completed the ABT National Training Curriculum Preprimary-Level 3, the Horton Pedagogy Workshop (Beginning-Advanced Levels) and the Limón Advanced Teacher Training. Her choreography has been performed in New York City, Brooklyn, Queens and in various San Francisco Bay Area locations. She’s been fortunate to present her work twice at the world renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in Scotland. Frances is excited to be a part of the Berkeley City Ballet faculty, where she can impart her acquired knowledge.
Sonja Dale
Sonja Dale is a Berkeley-based ballet and contemporary dancer and dance teacher. She has performed across the globe with aerial, contemporary and ballet companies, and has now happily settled back in the bay area. She is currently dancing for The Mark Foehringer Dance Project and Sharp and Fine, and has previously performed with Liss Fain Dance, Garrett/Moulton Productions, and ODC. She teaches a fast-paced and joyful ballet class, emphasizing alignment, efficiency, and artistry. She has taught at many locations, from PS 89Q in Queens, NY, to Berkeley Ballet Theater in the Bay Area. She is excited to begin teaching at Berkeley City Ballet this school year.
Ricardo Dyer
Ricardo Dyer is a native of Panama based out of New York City. In 2011, he graduated from the dance department at The Governors School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. He earned a degree in Dance Performance from Butler University where he performed extensively with Butler Ballet. After graduation, Dyer danced with Elements Contemporary Ballet, Charlottesville Ballet, and Ballet Memphis. Some of his favorite works performed include Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie and Square Dance, as well as Trey McIntyre’s Memphis. Dyer has been a dancer with Smuin Contemporary Ballet since 2019.
Lia Eisenberg
Lia Eisenberg’s love of dancing began at just 1 year old, when she enthusiastically joined her mother at folk dancing. At the age of 4, she started studying Chinese dance and performing with the Ah-Lan dance studio, which she did for the next eight years. At age 5, she began her studies at Berkeley City Ballet and continued there through her high school graduation. Lia played Clara in BCB’s annual Nutcracker and in subsequent years performed the solo roles of Harlequin Doll, Spanish Chocolate, and Russian Licorice. She was a guest performer this past winter, dancing the solo role of Chinese Tea. Lia has taught for levels from Pre-Ballet to Ballet 6 in the Pre-Professional Program at BCB and during BCB’s Summer Workshop. When not working at BCB, she is a college student studying to be a speech pathologist.
Lucia Lorenzo
Lucia Lorenzo (she/her) trained at Rochester City Ballet’s affiliate school and as a Trainee with Rochester City Ballet under Jamey Leverett. She has spent the past two seasons as a soloist with De La Dance Company in Cincinnati performing most notably as Swanilda in Coppelia and the Sylph in La Sylphide, in addition to soloist and principal roles in La Bayadere, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Raymonda, and Le Corsaire. At 16, she moved to study at San Francisco Ballet School under Patrick Armand, dancing works by Helgi Tomasson, Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes, as a demi-soloist in Serenade, and in student pieces as both a choreographer and dancer. In 2018 she joined Ballet Austin performing Paquita, Giselle, Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides, and as one of the Four Little Swans in Swan Lake. While in Austin, Lucia also had the opportunity to work with Jennifer Archibald, Jennifer Hart, Jimmy Orrante, Erica Gionfriddo, Alexa Capareda and Performa/Dance Company. Throughout her time dancing, she has been given the chance to explore her love of teaching both children and adult students. Lucia is excited to be back in the Bay Area this season performing with Oakland Ballet Company and sharing her passion ballet as a teacher.
Sarah-Lynn Oiknine
Sarah-Lynn Oiknine is a Berkeley City Ballet alumna who completed her training at UC Irvine with a double major in Dance and Psychology. While completing her undergraduate degree, she had the pleasure to work with Vitor Luiz (San Francisco Ballet), Diane Diefenderfer (New York City Ballet), and Tong Wang (Shanghai Ballet). In addition, she attended American Ballet Theater’s Summer Intensive where she took classes from various ABT alumni as well as from Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater Kevin McKenzie and Artistic Director of Summer Intensives Kate Lydon.
Yasmine Oiknine
Yasmine Okinine has been living in the East bay for 14 years. She was born in Casablanca, Morocco where she started her dance training in Ballet at the National Conservatory, completed by summer school in Cannes at the Rosella Hightower Dance center. At age 17 she moved to Paris and entered the Institute of Choreographic Art ( IPAC ) where she studied classical ballet with prestigious teachers as Andrej Glegolski and Roberto Bestonso, Jazz with Matt Mattox, Modern with Tony Pierce and Flamenco with Lina Sottomayor . She obtained her certification from the French dance federation, a teaching diploma from IPAC and the State Diploma of dance teaching issued by the French government. She joined the Rick O’Dums jazz dance company in 1990 and toured internationally. She also performed in numerous variety TV shows, movies and music videos (with such artists as David Soul and Paula Abdul ), and shows with artists like Killie Minogue, Village People and James Brown. She’s been teaching and choreographing for the past 20 years in France, Luxembourg, Boston and in the Bay Area. She is also the mom of four girls three of whom study ballet at Berkeley City Ballet.
Alexis Stanley
Alexis Stanley began her ballet training at the New Jersey School of Ballet, where she rose quickly through the levels of the school’s intensive program to join their Junior Company at age 15. During high school, she danced corps de ballet roles with the New Jersey Ballet company in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake Act II, Paquita, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Giselle. She also participated in summer intensive programs at the Rock School for Dance Education and American Repertory Ballet. While an undergraduate at Duke University, she served as an artistic intern with American Ballet Theatre during their 2012 season at the Metropolitan Opera House, and as an editorial intern for Dance Magazine and Pointe magazine. After graduating from Duke with a double major in French and International Studies and a minor in dance, she moved to Paris, France to pursue graduate studies while performing as a freelance dancer. Alexis has lived in the Bay Area since 2018, and she continues to dance, choreograph, and teach professionally as she completes her PhD in French at UC Berkeley. Most recently, she has choreographed and performed collaborative new media work for “Portal Refractions,” the 2022 New Art City Festival at Gray Area / Grand Theater in San Francisco.
Megan Suhr
Megan Suhr began dancing at a local community center at the age of 3. At the age of 7, she started seriously training in the Vaganova style at Southland Ballet Academy in Southern California. She would dance there for over 13 years and participate in 9 performance seasons with Festival Ballet Theater, the performing company of Southland Ballet Academy. Megan’s repertoire includes solo and corps roles in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Coppélia, Firebird, and Swan Lake. Her competition experience includes participation in the 2018 YAGP and the quarter-final round of the 2022 Music Center Spotlight Classical competition. Megan volunteered as a teacher’s assistant throughout her time as a student at Southland and loves sharing her passion for ballet with others! She is currently studying cognitive science and linguistics at UC Berkeley and helps run the Ballet Company at Berkeley.
Tian Tan
Tian Tan started his professional dance training in China at Guang Dong State Professional Dance School in 2000. In 2005 Tian immigrated to United States where he continued training with Marat Daukayev Ballet Academy, Milwaukee Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. In 2008 Tian joined Los Angeles Ballet under the direction of Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen, where he worked with great Balanchine trust repetiteur Patricia Neary and performed venues such as the UCLA Royce Hall, The Alex Theatre, and Redondo Performing Arts Center. Tian also performed as a principal guest performed with California Riverside Ballet and Astra Dance Production project at the Broadway Theater Los Angeles. In 2011 Tian moved to the Bay Area to join Company C Contemporary Ballet under the direction of Charles Anderson. He worked with choreographers Dannis Nahat and Yuri Zhukov, among others, performing in soloist and principal roles. He had the great opportunity to tour with Company C and perform in New York City at the Skirball Center and the Joyce Theater. After dancing with Company C, Tian performed as a guest artist with several companies including Los Angeles Ballet, Atlantic City Ballet, Roxey Ballet, Pacific Festival Ballet, and South Coast Conservatory. In 2022 Tian returned to the Bay Area where he has been teaching at several dance schools in the area as well as continuing to dance as a principal guest artist. Tian is happy to be a member of the faculty at Berkeley City Ballet this year and is hoping to bring good development in ballet to children at BCB.