Company Dancers
Current Dancers
Monika Chock
Monika is trained in ballet, contemporary, and moderndance, and has performed with the ArtistEDGE Dance Company, University of Chicago’s University Ballet, Cassand Ballet, Dance Visions, the Academy of American Ballet, and Zohar School of Dance and Company. She has also trained at The Washington Ballet, Pacific Ballet, and Western Ballet. Additionally, Monika has an extensive background in competitive gymnastics, is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and trained with the Stanford Wushu Kung Fu team. She joined CMD in 2022.
Yuna Choi
Yuna grew up studying ballet in the Bay Area and explored other dance styles through high school. While majoring in dance at the University of Santa Barbara, she dove into modern technique ranging from Shen Wei to Horton. After graduating, she continued to find avenues for dance through teaching and taking classes. She currently is a third grade teacher passionate about incorporating movement in the classroom. Joined CMD in 2022.
Emma Delp
Emma Delp grew up dancing in Oakland, Ca under Ronn Guidi,Joral Schmalle, and Denise Schmalle. While at the school, she performed in pieces including The Nutcracker, Copellia, Hansel and Gretel, Le Sylphide, and Giselle. Emma continued with her dancing and joined the Ronn Guidi Foundation for Dance where she got the opportunity to learn pieces from the Ballet Russes. With the Foundation, she performed in roles including Les Biches, La Boutique Fantastique, and Bolero. While in college, she explored more contemporary ballet styles with her dance club, Davis Ballet Company. Emma is a graduate of UC Davis and recently moved to the South Bay to work in the biotech industry. Joined CMD in 2022.
Adriana Jara
Adriana has been doing contemporary dancing for 15 years and at the same time has been practicing ballet pretty regularly. She dances because dance brings her joy like nothing else in the world, because of she is a firm believer that every body dances. She enjoys trying out other styles of dancing and physical activity, like: running, biking, salsa dancing, yoga etc. She joined CMD in 2022.
Hayley Marilao
Hayley Elizabeth Marilao is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher based in the Silicon Valley of California. Through her concert dance training, she has been able to attend dance intensives with major modern and contemporary dance companies such as Paul Taylor Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Alonzo Lines King Ballet, LA Contemporary Dance Company, American Dance Festival, and Entity Dance Company. In addition, she has performed at events such as American College Dance Festival Baja Region, Dance Xchange Temecula, and SJSU University Dance Theatre Concerts. As a choreographer, she has presented works in performances including Young Choreographers Forum SF, SpectorDance Choreography Showcase, Works in the Works, Loose Cannons Choreography Show, and OCC Invitational Concert. Currently, she is finishing her undergraduate degree at San Jose State University. Marilao is expected to graduate with a BFA in Dance in Spring 2023. Joined CMD in 2022.
I-Heng McComb
I-Heng’s formal dance training started the day she wandered out of her daughters’ dance class and found herself literally pulled into jazz class next door with Ehud Krauss at Zohar School of Dance. Despite the late start, she soon became addicted to dance and twenty years later continues to study jazz at Zohar with Daynee Lai-Krauss and Vivian Sam. Somewhere along the way, her body also discovered modern/contemporary movement. I-Heng is currently a student of Lydia Feuerhelm-Chiu and performs and choreographs with the primarily modern dance collective High Release Dance. Her other performance history includes multiple seasons with Zohar Dance Company, ArtistEdge, and Laura Zweig’s collaborations with Emma’s Revolution. I-Heng was an early CMD collaborator starting 2008 and formally joined in 2022.
Sophie Otewalt
Sophie Otewalt is a dancer born and raised in San Jose, California. She received her BFA in Dance from San Jose State University in 2021. She extensively studied ballet, jazz, Limoń technique, Gaga, and contemporary. During her time at SJSU, she was a member of the modern company University Dance Theater for two and a half years, directed by Raphael Boumaila and Heather Cooper. She recently performed a self – choreographed solo, Spandrel,as an emerging choreographer for Mark Foehringer Dance Project।San Francisco. As she enters the dance world beyond the University setting, she continues her training and builds a life with dance at the center. Joined CMD in 2022.
Avery Rissling
A dance artist rooted in social justice work, she holds a dual B.A in Dance and Political Science with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Santa Clara University (SCU). Here she discovered her love for collaborative dance making and devised theatre, and co-created several works exploring movement as a catalyst for cultural and social change. She graduated summa cum laude, was inducted into the National Honors Society for Dance Arts, and received the Anna Halprin Dance Award for the graduating senior dancer who best exemplifies excellence in dance and an awareness of community values. In addition to performing and collaborating with other artists, Avery has enjoyed teaching ballet, modern/contemporary, jazz, and improv classes at local dance studios in the Bay Area. Joined CMD in 2022.
Clara Yang
Clara fell into the wonders and joys of dance through her seven years competing in colorguard and winterguard. She loves the whole rehearsal process and how movement, colors, breath, song, and acting all come together for a moment’s connection with a stranger. At Syracuse University, she dove deeper into the world of dance through a potpourri of dance classes and through dancing and choreographing with Orange Pulse Dance Troupe. After graduation, she returned to the Bay Area where she got the privilege to pioneer and teach a dance and flag ministry at Forerunner Christian Church and dance with ArtistEdge Dance Company and Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble. Joined CMD in 2018.
Former Dancers
Karin Dun
CMD in 2011- 2019.
Rika Fabian
CMD in 2012- 2019.
Heba Fayed De Bellis
At age 8, Heba joined the Academy of Arts Ballet Institute in Cairo, Egypt. She graduated when she was 17 with a final mark of “Excellent.
Upon graduation from the Academy, she danced with the Corps de Ballet in the Cairo Opera Ballet Company.
Heba changed the direction of her dance career when she became a principal dancer with the Cairo Opera Modern Dance Company, a contemporary dance company that performed in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Heba began to choreograph when she was 21 and with the Cairo Opera
Dance Company. She has participated in many choreography workshops abroad by well-known dancers and choreographers, including Maurice Bejart, Kwami Ross, Wim Wan Dekapus, Bud Blumenthal and Tony Rizzi.
Heba began teaching children and adults in 2004 and has taught in Egypt, Italy and California. Heba immigrated to the United States in 2008. She teaches ballet, modern dance, jazz, contemporary and belly dance. She is a member of Natasha Carlitz dance ensemble, a modern dance company (carlitzdance.org). In 2012, Heba started to perform as part of Cat Machines Dance.
Megan Hoarfrost-Beers
CMD in 2018- 2019.
Koren Nishina
CMD in 2011-2019.
Find Us!
Leave a Reply