Artists &
Collaborators
Season 9
ARTISTS
ISAAC BATES-VINUEZA
DANCER
Isaac Bates-Vinueza is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher who lives and works in San Francisco. As a performer, Isaac has danced with the Sacramento Ballet, SFDanceworks, Post:ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, and LED Boise. He’s worked with artists like Bryan Arias, Rena Butler, Lauren Edson, Jodie Gates, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Laura O’Malley, Mosceleyne ParkeHarrison, Penny Saunders, and Amy Seiwert. Isaac made his professional choreographic debut with Sacramento Ballet in 2022, and that same year, he was awarded the Ann and Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow. He is an alumnus of Pacific Northwest Ballet School and holds a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley.
SARAH CHOU
DANCER
Sarah Chou is originally from San Diego, California and received her early training at Southern California Ballet and Danceology. She is a graduate of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, under the direction of Karah Abiog. Throughout her career, she has performed works by Rena Butler, Edward Clug, Laura O'Malley, Yue Yin, Helen Pickett, Gregory Dawson, David Harvey, and Chuck Wilt, among others. This is her fourth season with SFDanceworks.
Sarah graduated Cum Laude from Wellesley College in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in Economics. As a student, she danced, choreographed, and produced extensively for dance groups in the Boston area. Her most recent work, “there’s a chance we may change,” commissioned by Harvard Ballet Company, premiered in November 2023. In addition to her performance career, Sarah bridges her passion for creativity, change, and equity as part of the Finance team at Intersection for the Arts.
EMILY HANSEL
DANCER
Emily Hansel (they/she) is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate. Emily has danced with the San Francisco Opera, SFDanceworks, Post:ballet, Flyaway Productions, Christy Funsch, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Robert Moses’ KIN, Garrett-Moulton Productions, Alexandra Pirici’s Re-collection at SFMOMA, Cunningham repertory in Signals from the West, and many other companies. Emily has received numerous honors for their performance and choreographic work, which is centered around dismantling systems of oppression in the dance field. Through their choreography, writing, speaking engagements, and Community Study Hall discussion series, Emily advocates for healthy and equitable working conditions for dancers. They also offer contemporary classes for professional and pre-professional dancers and regularly teach ballet and contemporary classes for kids ages 4-14. Emily is originally from Rochester, MN and holds a BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida.
NAT WILSON
DANCER AND STAGER, A MEASURABLE EXISTENCE
Nat Wilson is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Brooklyn, New York, whose work focuses on cross-cultural communication and a passion for expansive physicality. In 2016, they joined Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, giving them the opportunity to perform and teach around the world, including China, Peru, South Korea, and India. Since 2020, they have lived and worked in New York as a freelance dance artist, continuing to share their love of dance in New York and on tour. Nat works closely with Yue Yin as a dancer in YY Dance Company, certified FoCo Technique™ instructor, and repetiteur for Yue Yin’s choreography. Nat is also a valued member of kNoname Artist | Roderick George and Boca Tuya, among other freelance work. In 2026, they founded Jackalope Dance as a home for their choreographic vision and platform to connect to new audiences. Nat is always happy to connect on Instagram via the handle @natattax
LANI YAMANAKA
DANCER
Lani Yamanaka is a fourth-generation Japanese American artist with a history in both concert and commercial dance industries. She began training in Judo and Dance and graduated from UC Irvine with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography. She’s equally at home on stage, in rehearsal, or helping someone break their fall—with proper ukemi, of course.
As a storyteller and collaborator, she has performed works by the late Donald McKayle, JA Collective, Jennifer White, Bryan Arias, Edward Clug, Yin Yue, Daniel Ezralow, Alba Castillo, Kate Weare, Kat Burns, Yayoi Kambara, and Shanda Sawyer, et al. As a company member, she’s danced with Akram Khan Company in Jungle Book Reimagined, Father: Vision of the Floating World and Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise, EightMoves, ODC Dance, and Entity Contemporary Dance. You can also find Lani dancing on screen in Move, The Sympathizer, Interior Chinatown, and on tour with Basement Jaxx.
Beyond performing, Lani is passionate about educating future movement artists. As a certified personal trainer (NASM) she has collaborated with DancePrehab, emphasizing injury prevention and wellness, carrying these principles into all her teaching—whether in dance, personal training, or martial arts. Lani strives to instill safe, sustainable movement practices that support long-term health and performance. In her free time, she is working toward her next black belt degree in Judo.
dancer images: peter wei
DESIGNERS & COLLABORATORS
JIM FRENCH
LIGHTING ADVISOR
Jim French (he/him) designs lighting for the performing arts and live events, with work seen in twenty five countries around the globe. Highlights of Jim's work in dance include over twenty five world premieres for San Francisco Ballet, nine seasons as resident designer for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and long running collaborations with the choreographers Val Caniparoli, Pascal Rioult, and Amy Seiwert, with vertical dance company Bandaloop, and with Ballet West. At home in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has collaborated with Alonzo King Lines Ballet, RAW Dance, Shotgun Players, Kronos Quartet, Joe Goode Performance Group, ODC Dance, Post:Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Imagery, Marin Theater Company, West Edge Opera, and has been house LD at SF Jazz. Favorite credits from further afield include Finnish National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dance Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Ballett Basel, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Carte Blanche, Royal Ballet of Flanders, and LA Dance Project. Jim designed lighting for the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, and volunteers for Dancers Responding to AIDS and Bike East Bay.
CASSIE BARNES
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Cassie Barnes has been involved in technical theatre for the last 15 years, and it was under the instruction of Joan Arhelger at San Francisco State University that her passion for lighting design was born. After graduating from SFSU, where she studied Theatre Arts and Women and Gender Studies, she began her freelance career. Cassie is the resident lighting designer for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Opera and Musical Theatre Program, Diablo Ballet, Bayer Ballet Academy, Golden Thread Productions, and Applegate Dance Company. She’s also had the fortune to work under Justin Partier as an Assistant Designer and a Lighting Intern at San Francisco Opera.
Photo Credit: Keith Allen Phillips
JARRED GARZA
COSTUME DESIGNER AND WARDROBE MANAGER
Jarred Garza is a costume designer, patternmaker, and tailor based in San Francisco, where he works full time on the costume staff of San Francisco Ballet. His work spans ballet, opera, circus, film, and drag — including San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Teatro ZinZanni, and Zhukov Dance Theatre, with additional work for Disney and the Frameline Film Festival. A 2003 graduate of FIDM, he began his career interning for designer Jeremy Scott before assisting independent designer Joseph Walker. He went on to found Ric Rac Clothing and to open Archetype Boutique on Market Street, and was named SF Weekly's Best Local Designer in 2013.He has taught patternmaking and garment construction at California College of the Arts and The Sewing Workshop, and produced CCA's annual runway production for three years. He works from Archetype Studios in Alamo Square, building for dancers, acrobats, performers, and independent labels.
ASAMI MORITA
LIGHTING DESIGN, A MEASURABLE EXISTENCE
Asami Morita is a lighting designer, primarily for dance. She has worked with choreographers such as Peter Chu, Hilary Easton, Gina Gibney, Mthuthuzeli November, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Makiko Tamura, Makini, Sonya Tayeh, Caleb Teicher, Gwen Welliver, Nami Yamamoto, Yue Yin among many others. Her designs have been seen nationally and internationally at venues including the Joyce Theater, New York City Center, ICA Boston, Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur (Canada), Meridian Hall (Toronto, Canada), Montréal Arts Interculturels (Canada), Suzzane Dellal Hall (Tel Aviv, Israel), Theater Ann Het Spui (The Hague, The Netherlands). Other recent work includes the Off Broadway Play: My Man Kono (Pan Asian Repertory Theater).