Printz Dance Project

		Stacey Printz / artistic director + choreographer / Stacey Printz/Printz Dance Project (artistic director, choreographer): artistic director of the Printz Dance Project (PDP) and Bay Area based choreographer, dancer and educator, received her sociology and dance degrees from UC Irvine. In addition to teaching at San Francisco Dance Center she has been on staff at St. Mary’s College, Sonoma State University and RoCo and has taught master classes and workshops for Universities and studios across the United States (including classes in New York, Memphis, Los Angeles, Utah, Colorado and more). Internationally she has taught in Amsterdam, Belgium, Russia, Lithuania and Ireland. Founded in 1998, her company has performed extensively in California with home seasons at the Cowell Theater, and has toured all over the U.S. being presented in such places as New York, Los Angeles, Memphis, Arizona, Colorado, and internationally in Lithuania and Russia. Printz has been commissioned to choreograph in California for many companies and has received numerous awards and grants from organizations such as the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the W&F Hewlett Foundation, Fort Mason Foundation, and is the recent recipient of the New Work Fellowship from the Marin Arts Arts Council. Highly interested collaborative experiences, Printz had the pleasure of co-choreographing the show, “Scourge” for national poetry slam winner, Marc (Bamuthi) Joseph, and collaborated once again with Bamuthi for his new work the Break/s which performed at The Humana Festival in Kentucky, Minneapolis at The Walker Center and in SF at YBCA in 2008. In that same collaborative spirit, she also created new work with live music and spoken word for Intersection for The Arts 40th Anniversary.

		Dudley Flores / dancer / Dudley Flores is a native of San Francisco and started dancing in high school musical theater. Since then he's expanded his movement vocabulary and has had the opportunity to work (and play) with Charles Moulton, Paco Gomes & Dancers, David Schrag and Micaya. He’s worked with the Printz Dance Project since 2003, and currently also works with RAWdance and Janice Garrett & Dancers. Offstage, he is the Artistic Director of the Rhythm & Motion Dance Workout Program at ODC Dance Commons, and is on the steering committee for Bay Area National Dance Week. While not working, he explores the world through photography, nature studies, blogging, people watching and reality television.

		Sharon Gallagher / dancer / Sharon Gallagher fell in love with dance shortly after learning how to walk. She fell in love with performing around the age of 10 with her first gymnastics meet. Her love of dance and performing came together in 1988 when she performed as a back up dancer for hip hop groups, while at the same time beginning her formal dance training in Modern, Jazz and Ballet at USF. After graduating in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Politics, she went on to study many styles of dance, focusing on West African, Brazilian, Haitian, Modern Jazz and Aerial Dance. She has been blessed to perform as a touring model/dancer with Wella Corp. and as a dancer with Nuba Dance Theater, Sacrosanct Dance, Passionflower Project, Cecilia Marie Bowman, and Curtis Speck. Sharon has been teaching Pilates and doing rehabilitative bodywork since 1999 and has been a PDP company member since 2002.

		Alissa Pearce / dancer / Alissa has been dancing in the SF Bay Area for 27 years. Her early dance education was from Bea Blum’s Dancers’ Studio where she received extensive training in tap, jazz, ballet, gymnastics, and several world dance styles. At 15, she began training/performing at the College of Marin. There her dance studies expanded into modern technique, improvisation, contact and partnering work. After graduating, she began studying hip-hop and continued her modern training with Annie Rosenthal. Alissa has been dancing with Printz Dance Project since 1998, and is the proud mother of two wonderful girls.

		Jenni Updenkelder / dancer / Jenni Updenkelder began dancing at age 7 in Newport, Oregon. She graduated magna cum laude from Willamette University in 1999 and moved to San Francisco to pursue dance. She trains at the San Francisco Dance Center, where she is also on staff teaching Jazz. She has performed in the Bay Area with Passion Flower Project, Sacrosanct Dance, Broken Buddha Productions, Khaotik and the rock band Thunderkitty, and she has choreographed for the CalShakes Student Company, Impact Theater and local showcases. Jenni joined PDP in 2002.

		Jorge Vazquez / dancer / Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Connecticut Jorge began his dance career at the age of 14 with the Hartford Stage Youth Theatre, performing in musicals. At 18 he moved to NYC to study at the Alvin Ailey Dance Ctr. and from there moved on to dance with Ohad Naharin, Rick Atwell, Michael Peters, Fred Benjamin and other choreographers in company, musical, film and television work. He started to teach at the age of 23 with trips to Japan and to Europe. Teaching credits also include, Steps 74th and Alvin Ailey Dance Center. At 28 Jorge moved to Amsterdam to assist Mr. Benjamin and has been there for the past 14 years dancing and teaching workshops throughout Northern Europe. At age forty two, Jorge is very happy to have the opportunity to work with a Company again and is very proud to be a part of the Printz Dance Project.

		Christie West / dancer / Christie began ballet at age five with the Stapelton dance school of Ballet. At age seven she continued her dance training with Dance Theater Seven where she studied ballet and jazz. After years of performing with DT7 she moved on to the College of Marin. At COM she studied, choreographed and performed for four years. She has been dancing with PDP since 1999. “Currently on maternity leave.”

		Laura Sharp / dancer / Laura caught the dance bug at the age of 8. A few years later, she became an apprentice with the Premiere Dance Theater Company and performed throughout the Teri-State area. In college, Laura studied with and/or performed the works of Dan Wagoner, Jeremy Nelson, David Doorman and Sean Curran. She graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Zoology and works as a laboratory technician at a veterinary hospital. Since moving to San Francisco in 2002, she has danced with Bliss Kohlmyer, Robert Moses, Heidi Schweiker and Strong Current Dance Company. She currently works with Mary Carbonara Dances and RAWdance and is very excited to be dancing with the Printz Dance Project.

		Josie Garthwaite / dancer /Born in Oakland and raised in West Marin, Josie trained in classical ballet and Graham technique at Marin Ballet in San Rafael. She holds a bachelor's in dance and journalism from New York University and a master's in communication from Stanford University. Josie enjoyed performing works by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, William Forsythe, and Deborah Jowitt while training with Andrea E. Woods, Gus Solomons Jr., Johannes Wieland, and others at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She then performed throughout New England as a member of BoSoma, Boston, and InFlux dance companies. She returned to California in 2007 and happily joined the Printz Dance Project in January 2008 and VaBang in 2009. When not dancing, she writes about clean technology.