Jana loves working with beginning level students and preschool dancers. She is most motivated to help students discover dance and movement. Jana has been teaching through out the Bay Area since 1998. Some of her previous performance and Choreography highlights include Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Group, Anything Goes, It’s a Wrap with Guggenheim Entertainment, Speaking of Dance and He Said She Said with Visual Rhythm Dance Company, Rocky Horror Show with City Lights Theatre Company, Wholeness with Bliss Dance Company, and Paramount Great America’s Celebration Parade.

In 2007 Jana founded Small Fry Dance Club. Jana has since focused on growing SFDC. Jana hopes to bring the same drive and passion to Principal Creative & Performing Arts. Her goal is to mold and develop amazing dancers through both programs.

Before he joined Jana with Small Fry Dance Club on a full time basis, Carlos worked as a web/graphic designer, a video game artist, and was a faculty member at Cañada College in Redwood City where he taught a variety of courses.

Carlos is in charge of our website, branding, and marketing efforts. He is also in charge of our sales and expanding our reach to new schools in the Bay Area and beyond. If you have any questions about marketing, partnerships, or bringing our dance classes to your school, please contact Carlos via email.

chapetonc@smallfrydanceclub.com

In 2007, she went off to San Jose State University to further her education in Dance and Psychology. In her time there she studied with Gary Masters, Fred Mathews, Janie Scott, Heather Cooper, and Maria Basile. Furthermore, she studied all levels of Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Choreography. During College she paid her way by teaching dance classes for recreational centers and studios. In 2010, she graduated with two degrees and a passion for working with young children. She currently teaches dance classes for Pre-K level in various styles. Stephanie is also enrolled in child development classes and applying for Credentials/ Masters Program to teach young children.

Stephanie joined Small Fry Dance Club in 2011 and has worked her way up to being our Assistant Director. She will be splitting her time between both Small Fry and Principal Arts.

Sierra Don is a choreographer, dancer, and educator established in San Francisco and emerging in Los Angeles. Sierra’s choreography infuses Acrobatics, Contemporary, and Modern while her teaching practices focus on athletic conditioning, collaborative creation, somatic healing, and artist agency. Her training began as a gymnast shifting into musical theatre then developing in dance with a Modern floorwork focus. Recipient of the Teaching Assistant Award, she earned her MFA in Choreography and Teaching Pedagogy at Mills College in Oakland, CA, previously earning her Bachelor’s in Theatre Arts – Dance with a minor in Child Development at California State University, Fresno.

While a company member of CSUF’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble, Sierra performed under Michael Nickerson-Rossi, Seda Aybay, Rogelio Lopez, among others. Sierra’s choreography was chosen to represent Mills College and as an adjudicator with CSU, Fresno at the American College Dance Festival. While at Mills, Sierra performed works by internationally renowned choreographer Jose Limon and many more. After earning her degree she went on to obtain a professional training certificate as an apprentice in the Limon Dance Co. ProLaunch program. Sierra has trained with Robert Moses’ Kin, James Wilton, Trisha Brown Co., CONTRA TIEMPO, and more. Sierra gained 3+ years of training in Afro Latin technique, Orisha Dances/Maracatu, Salsa, Samba, CoCo, and Forro during her time with Movement Exchange in Rio De Janeiro and the Futuro program with CONTRA TIEMPO. After graduating she became a professor of Jazz and Contemporary dance at the Hussian College of Commercial Arts, Site Director at American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), and Assistant Program Manager for Kidstock Inc. She teaches at her home studio, Principal Creative and Performing Arts and offers private lessons.

Christa’s love for dance started at the age of three when her Mom enrolled her in tap class and she never looked back. She kept dancing adding ballet, and jazz to her dance forms as well as performing in the Davis Jazz Choir and her local musical theater company (DMTC). She studied tap at the Davis Art Center under Jere and Julie Curry, Bill Strickland and Lee Harry for 8 years. While attending Palomar College she studied tap under Valerie Clark for 2 years. In 2009, She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in child development from Sonoma State. Christa has a great combination of dance training, teaching experience, and early childhood education exposure! Her teaching experience includes Echale (Stanford University), Davis Art Center, and Gretchen Higgins Elementary School. Her favorite dance styles are tap and musical theater. Christa is passionate about teaching young dancers. Combining her love for music, dance, teaching and children is a dream come true. Christa is also a dance mom. All three of her kids have danced in our Small Fry and Principal Arts programs over the years. Her oldest is now a member of our Senior Teams and her youngest just edged out of Small Fry into our PCPA Program.

Apart from being a teacher in our Small Fry program, she also heads up our Musical Theatre Department. She can’t wait to meet you and your dancer!

Joshua began as a hip hop dancer when he was 10, competing in dance conventions for 3 years, during which he rounded off his dance training with jazz, ballet, contemporary, and tap. Discovering his passion for ballet, he attended Bay Pointe Ballet under the tutorship of Bruce Steivel, where, in addition to ballet, was versed in character dance and partnering. When he started his first year studying Dance and Environmental Science at San Francisco State University, Joshua also started his professional dance career at the age of 17, dancing with Foley Dance, performing neoclassical-Georgian ballets around the Bay Area. Joshua also danced with the New Ballet Studio Company in Cinderella, The San Jose Nutcracker, and Fast Forward (a contemporary ballet showcase).  Additionally, Joshua has also taught dance of many different styles to many different ages; his teaching ranges from Tap to Ballet, and from toddlers to grandparents. He can’t wait to share his experiences with his students!

Leo Morimune began his extensive training receiving a full scholarship to San Francisco Ballet for 8 years. Graduated School of the Arts San Francisco, where he trained in Modern, Afro Haitian and Choreography. His professional dance career started at age 10 and transitioned to becoming a industry dancer after moving to LA.

He has danced for San Francisco Ballet/Opera, artists such as Paula Abdul, 50 cent, Carlos Santana, Nick Jonas, Bjork to name a few. TV shows like American idol, brands like Gucci & Nike. Balanced his career by pursuing stage performing by also performing on Off broadway shows and most recently Lincoln Center NYC.

Some of Leo’s teaching credits include being a faculty at LA’s dance studios such as EDGE Performing Arts Center and Debbie Reynolds. While polishing pre professional dancers for the audition phase, he completed over 10 years of tour on numerous convention circuits (LADM, WCDE, HW Vibe, Dance jamz)

guest taught at universities such as LMU, Princeton, and Long Beach University. In the past decade been invited to teach/direct internationally in Japan, Costa Rica, Canada, and Mexico.

Currently based in the bay, Leo guest instructs for domestic and international dance events through out the year. When he’s not traveling he is looking forward to sharing back his knowledge of dance/industry to the next generation of aspiring artists in his hometown.