Faculty Members
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Pamela Trokanski received her BA in Dance from SUNY Empire State college. In addition to teaching and running the Dance Workshop since August of 1984, she has directed the Pamela Trokanski Dance Theatre (since 1985), The Third Stage (since 1994), and the PTDT Apprentice Company (since 2009).
She worked with the California Arts Project from 1993 - 2003 as a presenter in Dance across the Curriculum and holds a current California Teachers Credential and CLAD Credential, teaching dance at Davis Senior High School from January 1984 - June 2022, where she also directed the Momentum Dance Company. In 2010, she trained with David Leventhal of the Mark Morris Dance Group and now teaches Dance for people with Parkinson's Disease.
When time has allowed, she has also written as a dance critic for the Davis Enterprise.
Cathleen Chan began her dance journey at age 11, learning on her own in front of a mirror in her parents’ garage, copying dancers she saw on TV. In high school, she joined the dance program training in different technical styles such as contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, jazz, and more. Falling in love with Hip Hop, she became part of an Urban Dance Team on her campus. There she immersed herself more in the world of dance, attending open workshops/classes from studios like Offstage by GRV, and Kinjaz Dojo.
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She is currently a student at the University of California, Davis, majoring in Human Biology and minoring in Music Performance. She is also a team leader for UC Davis’ K-pop cover dance team, Sone1, rediscovering her love of dance through the art of K-pop and Korean Choreographers. Her teaching experience includes teaching for Dance Works Irvine, teaching students ages 5-18.
Matsue DelBene-Kyhos aka Match truly has a love for theater, growing up with a father who worked professionally as a clown in circuses and variety shows, to acting herself in productions as early as elementary school through high school.
Match also danced through high school, as a company member of Momentum Dance, headed by Pamela Trokanski. They have experience in all aspects of theater, from design, to building sets, to running lights and sound for productions. Match’s latest theatrical endeavors have been with the Solano Community College theater program. Their experience in working with children includes multiple years in diverse roles from swim coaching, to assisting in classrooms, to teaching at PTDW camps.
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Currently, Match is a student in the STEM field, but still actively pursuing various artistic ventures.
Charlotte deRoulhac was born and raised in San Francisco and has been dancing for over 15 years. Her dance training includes 12 years of classical ballet with Oberlin Dance Company (ODC) where in addition to ballet, her training included world dance: Afro-Brazilian, Bollywood and Flamenco. Charlotte also trained in contemporary dance technique and choreography at Mobu DancEsteem in San Francisco where she developed her skill in improvisation and learned the power of self-expression through movement. Charlotte’s performance experience includes annual performances in San Francisco with Dance Esteem, The Velveteen Rabbit with ODC, and in Marika Brussel’s original ballet, House of Names. Now a student at UC Davis she continues to dance with the Davis Ballet Company while pursuing a degree in Psychology and Human Development. Charlotte is eager to share her passion for dance and hopes to inspire others to find self-confidence and expression through movement.
Rebecca Hennagir has been studying various forms of dance since she was 11 years old. She has studied belly dance since 2005 and has been a belly dance instructor since 2009. Prior to 2012, Rebecca performed under the direction of the belly dance pioneer Amy Sigil throughout the U.S. and abroad with Amy's internationally renowned Tribal Fusion troupes, UNMATA and Verbatim. Since 2013, Rebecca has been a troupe member and contributing choreographer to the award-winning Fusion belly dance troupe, ShupaDa, founded by Ayre Briar. While she has studied various forms of traditional and folk Middle Eastern dance, most of Rebecca's training and experience with belly dance has been in Tribal Fusion and Improvisational Tribal Style (ITS). Rebecca holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Sacramento State University.
Taylor Herrera has studied classical ballet since 1996, with her primary training in RAD technique with Katie Heil. She also studied ballet at Applegate Dance Studio, Steps on Broadway, Sacramento Ballet, Deane Dance Center, and the Berkeley Ballet Theater.
Taylor graduated with her B.A. in Spanish and Spanish-American studies in 2012 from Mills College, where she trained with Sonya Delwaidea-Nichols, department head of dance. In addition to her training in classical ballet, Taylor has taken classes in African, Zumba, modern, hip hop, and flamenco. Her performance experience includes six consecutive years in the Sacramento Ballet's annual Nutcracker, three years as a member of the Applegate Dance Co, and one year with Momentum Dance Co of Davis High School. She also participated in the Idyllwild Arts Academy summer program for dance in 2005.
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She has been the Artistic Director of Light Ballet Company since its first season in 2018.
Gayle Kyhos is dancer, physical therapist and certified Pilates matwork instructor through the Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute. A Davis native, she grew up tap dancing with Julie and Jere Curry, and in high school began ballet, jazz and modern dance classes at the PTDW in its first location near downtown. At this time, she also began performing with Pamela’s company. After moving to the SF Bay Area for college, she spent a decade studying modern dance at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley. Her dance experience included performing with choreographers Carol Kueffer, Joan Lazarus, Cathy Davalos and Randee Paufve. Additionally, she took an “Alignment” class every Saturday from Suzanne Martin, PT and certified Pilates teacher, where she was introduced to the wonderful world of Pilates.
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In 2002, she graduated from the UCSF/SFSU Physical Therapy program, and has worked mainly as a hospital-based PT. In 2019, she became a board certified wound specialist. After practicing Pilates mainly at home for many years, she decided to become a certified instructor, mainly because she loves to learn, loves to move, and loves working with people in this realm.
Samadhi Lucero-Mellick is a dancer/choreographer whose journey began as a three-year-old in ballet and improvisation. She has since studied multiple styles including jazz, contemporary, tap, and hip hop, leading her to join a reputable dance team in Okinawa, Japan. She is currently part of Sacramento's pre-professional youth dance team at Sac Dance Academy.
Hilary Sanders began dancing at the age of three. She grew up dancing at Ballet Petit in Hayward, and spent her summers training at various intensives, including ABT, Boston Ballet, and the Royal Danish Ballet. She began a BFA in Ballet at University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and later transferred to Cornell University, dancing as a principal dancer at Ithaca Ballet while completing her undergraduate degree.
During college, Hilary developed a passion for sharing dance as a means of inclusion and empowerment. Through the organization Movement Exchange, she has taught dance to underserved kids in her own communities and at Movement Exchange’s partner schools in Panama. She has also been teaching ballet since 2011. Hilary is currently pursuing a joint J.D./M.S. in Ecology at UC Davis.
We are very sad to share news of the passing of Bob Stephenson,
our beloved Pilates teacher, who lost his battle with metastatic stomach cancer on
Friday, March 14.
Bob had the unique ability to perpetually look on the bright side of life.
He always said he was so lucky to have the best students!
We will miss him.
In addition, we are excited to be hosting classes in multiple art forms!
Find out more about classes in Zentangle.
Curious about Zentangle and like to know more?
Just click on What is Zentangle and why is it being taught at PTDW?
Analisa Bevan is a Certified Zentangle Teacher who’s been tangling for nearly ten years. She’s excited to share her passion for this mindful non- representational art form that can be done anywhere with almost any writing instrument and surface. She’s found deep joy in making Zentangle art ranging from standard 3 ½ inch square tiles to embellished shoes and
one of a kind holiday cards to the most intriguing meeting notes margins. In her other job as a regulator at the California Air Resources Board she’s found that using Zentangle doodling has helped her focus and contribute critically to her work.