Staff

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School Director / Resident Faculty 

Melinda Neal, a Bay Area Native, received her early ballet training from Yanina Cwyinska, who trained at Russia's renowned Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. She was privileged to further her training under the tutelage of Ronn Guidi, founder of Oakland Ballet Academy and Company. Later on, she earned her BA in performing arts from St. Mary's College of California LEAP program for professional dancers. She is also a certified Pilates Instructor. Melinda danced professionally for 16 years with companies such as Oakland Ballet Company, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, was a founding member and Soloist with Napoles Ballet Theatre and Bay Pointe Ballet. She has also guested with California Youth Ballet and Milissa Payne Project. Melinda danced many classical and contemporary roles as a Soloist and corps member. As well as co-owned "The Dance Network" for nine years and was the Artistic Director for their Non-Profit youth ballet company. In addition, she's served as Children's Ballet Mistress for State Street Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theatre, and Bay Pointe Ballet. Melinda has taught in the Bay Area for 20 + years with various schools, including Alonzo King Lines Dance Center, Alameda Civic Ballet, ODC Dance, SF Arts Education Project, Peninsula Ballet Conservatory, Bay Pointe Ballet, as well as served as Ballet Director and teacher at Roco Dance in Mill Valley. Her students have gone onto prestigious ballet schools, major dance programs, summer intensives, and colleges such as San Francisco Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Training Program, Alvin Ailey Training Program, Rock School of Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, UCLA, Fordham University, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has a passion and love for training future generations, focusing on the dancer's physical, emotional, and mental health. This passion and love for the Arts instill a fresh outlook on ballet, passion, creativity, discipline, and individuality in her students.  

Children's Program Director  /  Resident Faculty

Leilani Neal began her training at “The Dance Network” under her mother Melinda Neal in Fairfield, Ca. She continued to train with schools such as Contra Costa Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Academy of Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and received scholarships with Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. She graduated from the dance department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco, and was hired by her high school shortly after to be the ballet instructor for the musical theatre department.  Leilani has danced professionally with Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Bay Pointe Ballet,Labayen Dance sf, and most recently Oakland Ballet. In addition to dance, she is currently a signed model with Marla Dell Talent Agency which has given her opportunities to be in commercials with Intel, Nikon, Microsoft,Visa, and Ford Go Bikes. She was featured in the Mr.Carmack 2016 Coachella set and danced in the “Romance” music video for island artists CRSB that hit #1 on top charts in Hawaii. Leilani recently was signed with talent agency  "Clear Talent Group" in Los Angeles, Ca. 

 Leilani shares the love of dance with her students and aspires to give them the tools to succeed in the dance world and commercial industry.   

Resident Faculty 

Hailing from Maysville, Kentucky, Calvin Thomas received foundational training at the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. He has supplemented his studies at Boston Ballet School, The School of American Ballet, Ballet Austin Academy, and The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. His career start began with the Cincinnati Ballet and Ballet Austin. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2011 he has performed with Company C Contemporary Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, Oakland Ballet Company, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Kiandanda Dance Theater, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and Garrett Moulton Productions. His repertoire includes works by Thang Dao, Gregory Dawson, Yuri Zhukov, and Maurice Causey among others.  When not dancing he still enjoys time in the studio sharing knowledge and teaching the next generation of dancers. He has recently developed a passion for coaching from the inspiration of his mentor, Shannon Bresnahan.  Calvin most recently danced with ODC/Dance for the 2019-2020 season.

Resident Faculty 

Ethan Epstein is from Boston, MA where he began his ballet training at Boston Ballet School. Ethan went on to train at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the direction of Darla Hoover and Marcia Dale Weary, where he danced principal and soloist roles in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Emeralds, and Alan Hineline’s Coppelia. Professionally, Ethan has danced at Alabama Ballet and Oklahoma City Ballet. He danced roles including Candy Cane in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, The Champion Roper in Agnes de Mille's Rodeo, and Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty. Ethan taught at the Alabama Ballet School and Birmingham Academy of Dance while dancing professionally. Ethan has served as the Children’s Rehearsal Director for Balanchine’s Nutcracker for three years and has guest taught company class at Alabama Ballet.

Resident Faculty 

Brooke Linford is from Alpine, Utah and received her early training at Jacqueline's School of Ballet. In 2011, she competed in the YAGP New York finals and was offered a scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, which she attended from

2011-2012. In 2012 she attended the Joffrey Academy of Dance trainee program on full scholarship and danced lead roles such as Sugar Plum Fairy and original works by Alexei Kremnev.

In 2014 Brooke joined The Joffrey Ballet where she had a successful 10 year career. She has been involved of the creation process of several world premiers and has danced wide variety

of works including choreography by John Neumeier , George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins,Cathy Marston, Justin Peck, and Liam Scarlett as well as featured roles in Don Quixote, Nicolas Blanc’s Beyond the Shore and Under the Trees Voices, Chanel DaSilva’s Colorem, Christopher Wheeldon’s Commedia, Stephanie Martinez’s BLISS, Andrea Walker’s HOME, and Wayne McGregor’s INFRA.

Resident Faculty 

A San Francisco native, Hanna received her dance training at multiple studios across the Bay Area, including Presidio Dance Theatre, San Francisco Ballet School, City Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and ODC. In high school, she was recognized as an advanced-level dancer and choreographer in the pre-professional program at the San Francisco School of the Arts under the direction of Elvia Marta and Andrea Hinman.

Throughout her dance career, Hanna has performed a diverse repertoire, ranging from classical works such as Paquita and George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco to modern pieces choreographed by local artists such as Milissa Payne and Arturo Fernandez.

Hanna has focused her dance career on humanitarian efforts and on uniting children around the globe through dance in collaboration with Presidio Dance Theatre, UNESCO, the YMCA, and the Repubblica Dei Ragazzi. She has danced in Sherene Melania's Unbreakable: Honoring the Women of Iran and Children's Day at the SF War Memorial, an annual free performance for SFUSD students that showcases dance across various cultures. She has also performed globally in Turkey, Hungary, Italy, and across the United States.

Hanna holds a Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Southern California. She is currently a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve and a Juris Doctor candidate at the University of California School of Law San Francisco."

Guest Faculty

was born in Brisbane, Australia, where he trained with Betsy Sawyers and Beverly Flanagan before entering the Australian Ballet School. After graduation he danced with The Australian Ballet for six years, before dancing abroad with Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, Gothenburg Ballet, Croatian National Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has taught youth and adult classes at ODC, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Menlowe Ballet, Bay Pointe Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center and Jessica Lang Dance. We are honored to have Christopher Lam guest  teach at MCD.