d a n c e r s

abigail hosein
is the Artistic Director of ahdanco, a Bay Area modern dance company founded in 2002 that has presented work and produced home seasons at venues such as The Ashby Stage, Dance Mission Theater, CounterPULSE, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Additionally, Hosein’s work has been commissioned by Santa Clara University, College Prep High School, Berkeley High School, Branson High School, the Shawl-Anderson Youth Ensemble, and San Francisco Performances’ Dance Mentor Program. Hosein holds her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Mills College and currently teaches at Santa Clara University, College Prep, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. She has performed locally for Dance Repertory/San Francisco, Hudson Dance, and Barely Complete Productions.

lauren baines
received a B.A. and B.S. from Santa Clara University, triple majoring in Theatre Arts (with a Dance Emphasis), Art History, and Psychology.  She has been dancing professionally since 2005.  In 2010, she was asked to present her choreography at the de Saisset Museum’s program Beyond 2-D: Portraits in Other Dimensions, and more recently, was selected as part of sjDANCEco’s ChoreoProject Awards.  Currently, Baines serves as Managing Director for the Cardboard Box Theatre Project and works at the Montalvo Arts Center as the Education and Arts Programs Coordinator. 

rachael dichter
grew up in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, performing with the Palesch Pacific Ballet and Redwood Empire Ballet companies and attending Mills College. She spent a year in Minneapolis dancing with the Dylan Skybrook Dance Company, and three years living and dancing in Brussels Belgium with Fougere Dance before returning stateside where she dances for Kelly Kemp and Company, Laura Arrington Dances, Aura Fischbeck Dances and Group A, and she is very happy to be performing with Ahdanco.

rebecca gilbert
grew up dancing in a studio with all the glitzy sequined costumes and fancy jazz and pointe shoes until she discovered her calling... bare feet and less forced smiling. She graduated with a dance degree from Mills College and fled to New York only to discover that she desperately loved the Bay area and the unique dance scene that exists here. She has performed with SF Dance Repertory, Dance Elixir, Kate Mitchell, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Dance Ceres and various other projects in the city. Rebecca is currently a member of Katie Faulkner's little seismic dance company, Artface and has been performing with ahdanco for over 8 years now. She is also the co founder of Barely Complete Productions.

mica miro
has been dancing in the Bay Area since 2003.  She has had the pleasure of dancing with Scott Wells and Dancers, ArtFace, Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixer, and Huckabay McCallister.  Mica is a proud but dormant member of ahdanco.  She is very happy to be appearing in this show for her friend Rebecca Gilbert.  Mica has been lucky to co-produce work with Rebecca Gilbert under their company Barely Complete Productions.

julian pham
has studied dance primarily with Reginald Ray Savage and has performed with the Erika Shuch Performance Project and Push Dance Company. He is currently dancing for Savage Jazz Dance Company, Janet Das, and is excited to be dancing with adhanco.  He went to UC Irvine for a BA in Sociology and a BA in Studio Art, and to graduate school at San Francisco State University for a Masters in Public Administration. He currently works for the City and County of San Francisco.

natalie real
discovered her love for movement at about age 5 while watching her mom dance around the house.  She started taking ballet and jazz lessons and continued on in college when she started taking dance more seriously.  She studied the Vaganova syllabus and since then has trained in the bay area and New York.  Natalie danced with ahdanco from 2002-2006 and is excitedly rejoining for "here, look".  She has also dance with Dance Elixir as well as many other independent bay area choreographers.  Natalie received a BA in Liberal Arts from SFSU, is currently working toward a Nursing degree and teaches pilates in Oakland and Berkeley

ambika selvan-dee
has been dancing for about 30 years, in a few styles with many talented people, and nothing compares to it.  She was honored with Scholarships from amazing companies, including Contra Costa Ballet, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  Dancing professionally with Sacramento Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle and with ahdanco from the beginning.  Practicing and teaching yoga helps keep her humble, sane hopeful and strong.  Ambika's husband and two daughters inspire and challenge her unlike any other experience in her life.  Performing gives me a place to bring that all together. 

amanda whitehead
has been with ahdanco since 2007.  She trained at The Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC and danced with The Washington Ballet from 1994-1996, before leaving to get her bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in dance at Princeton University.  She then choreographed for the drama program at The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, for nine years.  She has danced locally with Tammy Cheney and Mo Miner and she now teaches beginner ballet and creative movement for kiddos, teens, and grown-ups at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.