Gretchen Garnett is a San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer and teacher. In addition to the works she has created for Gretchen Garnett & Dancers she has had two works commissioned by the East Street Youth Ballet in Massachusetts. Gretchen has performed with Bay Area-based companies including Kelly Bowker & Dancers, The Pfeifle Dance Project, peck peck dance ensemble, Leyya Tawil’s Dance Elixir, RAWdance. She is currently dancing with Aura Fischbeck Dance and Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton . Gretchen received her training through the high school program at the North Carolina School of the Arts and earned her B.F.A. in Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Kelly Bowker was born and raised in Michigan where she received her BFA in dance. Since moving west she has presented her choreography at Shotwell Studio through their residency program, at ODC and Dance Theater Mission. She has danced locally with HerPic Productions, Ishika Seth and is very excited to be performing with Gretchen Garnett and Dancers. When not dancing she can be found teaching pilates at Core Pilates on 17th and at Fitwell Chiropractic.
Kiki Cheng is from Beaverton, OR where she began her movement training in synchronize swimming at the age of six. After competing in Artistic and Rhythmic gymnastics, she found her way into dance at the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy. Her introduction to modern dance happened at the University of California, Berkeley where she completed a BA in Dance and Performance Studies. Kiki is also a massage therapist, certified phlebotomist, and yoga enthusiast. She currently lives in Oakland where she can be found practicing her latte art skills at Nomad Café.
Chad Dawson was born and raised in New Orleans, LA where he began his dance training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. While there, Chad was able to work with and perform the works of Robert Battle and Elisa Monte. In 2008, he graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance from SUNY-Purchase where he had the opportunity to perform the repertory of Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, Lauri Stallings, and Paul Taylor. Chad has performed at venues in and around NYC, New Orleans, Phoenix, Hong Kong, Japan, and at the Kennedy Center. Since arriving in San Francisco, Chad has had the pleasure of working with Heidi Schweiker, RAWdance, Mark Foehringer, PUSH Dance Company, and Gretchen Garnett & Dancers.
photo by Matt Haber
Leah Katz is a native of Northampton, Massachusetts and is excited to be dancing with Gretchen Garnett way over on the west coast. She is a (very) recent graduate of SUNY Purchase with a B.F.A. in dance. She has danced works by Lauri Stallings, Sidra Bell, Stephanie Tooman, Yung-Li Chen, Kevin Wynn and was fortunate enough to work with San Francisco’s own Ben Levy on her senior B.F.A. candidate solo. Also, studying for four months at De Theaterschool in Amsterdam, Netherlands she worked with Michael Schumacher, Anouk Van Dyke and Liat Waysbort. In October 2008 Leah and a select group of dancers were chosen to represent Purchase at the Friends Throughout the World Festival in Nanjing, China, dancing a work by Kevin Wynn. Leah began dancing with Gretchen Garnett in May 2008.
Becca Rufer has been dancing with Gretchen Garnett for since they were kids together in Northampton, Massachusetts. Other choreographers she has performed for include: Sara Pfeifle, Mark Davis, Amie Dowling, and The Movement Ensemble.
photo by Matt Haber
Leah Samson was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota, where she began her dance training at Miki’s School of Dance. She attended the University of Montana where she received a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography, as well as a B.S. in Finance. She is currently performing with The Riley Project, Aura Fischbeck Dance and Gretchen Garnett, and has also performed with the Pfeifle Dance Project. Leah is a board member of Push Dance Company and when not dancing she works full-time for Capital Group, a mutual fund management company.