Originally from Reykjavik, Iceland, and a graduate of UC Berkeley, Aushi Oskarsdottir started her professional dance career at the age of 13 with video, television and commercial work. She attended Alvin Ailey American Dance Center’s Summer Intensive for two years, and also trained at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, and with Savage Jazz. In addition to being the Assistant Director of Dance Fusion Company in Walnut Creek and founding the Dance Program at SOCAPA (School of Creative and Performing Arts) in New York, Aushi has had the privilege of working all throughout the U.S. and abroad. Some of her recent work includes creating an ensemble piece for Mark Foehringer’s CCDA, teaching master classes in Costa Rica (where she also did her Pilates training), Nicaragua, Mexico and Iceland, and choreographing for the premiere of Pixar's Toy Story 3. As one of the founding faculty members of Jazz Dance Fest in Costa Rica, she has taught alongside and collaborated with some of the dance world's biggest names. Prior to her concentration on dance education, Aushi performed and traveled extensively, working with Santana, Deborah Cox, MC Hammer, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bebe, Apple, Oracle, E*Trade, Microsoft, and Bill Graham Presents, among others. Additionally, she has worked as a stylist for Nautica Jeans, Cosmopolitan and NY Fashion Week, and as a producer for Q-Tip's interview show Artist to Artist. While teaching remains her passion, Aushi has also delved into dance video and audio production, and she has a collection of her work on SOCAPA’s YouTube channel. This is her fourth year at the Performing Arts Academy of Marin, where she has had the pleasure of choreographing for, and training the BAYPAC dancers.

Liam Robertson (he/him) has had a varied career in the theatre as an actor, musician, director, and theatrical designer. He’s a multi-instrumentalist in Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Guitar, and Piano among other instruments and has been practicing martial arts such as Aikido, Karate, and Tai Chi for about a dozen years. In addition to playing and teaching music since he was in high school, he’s spent time performing in the bay area at Berkeley Rep, SF Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Cal Shakes, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Curran among others. A former Director of Education at Marin Theatre Company, and a teacher of music and theatre in Marin County since 2008, he has worked with Performing Arts Academy of Marin since 2017 and loves the supportive atmosphere of the faculty and administration at PAAM in bringing quality arts education to all of its students. Some of his greatest joys in teaching are cultivating and affirming the unique expressions of every student, while helping them along their way to grow as better human beings.

Sarah grew up in the Bay Area, started dancing at age 2. She was accepted into the Cal Arts dance program in Southern California  where she studied under many acclaimed teachers including Debbie Allen and Mia Michaels. She has been involved in multiple dance companies including Body Language, Culture Shock Oakland, and Soul Force San Francisco. She completed her 500 hour yoga training with YogaWorks in 2014 in addition to another 200 hour yoga alliance certification in Ashtanga yoga at Its Yoga San Francisco in 2007. Sarah started teaching kids in 2002, spending several years as a dance teacher & choreographer with the Mount Tamalpais School Theatre Department. In 2009 she started teaching at PAAM and has been ever since. Sarah’s hip hop classes are energetic, fun, and educational. Sarah is a well-loved teacher at PAAM.

Melinda Darlington-Bach is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker, acting teacher, and a 25-year working veteran SAG/AFTRA actress.  Starting in the business as a runway and fashion model at the age of 16, Melinda made the seamless transition into the world of show business.  In both the Los Angeles and Bay Area markets, she has worked in over 65 national commercials, industrials and feature films. Using her superb skills and experience, Melinda worked at San Francisco Acting Academy teaching and coaching on-camera tweens/teens in both theatrical and commercial classes for 10 years.  For the past 20 years, Ms. Darlington-Bach has worked as a model and talent scout personally setting up hundreds of auditions for the Bay Area and Los Angeles franchised talent agencies.  Melinda works closely with young talent preparing them with self-tape auditions for major opportunities with Disney, Nickelodeon, and feature films. 

MARC LAPIERRE began his early training at Ballet Etudes in Norwalk CT under the direction of Nanette Vallas. While at Ballet Etudes he trained closely with Christina Fagundes. He then attended Ballet Academy East in New York City under the direction of Darla Hoover and at age 16, Marc furthered his training at The School of American Ballet. He then went on to dance with Los Angeles Ballet, where he had the pleasure of dancing works by August Bournonville, George Balanchine, Aszure Barton and Alejandro Cerrudo. Two years later he joined Oregon Ballet Theatre as an apprentice and was promoted to the Company corps de ballet in his second season. During his time with OBT, he danced works by Alvin Ailey, Ben Stevenson, Nicolo Fonte, Christopher Stowell, and Trey MyIntyre. LaPierre joined Smuin in 2021. He has had the privilege of teaching both ballet and partnering since the age of 18. Teaching is one of his biggest passions. He hopes to share his love of dance with every student he works with. 

Kimana Gray, Hip Hop & Jazz, has been dancing and acting since the age of 5. She has danced and acted all throughout school, practicing tap, jazz, Modern, salsa, bachata, Capoeira, Bollywood, bellydancing, Indian dance, hip-hop, Hansberry, and Shakespeare. Ms. Gray started choreographing in high school, studying under Ms. Carr at Berkeley High. She's trained at numerous dance studios, such as, new style motherlode, fallout Studios, Into the groove, and have also volunteered and subbed at numerous middle schools and elementary schools. Dancing has always been a big part of Kimana's life and is something that she is very passionate about. She's extremely excited to share her experience and knowledge with others so that they can reach their goals and dreams as she has.

Emily Mootz (Jazz, Lyrical, & Contemporary) Originally from Santa Cruz, California, Emily began dancing at the age of 3 at Elaine’s Dance Studio. There she trained under the tutelage of Elaine McCarthy, Myra Rittenhouse, Madelon Curtis-Harper, and Jessica Metter-Vargas for 14 years. She attended a variety of conventions and competitions, performing in styles such as contemporary, jazz, musical theater, ballet, and tap. In her high school years, Emily was able to work with renowned artists and companies including LINES Ballet, Oberlin Dance Collective, and California Summer School of the Arts. She was also given the opportunity to choreograph for various local productions, including Harbor High School’s Escapade Dance Company and Pacific Collegiate School’s Fusion Dance Company. From 2017-2021 she attended Saint Mary’s College of California on a Performing Arts scholarship. She trained in Laban and Bartenieff technique, Cunningham technique, jazz, and ballet. In the summer of 2019, she had the opportunity to teach dance and musical theater in Suzhou, China alongside Bay Area professionals including Jia Wu, Daniel Larlham, and Ryan Huber. During her time at Saint Mary’s College, she performed alongside their Dance Company; here her choreography was awarded many accolades and was chosen to represent the company in multiple dance film festivals across the world, including the “Empower Me Strong” festival in Berkeley, CA. After graduating Cum Laude with a BA in Dance and Choreographic Studies, Emily continued her dance education with Saint Mary’s by earning her MFA in Dance and Creative Practice in 2023. During this time, Emily continued to act as a full time dance instructor and arts administrator in the Walnut Creek area. She has also continued to perform across the Bay Area, most recently being selected as a 2022 RAW Artist for SafeHouse Arts. Emily is excited to be a part of the PAAM family and continue sharing her love of dance with all of her students!

Sammy Bruce (she/her), Hip Hop/Contemporary/Progressions, is originally from Portland, Oregon, and currently resides in San Francisco, California. Growing up she was a student at All Star Dance Academy and later MVP Dance Elite in Beaverton, Oregon where she trained in many styles of dance including; contemporary, hip hop, ballet, jazz, & musical theater. She has been dancing since the age of 6 and competitively from elementary school through high school receiving various awards. She has danced with pre-professional teams; DisOrder, a contemporary team under the direction of Jennifer McClary. Kaleido, a jazz/contemporary team under the direction of Lorena Aranda, and RAW a hip hop team under the direction of Alexis Jean Jackson, Charlie Chheath, and Jason Wickett of which she placed 1st at World of Dance Seattle 2016 as a member of this team. In 2018 she danced with Madison Beer for Velocity Dance Convention Nationals. She later attended the University of San Francisco and joined the on campus dance clubs Vitality and Varcity for contemporary and hip hop. She held various executive board positions for these clubs throughout her four years at the university including; Social Media Chair, Junior Varcity Team Director, Vice President, & President. She has choreographed many pieces both in contemporary and hip hop styles. As a recent graduate she has taught classes at Rae Studios in downtown San Francisco. Sammy is very excited to continue her teaching journey here with the PAAM family and share her passion for dance with her students

Leilana Majri (ballet) is a dancer and choreographer based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Leilana graduated summa cum laude with her BFA in Dance from Dominican University of California's program with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She has extensive training in ballet, modern (Graham, Cunningham, and Horton techniques), contemporary, and jazz. She has trained and performed in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Leilana loves sharing her dance experiences with dancers of all ages, and is excited to be a part of PAAM faculty!

Lisa Moore Shields has been dancing since she could walk. Her early ballet training was with Le Studio and Pasadena Dance Theater. Later, she went on to earn a BFA in dance and a BA in literature from UC Santa Barbara as well as a Masters in Performance Art. Over the years, she has danced professionally in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in concert dance, film, and television. She has choreographed and produced shows extensively as well. Concurrently, she has taught pilates, GYROTONIC, hatha yoga, and weight training at some of the finest sports and health clubs in the world. Her areas of expertise are in injury prevention and post rehabilitation as well as fitness and technique. Recently, she earned her K-12 multiple subjects teaching credential from Dominican University of California. When Lisa is not at PAAM, she teaches elementary school.

Ms. KT began her dance journey with ballet at 7 and went on to expand her performance repertoire over the years to include jazz, modern dance, fire dancing, and musical theatre. After graduating with a BFA in dance from UW-Milwaukee she moved west to the Bay Area in 2006 where she performed with a wide variety of companies and created her own works for modern dance concerts, vaudeville, and fire performances. Later in her career her passion turned to teaching. She specializes in young children and with over 20 years of experience instructs everything from ballet to parkour. She is dedicated to laying foundations for the next generation of dancers and movers to be confident and compassionate on and off stage. Ms. KT originally began teaching with PAAM in 2015 and, after a two year break to care for her parents, she is excited to be back, continuing to hold high standards for building smart minds and strong hearts.