Director and Founder:
Katy Barnhill. Click here for Katy's Bio.

San Francisco Company Members:

Stella Rose Adelman
Stella was born in San Francisco and grew up backstage watching her mother perform with the satiric San Francisco Mime Troupe and Pickle Family Circus. Because of this upbringing, Stella firmly believes that art and humor are powerful catalysts for change, and her performance reflects this. Stella graduated from UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Department where her studies focused on combining dance, circus and monologue. In 2001-2002, Stella studied folkloric dance at El Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba. Now back in San Francisco, Stella is delighted to be dancing with Bay Area Cuban and Haitian troupes and  performing with World Dance Fusion!

Leila Baradaran
Leila was born in Iran, and moved to the US at age 5. She was active in gymnastics in her youth. Shy to dance at first, she was finally persuaded to dance Persian dance at 16 and by 19 was learning Modern and Hip-Hop. At S.F. State she was exposed to many different dance forms through their Ethnodansology department including Capoeira and Salsa. She is a natural dancer who absorbs material through osmosis. She now teaches dance around San Francisco and is delighted to be part of the World Dance Fusion movement.

Rox C Brown
Born in Nicaragua to a Peace Corps family, and then raised on the East coast of the United States, Rox C got her start in dance as a B-girl and one of the leaders of Sisters of the Underground. Since, she has traveled to Cuba to study Salsa and is still breaking to represent females in Hip-Hop. Rox-C is now moving on to Samba, Capoeira and many other forms with World Dance Fusion and is happy to be working with Katy.
 
Gabriella Cole
Conceived in Granada but born in San Francisco, Gabriella’s first dance class was West African with M’biba Bagne. Through her studies in Afro Brazilian and Cuban dance forms she has traveled to both Brazil and Cuba. Living in NY for five years and in Spain for a year, she has danced with numerous Brazilian, Cuban and Haitian companies with artists including Bamboch Lakay, Julio Jean, Mikerline Pierre, La Troupe Makandal, Carioca Da Gema, and Peniele Guerrier. Back in SF’s cultural dance mecca she is happy to have re connected with Katy and found a group (World Dance Fusion) open to her ideas and experiences on cultural dance.

 
MaLisa Moore
A California native, MaLisa has her BA from San Francisco State University and has studied 7 years of Congolese dance. She has also trained in West African Dance (Guinea). Her credits include dancing with the Afro Funk Sistaz, Fila, Antibalas, and one year with KKDE. She has traveled extensively and lived abroad in Paris, Hawaii, and Mexico.