Company Members

Rebecca Witjas, artistic director

Rebecca started her professional career in New York City as a member of Facets Dance Company and then later in the New York Dance Quintet.  She has toured the eastern seaboard, the Midwest and Australia.  She was artist in residence at St. Gustavis Adolphus College in Minnesota and eventually settled in the Los Angeles area, receiving a Master’s in Dance at UCLA.  There she formed the Prohosky-Yewell Dance Theatre which performed at the Beverly Hilton, Santa Monica College and later at the John Anson Ford Theatre.  She then ventured into jazz briefly choreographing for Anita Mann productions which placed her work in Theatres, cruise ships and other venues.  She choreographed the Raiderettes cheerleading arm of the Raider’s Football team in the mid 90’s and took her dancers to perform in Barcelona, Spain.  Until the formation of LA Dances she has choreographed many independent dances for film, television and stage.  She has taught dance at Moorpark College, University of Southern California, Santa Monica College, Long Beach City College, Cal Poly Pomona and most recently is teaching at Pepperdine University.

Rebecca's experiences as a professional New York Dancer/choreographer in the fine arts, as a professor of dance in the public and private sector and her ventures into commercial dance (film, TV and even professional cheerleading) has made her the unique choreographer that she is today. Her fervent belief is that dance is our most emotionally powerful form of communication, both conscious and unconscious and she injects all her experiences into her company's work to communicate our humanity in that special Los Angelean, culturally independent way.

Addie Van Gessel, administrator

Addie has been a dance lover since her first class at age 4. While acknowledging early on that she’d be a perpetual student of dance she focused her attention on business. A graduate of the CUNY system with a B.A. in Communications, Addie has been contributing to the marketing and advertising field for almost 20 years. Addie is also an active member of Center Dance Association, recently accepting a position on the Board to head up the membership committee for low to mid-range donors.

Ruth Fentroy, dancer & ballet mistress

Ruth was born in British Columbia, Canada and has trained and performed nationally and internationally with such renowned companies as The Cairo Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and Ballet Nacional de Cuba. As an actress, she has appeared in theatre/film and television spots such as Diagnosis Murder, a short film called Act II Solo (lead) and Principal dancer in the musical Phantom. She is a recognized and inspiring teacher whose students have been accepted to prestigious pre-professional programs such as San Francisco Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Pacifica, School of American Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Among her many talents, she is also a choreographer of several classical and neo-classical short works as well as full-length children’s ballets for regional ballet companies as well as schools and she also has created her own line of dancewear apparel for class and stage called “Ruth”.

Clifford Ala Banagale, dancer

Clifford is a multi-talented performer who has appeared in film and on stage as an actor, singer, and dancer. He has also choreographed for dance companies, music videos, bands, and other events around the country. He started his training at the age of three with the Filipino Philharmonic before moving to the United States. He has extensive voice and dance training and earned his B.A. from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Tiffany Coons, dancer

Tiffany was born in 1984 in Tampa, FL, but grew up in Dallas, TX, where she first received dance training. At the age of eight, she began with ballet, then later added jazz, lyrical, tap, hip-hop, and modern while always keeping ballet as her basis. She has trained with The School of Ballet Chicago, American Ballet Theatre, and The Joffrey Ballet School. Tiffany is currently a student at Pepperdine University majoring in Humanities with a minor in Music.

Kelsey Dorr, dancer

Kelsey, a 19 year old student attending Pepperdine University, is a music major with a math minor. While continuing to play the violin, she also pursues her career as a ballerina. Being familiar with ballet all of her life, it wasn't until the last two years of her high school career that it became more than on outside interest. Kelsey has trained personally with Victor & Tatiana Kasatsky former Principals, Moscow Classical Ballet, Alexander Khmelnitski, Berlin Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Susan Jaffe and Ethan Brown, ABT, and Roberto Almaguer, National Ballet of Cuba. Her repertoire includes Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and others.

Ina Haybaeck-Rogers, dancer

Ina was born, raised and educated in Austria, where she worked as a Featured Dancer throughout Europe for Stage & Television and as the Assistant of Director, Choreographer Jaime Rogers for the past 11 years. She was the first Austrian to be awarded the Austrian Government Grant to pursue her studies of dance in the USA at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center & Ballet Arts, NYC. As a Ballroom-Expert she choreographed the Blockbuster "The Wedding Crashers" (2005) and coached Jennifer Aniston & Vince Vaughn for "The Break-Up" (2006). Her choreographies range from Ballet, Russian Character-Dance to Modern and Jazz. Her most recent work has been for The Marshall Dance Company. She is performing continuously as a Member of Media City Ballet, Jazz Dance LA, Jaime Rogers Dance Ensemble and yearly performances in Europe, and is a certified and successful dance instructor.

Yana Makarova, dancer

Born in Russia, Yana received her ballet training at Moscow Ballet’s Academic School of Choreography, the official school of the Bolshoi Ballet Theater. Upon graduating Yana accepted a position with the Bolshoi Ballet where she performed as a soloist in classical roles including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadere among others. Yana also performed as a soloist with the Stanislavksy Ballet adding Don Quixote, Les Sylphides and Cinderella to her repertoire. In addition to her dance career, Yana has studied at the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts, working to become a Ballet Master and is now using her training to share her experience with students at Santa Monica Dance Studio.

Laura Mazur, dancer

Laura has a B.A. in dance from UCLA. She trained at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and at the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia. She has performed with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet Company, the Myo Dance Company, and has toured throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. Laura has appeared in many videos, commercials and film. An accomplished actress as well, Laura recently starred in another film called "Somewhere" which was shot entirely on location in Thailand. As well as performing, Laura currently teaches adult ballet classes for the beginner to intermediate level student at Santa Monica Dance Studio.

TaiVon McKinney, dancer

TaiVon McKinney began dancing at the tender age of 2 years old. She has studied with coaches from the Kirov and Bolshoi Ballets, and has been accepted into programs and/or studied with coaches from the Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has studied in Havana, Cuba with Laura Alonso, daughter of the great Alicia Alonso and has been privately coached by Gelsey Kirkland of the American Ballet Theatre. TaiVon is also an accomplished actress and has appeared on some of television's top shows, as well as several national commercials. After a brief departure from dancing, TaiVon is glad to be back doing what she loves best.

David Renaud, dancer

Originally from Vermont, David began performing traditional American folk dances at age 11. The youngest member of the Green Mountain Volunteers, he would tour all over New England and New York, as well as Canada, Turkey, and Germany. Early ballet studies would include Burklyn Ballet Theatre and Vermont Conservatory of Ballet, and later the New York School of Classical Dance in New York City. His professional ballet credits include the Albany-Berkshire Ballet, Columbia City Ballet, the Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet for Young Audiences NYC, and most recently Pacific Festival Ballet, and Los Angeles Ballet.

Gabrielle Tracy, dancer

Originally from Seattle, Gabrielle Tracy holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Western Washington University. Gabrielle began her dance training in Seattle at Washington Academy of Performing Arts and Pacific Northwest Ballet and is currently studying at Westside School of Ballet and Santa Monica College. She has performed and originated works with 'We're Not Your Mothers' performance art collective in Seattle and is currently a company member with Synapse Dance Theatre. She continues to share her love of theater arts with children by directing Performing Arts Workshops' summer intensive programs for children in Los Angeles for the past five years.