Teaching Artists

Brandt Martinez has been part of several original broadway casts in the last decade including Moulin Rouge The Musical, Aladdin The Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Natasha Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. TV appearances include  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Affair, The Last OG. He also has had the opportunity to tour the country as Samuel Seabury in broadways hit show Hamilton. Brandt is excited to be apart of Open Space Camp and looking forward to learning just as much as those who choose to sign up for class! 

KARLA PUNO GARCIA is a NY based choreographer, dancer, and teacher. She recently was associate choreographer for a new Broadway show workshop DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, and is currently choreographing a new musical entitled Other World. Favorite performance credits include Broadway's Hamilton (current), West Side Story, GIgi, Hot Feet; National and International Tours Wicked, Addams Family, Bad Boys of Dance. TV: Smash (season 2) and So You Think You Can Dance (season 5). Karla has a BFA in dance from NYU Tisch, and she is currently on Theater faculty at Broadway Dance Center. IG: @Karlapunogarcia

Roderick George, born in Houston,Texas, studied dance at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy. Roderick continued to develop his skill by exploring other techniques at The Alvin Ailey School, Miami City Ballet, LINES Professional Program and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX. Before starting his professional career, he was a bronze winner of the Youth American Grand Prix in New York City in 2005 and was elected as a Presidential Scholar under the YoungArts Foundation in 2003, where he performed for the US President. Roderick joined Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in 2005. Roderick decided to move abroad to work with Basel Ballet/ Theater Basel in 2007 and later to guest with the Goteborg Operan DansKompani. Roderick joined The Forsythe Company in Frankfurt, Germany. Where he learnt and shared his greatest moments with William Forsythe and the artists of TFC.

Born and raised in Portland, Charlene trained at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre for over a decade until joining the company in 1999. In 2002, her career brought her to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was a principal dancer with Company C Contemporary Ballet. She has been a guest artist with The Oakland Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery and
Berkeley City Ballet. Charlene has performed the works of Antony Tudor, Twyla Tharp, Amy Seiwert, Paul Taylor, Charlie
Anderson, Thaddeus Davis, Michael Smuin, James Canfield, Paul Vasterling, David Parsons, Patrick Corbin and Gregory
Dawson.
Ms. Hannibal is a classically trained pianist, and graduated Cum Laude with a degree in English from UC Berkeley.
A certified yoga instructor since 2001, she has taught hundreds of classes throughout Portland and the Bay Area. She is
also a prolific Gokhale Method teacher, an anthropological posture methodology aimed at helping those with back pain.
Charlene has been teaching ballet since 2000 and has taught Marin Dance Theatre, Contra Costa Ballet, Berkeley City
Ballet, Portland Festival Ballet, San Francisco Dance Center, Post:Ballet, BodyVox and Oregon Ballet Theatre. She is currently the Youth Ballet Director at NW Dance Project.

Kevin Pajarillaga is a Filipino American, born and raised in Silver Spring, MD. Pajarillaga trained at Citydance Conservatory, Point Park University and Springboard Danse Montréal. Professionally he has worked with companies including NW Dance Project, Yin Yue’s YY Dance Company, Sonya Tayeh Dance, Bruce Wood Dance, PRIOREDANCE, and I.C movement project. He has guest performed with Parsons Dance Company, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and originated roles with choreographers Felix Landerer, Ihsan Rustem, Yin Yue, Patrick Delcroix, Andrea Pena, Sarah Slipper, Maleek Washington, and more.

Pajarillagais the associate director of Moving Forward Dallas, a non-profit dedicated to nurturing the thriving young artists in Dallas. He has appeared in GAP’s 2018 spring campaign “Experiment in Color” and in Apolla Performance Shocks’ campaign in 2017. He is the movement coach and choreographer for artist “BIG WILD”, Jackson. He has choreographed for NW Dance Project’s “In Good Company”, The Juilliard School’s senior showcase, the DREAMscape Gala, Booker T. Washington Ensemble, and Wanderlust dance project. Pajarillaga is the recipient of the “All County Performing Arts Awards” by the MCPS Arts Superintendent and the “All States Dance Award” at the Goucher College Dance Festival in 2011 and 2012.

Colleen Loverde is a graduate of Point Park University where she earned her B.F.A. in dance as well as a minor in journalism. While training at Point Park, she had the privilege of performing works choreographed by Martha Graham, Luke Murphy, Garfield Lemons  Gregory Dolbashion, MADBOOTS DANCE, and Alexandra Damiani. Colleen performed with Patrick O’Brien Dance, and worked as a freelance dancer in New York City. At Springboard Danse Montreal she had the opportunity to perform in original works by Vim Vigor Dance Company’s Shannon Gillen, German choreographer Ryan Mason, Johannes Wieland of Staatstheater Kassel, and Micaela Taylor of the TL Collective. She has had the privilege of performing original works by Alysa Pires, Alice Klock, Kristen Cere, Meghan Lou, Ihsan Rustem and more as a NW Dance Project company member. 

Born in Taipei, Taiwan. LeeWei Chao started his ballet training with Ms. Xiao Lee, who brought from Russia the Vaganova ballet method to Taiwan.
In 1996 Mr. Chao joined Joffrey Ballet Concert Dancer in New York City, followed by dancing
carrier with Joffrey Ballet Chicago and Milwaukee Ballet Company.
Mr. Chao has taught at Alonzo King LINES Ballet, LINES Ballet BFA Program, Stanford University, ODC Dance San Francisco, Smuin Ballet company and among the others.
Mr. Chao was featured in August 2018 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine. He is currently a faculty member with Oregon Ballet Theater and NW Dance Project since 2018.