Dancers

Jeremy was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in Augusta, GA, where he received his initial training at the Augusta Ballet School. In 2005, he graduated with honors from the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he performed leading roles in The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and Lynn Tailor Corbett's Lost and Found. Jeremy then danced with Nevada Ballet Theater, performing principal roles in George Balanchine's Rubies and Serenade, Mathew Neenan's At the Border, along with works by Twyla Tharp, Fredrick Ashton, Val Caniporoli, and James Canfield. Since moving to San Francisco in 2012, he has worked with Robert Moses Kin, Post:Ballet, Zhukov Dance, DawsonDanceSF, and Hope Mohr Dance. He joined ODC/Dance in 2015.

Instagram: @jeremybn

Rachel Furst is from Baltimore, MD, where she began her dance training in competitive dance and then formally trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts. She graduated summa cum laude in 2013 from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA program at Dominican University of California. In 2012, she was awarded the Dizzy Feet Foundation Award. Rachel began her professional dance career with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery under the expert mentorship of Ms. Seiwert. She has also had the opportunity to be a guest artist with Dawson Dance SF and Smuin Contemporary Ballet, where she eventually joined as a full company member in 2015. She joined ODC/Dance in 2016.

Instagram: @sailorraerae

Mia J. Chong is from San Francisco, California. She received her training from the Kirov Academy of Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, the Ailey School, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the School at Jacob’s Pillow’s Contemporary Program, and ODC School, where she trained for over a decade. Mia has danced with Post:ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, and San Francisco Symphony. She has received a Princess Grace Award, Chris Hellman Dance Honor, Aninstantia Foundation Grant, LINES Ballet Homer Avila Award, Jacob’s Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship, and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nominations. Mia currently studies Organizational Behavior and Change at New York University. She joined ODC/Dance as an apprentice in 2016 and was promoted to company dancer in 2018.

Instagram: @miajchong
Website: miajchong.com

Allie Papazian is from Los Angeles, CA. She trained at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and was a member of the inaugural class in the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University of California, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2010. While in college she danced professionally with Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF, and performed with Zhukov Dance Theatre for their 2010 and 2011 seasons. Upon graduation she joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain. In her five years with the CND she has had the privilege of performing works by Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Johan Inger, and Alexander Ekman among others. Later she joined ODC/Dance for their 2015/2016 season. After freelancing and working with numerous bay area companies including Post:Ballet, Kambara+Dancers and Dance Theatre of San Francisco she returned to ODC/Dance as a company member in 2019.

Instagram: @alliepapa

Jaime Garcia Castilla was born in Madrid, Spain, and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Professional Dance. He was named an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet in 2001 and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet the following year. He was promoted to soloist in 2006 and to principal dancer in 2008. He created roles in Elo’s Double Evil; McGregor’s Borderlands; Morris’ Beaux, Joyride, and Sylvia; Page’s Guide to Strange Places; Possokhov’s Classical Symphony and Fusion; and Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour. As a guest artist, Jaime performed at “Ballet Stars From San Francisco,” the Lively Arts Foundation Gala in Fresno, California, in 2012, and at the Pas de Deux Gala in Valladolid, Spain, in 2011 and 2012. He danced Flames of Paris and “The Ocean and Two Pearls” from The Humpbacked Horse in Osaka, Japan, in 2006.

Brandon W. Freeman, better known as “Private”, hails from Colorado. He is an ODC veteran having first joined the company in 1996 - and has passionately danced, coached, taught, choreographed, and championed for ODC ever since!  He has also been a guest artist, collaborator, and choreographer for many other Colorado and Bay Area companies and schools, and was a Principal Dancer in the movie, “The Matrix 2: Reloaded”.  Private has always brought his outside experiences back to his artistic home to enrich and deepen his contributions to ODC.  Nominated multiple times, Mr. Freeman received Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for Ensemble Performance in 2002 with Brian Fisher, 2012 with Katie Faulkner, and 2014 with Katherine Wells for Amy Seiwert’s The Devil Ties My Tongue. Notably, Private received a nomination for Individual Performance in 2004 for his role, which he helped to create, in Brenda Way’s masterpiece, Investigating Grace.  As a teacher, incorporating ODC's values, he enjoys teaching ballet and modern dance technique as well as Dance for Parkinson’s Disease. Mr. Freeman also has had the honor of being entrusted by Val Caniparoli to set Mr. Caniparoli’s work on Singapore Dance Theater and Ballet X in Philadelphia.

Private seeks to exhaust the joys of life! He is a woodworker, oil painter, audiobook narrator, a poet, and an actor. He is working on his Private Pilot Certificate, and served honorably as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard for 11 years. He gratefully acknowledges all who have influenced his career; specifically Brenda, KT, Sonya, and Randy.

Website: www.pfcrafts.co
Instagram: @PvtPilot73

Ryan Rouland Smith hails from Colorado, where he received his training at the Denver School of the Arts.  In 2013 Smith graduated Cum Laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography.  While a student at the American Dance Festival, he had the opportunity of working with John Jasperse, Reggie Wilson, and performed in the first reconstruction of Bill T. Jones’ Love Redefined.  Smith had the pleasure of joining Kate Weare company in 2014 performing in and originating roles in such works as Dark Lark, Unstruck, Marksman and Praise.  Most recently Smith has performed in Stefanie Batten Bland’s Look Who is Coming to Dinner and the collaborative process between Kate Weare and ODC leading to Up for Air / Decameron.  He is thrilled to be joining ODC in their Fall 2021 season.

Simon Schuh’s passion lies within blending both realms of contemporary dance and neoclassicism, aiming to integrate art that pairs visceral movement with vigorous technical elements. Simon completed his BFA in Dance at the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, and hopes to use his hybrid dance education to pursue a career as a contemporary dance artist while exploring both choreography and performance art curation. Simon’s use of interdisciplinary art forms in his dancing and choreography have led him to curate three choreographic works at USC, alongside professionally dancing and collaborating with two international choreographers at the REDCAT Theater and Los Angeles Getty Center. Simon has performed works by: William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Barak Marshall, and Paul Taylor. Simon is excited to be joining ODC as an apprentice for the upcoming season!