Fall2 2025 EC Program DIGITALfile v3 - Flipbook - Page 13
COMPANY PROFILES
BENJAMIN WARNER | REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
A former dancer with Smuin, Benjamin now serves as Rehearsal Director, teaching, staging,
rehearsing, and coaching the Company Artists. Benjamin teaches ballet around the city and in
the East Bay, and acts as creative producer and art director on various projects outside of Smuin.
Benjamin holds a M.A. in Arts Administration from Goucher College.
KATHRYN T GRAHAM | PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
KT Graham joined Smuin in 1997 after working as Production Stage Manager and Lighting Designer for
Lewitzky Dance Company in Los Angeles, as well as Technical & Lighting Director for The Washington
Ballet in Washington, D.C., with whom she toured extensively both nationally and internationally. She
also engages in freelance projects and particularly enjoyed serving as Production Stage Manager for
Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Gay Games Arts & Cultural programs in NYC, and the UN Conference on
Women in China.
MICHAEL OESCH | LIGHTING DIRECTOR
Michael is a professional lighting designer for dance, theatre, operas, and musicals. Since joining
Smuin Ballet in 2004, he has designed the lighting for The Christmas Ballet, Salsa Til Dawn,
The Turntable, Be Here Now, If I Were a Sushi Roll, Tutto Ecceto il Lavandino, Oh, Inverted World,
and Fly Me to the Moon, as well as many other Smuin productions. He also designs lighting for
many other companies throughout the Bay Area, where his designs have won a Theatre Bay
Area award and a Shelly Award, and have been nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award and
BATCC Awards. Michael also serves on the board of United Scenic Artists Union, local 829.
www.Michaeloesch.com.
DAVID JUSTIN | PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER
David Justin is a multidiscipline artist focusing on the collaborative performing arts of dance, opera,
music, theatre and design. Before returning to the Bay Area, David served in academia for seventeen
years between the Conservatory of Music and Dance, UMKC and as a tenured professor at University
of Texas at Austin, TX where he was head of the BFA program, co-producer of the David Mark Cohen
New Works Festival, and founding Artistic Director of the American Repertory Ensemble. David
has also held posts as Ballet Master in Residence at Kansas City Ballet, Executive Artistic Director
for NWA Ballet Theatre and Artistic Director of Ballet Wichita. Formerly a principal dancer with
Birmingham Royal Ballet, a soloist with San Francisco Ballet and beginning his career with Boston
Ballet, David holds a Master’s degree in Dance in Education and the Community from the University
of Birmingham, England.
COMPANY TEACHERS
Sandra Chinn
Brett Conway
Diego Cruz
Robin Dekkers
Valerie Harmon
Amy London
Kaori Ogasawara
Rika Onizuka
Jennifer Polyocan
Jane Rehm
Amy Seiwert
Julianne Spratlin
Benjamin Warner
COMPANY PIANISTS
Lynn Inglese
Ben Juodvalkis
Geoffrey Lee
Danny Sullivan
Sky Tan
Donald White
SMUINBALLE T.ORG • 13
