House of Names is a contemporary ballet that looks at mythology and women though a modern lens.

Marika Brussel is a contemporary choreographer working in the ballet genre. Her work reshapes narratives through ballet, showing our inter-connectedness and equity as humans, from country to country, class to class, and generation to generation, bringing ballet into the 21st Century. Her work has explored myths, plays, and personal stories such as Unraveling, a ballet about dementia. From Shadows: A ballet about homelessness, premiered in October 2017, to sold out audiences in San Francisco. Her ballet, Still Time For Impossible, looked at the climate crisis. ​ Her ballets have been commissioned by ARC Dance, Columbia Repertory Ballet, Bay Pointe Ballet, Emote Dance Theater, Berkeley Ballet Theater, and Ballet Theater of New Mexico. She has shown work at festivals around the country, including Dancing in the Park, Oakland Dances, West Wave, Brooklyn Ballet’s First Look, PushFest, Spectordance and SJChoreoFest. Marika has held residencies at the Dresher Ensemble Residency, Moving Arts SF, SAFEhouse Arts and at Keshet Makers Space. She has twice been part of ODC's Pilot Project, and was a choreographer in Doug Varone's Devices 5. Her other awards include two Fleishhacker Opportunity Grants and a grant from The Classical Girl. Marika was a 2019 recipient of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Fellowship for Contemporary Ballet. She is a current fellow at LABA East Bay.

Marika Brussel (Choreographer/Director)
Marika Brussel is a contemporary choreographer working in the ballet genre. Her work reshapes narratives through ballet, showing our inter-connectedness and equity as humans, from country to country, class to class, and generation to generation, bringing ballet into the 21st Century. Her work has explored myths, plays, and personal stories such as Unraveling, a ballet about dementia. From Shadows: A ballet about homelessness, premiered in October 2017, to sold out audiences in San Francisco. Her ballet, Still Time For Impossible, looked at the climate crisis. ​ Her ballets have been commissioned by ARC Dance, Columbia Repertory Ballet, Bay Pointe Ballet, Emote Dance Theater, Berkeley Ballet Theater, and Ballet Theater of New Mexico. She has shown work at festivals around the country, including Dancing in the Park, Oakland Dances, West Wave, Brooklyn Ballet’s First Look, PushFest, Spectordance and SJChoreoFest. Marika has held residencies at the Dresher Ensemble Residency, Moving Arts SF, SAFEhouse Arts and at Keshet Makers Space. She has twice been part of ODC's Pilot Project, and was a choreographer in Doug Varone's Devices 5. Her other awards include two Fleishhacker Opportunity Grants and a grant from The Classical Girl. Marika was a 2019 recipient of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Fellowship for Contemporary Ballet. She is a current fellow at LABA East Bay.

Carla Lucero (Composer)
Carla Lucero is an American composer/librettist. A native of Los Angeles, she studied with composers Leonard Rosenman, Morton Subotnik, Alan Chapman and Rand Stieger. She developed a highly melodic compositional style, drawing upon sources from Romantic and Neo-Classical music.Her mission is to create music that moves people to rethink stereotypes and empower the voiceless and invisible.

Alysia Chang (Dance Artist)
ALYSIA CHANG, a Bay area native, spent her early years training at the Contra Costa Ballet. She went on to graduate magna cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA and a Minor in Arts Management, receiving the ballet faculty award. Chang has danced with Sacramento Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, San Francisco Opera, DawsonDance SF, Concept 04, and Red Brick Company. Abroad she has toured China with Ziru Dance and was invited to study in Taiwan with the national company "Cloudgate" studying tai-chi, martial arts and modern dance. Most recently, she has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Ballet and Amy Seiwert's Imagery bringing Amy’s ballet "Wandering" to the Joyce Theatre /Jacob's Pillow and working with noted choreographer's Gabrielle Lamb and Jennifer Archibald. This season Alysia appeared with SF Danceworks and Smuin Contemporary Ballet for the 2018 Fall Season. Alysia’s repertoire includes new works by Helen Pickett,Yannis Adoniou, Melissa Barak, Graham Lustig, Nick Korkos, Janice Garrett/Charles Moulton and classics by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Lila York, and Mark Morris, Alysia was lucky study composition under the late Kazuko Hirabayashi at SUNY Purchase. Using this strong foundation, she has choreographed for the Sacramento Ballet’s annual “Beer and Ballet” performances and has been commissioned twice by local Ziru Dance.

Sasha Gologorskya (Dance Artist)
Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Sasha trained at the San Francisco Ballet School under Pascale Leroy, Yoira Esquivel Brito, Shannon Bresnahan, and Tina LeBlanc. She has attended intensive programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Arts Umbrella, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Sasha holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance with a Concentration in Ballet Performance and a minor in Psychology from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York. There, she performed repertory and new works by George Balanchine, Michelle Thompson-Ulerich, Margo Sappington, Norbert de la Cruz III, and Bettijane Sills. In her third year of studies, Sasha was selected to study abroad at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in Hong Kong. Sasha performed in Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival 2018 with a featured role in Luca Veggetti’s reimagined version of Jerome Robbins’ Watermill. In the fall of 2019, Sasha joined Menlowe Ballet for their production of It’s a Wonderful Nutcracker.

Jenna Marie (Dance Artist)
Born in Philadelphia, PA she began her dance training at Olga Kresin's Ballet School and later attended The Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Jenna has participated in a number of dance competitions including The Youth America Grand Prix, where she was featured in the documentary “First Position.” As a scholarship student at The Ailey School, Marie became a member of Ailey II under the direction of Sylvia Waters. Following Ailey II, Jenna was a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, Momix and The Metropolitan Opera. She Has been a guest artist with The black Iris Project and was a founding member of Zest Collective. Jenna Marie has worked for artists such as Beyoncé, Romeo Santos, Nile Rodgers, and Betsey Johnson. Marie has spent the last 3 seasons as a company member with Ballet Hispanico.