Ms. Laura
Artistic Director/ Instructor
Laura P Wexler has been teaching Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary dance for over 25 years. In 2006, Ms. Wexler opened Noe Valley Dance Space and in 2016 moved the growing program to its current location where it was reborn as San Francisco Dance Space. Her passion for dance started in Miami, FL at Maria Verdeja School of the Arts. Her training includes: The American Dance Festival, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and New World School of the Arts. In 2001, she graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance. She has had the opportunity to study, and perform with ODC/San Francisco, Les Ballet Africains, Dance Brazil, Dance Alive!, and Garth Fagan Dance. In 2005 she was a featured dancer in the movie Rent, directed by Christopher Columbus. Her choreography has been showcased throughout Florida and the bay area. In 2001 her piece Something for Everybody was selected for presentation at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Beyond the dance studio, she has her certification in Dance Healing from Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL where she worked as an artist in residence. Since 2008, Ms. Laura has also served as the Director of Dance at Sacred Heart Cathedral High School in San Francisco.
Ms. Whitney
Whitney Ross is a professional San Francisco-based dancer and choreographer. Most recently, Whitney joined Robert Moses’ Kin for their 2023 Presidio Home Season. She graduated from UCSB with a B.F.A. in Dance alongside a B.S. in Ecology and Evolution. Whitney began her training as a member of the pre-collegiate program DACPAC, where she trained and competed in a multitude of styles with renowned choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Jonathan Campbell, Cindy Salgado, and Mike Esperanza. Throughout college she performed in many student works, as well as a solo work by Valerie Huston, a staging of Jose Limon’s Missa Brevis, an original work by house choreographer Ephrat Asherie, and a reconstruction of Re: III by Shen Wei. Whitney has presented her work as part of several dance festivals across California, including the Re:Emerge festival (2021) in Santa Barbara and Emergence Dance Festival (2022) in San Francisco
Ms. Danie
Ms. Danie grew up in Western Colorado training under the school of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, where she gained a foundation in both in classical ballet and contemporary. In pursuit of furthering her ballet training, she attended Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the leadership of Darla Hoover and Noelani Pantastico where she performed works including George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and Serenade as well as other classical works such as Giselle. After graduating from CPYB she joined Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Training Program where she performed works by Alonzo King, Brett Conway, Maurya Kerr, and Gregory Dawson. When she’s not dancing, Ms. Danie also enjoys her other roles as a professional pointe shoe fitter and Pilates instructor.
Ms. Cosette
Cosette Gagnon began her training at City Ballet School and the San Francisco Ballet School where she studied with Tina Leblanc and Anita Paciotti. While a student at SFB, she was selected to perform in their annual Nutcracker performing the roles of party girl, ladybug and soldier. In 2017, Cosette began training at SF Dance Space where she trained in Ballet, pointe and Contemporary and performed the roles of Cinderella in Cinderella and Bert in Poppins the Ballet. Ms. Cosette joined the staff as one of our Pre-Ballet instructors in 2019 and directed our Summer Camps 2023-2024. Ms. Cosette is back year round following her graduation from UC San Diego. Welcome back Ms. Cosette!
Mr. Caleb
Caleb Keime began dancing at the age of nine where he trained in Ballet at Miami City Ballet School. His training continued at the School of American Ballet in NYC where he attended their summer intensives on full merit scholarship. Post high school, Caleb worked locally in Miami on movies and small productions as a freelance choreographer and dancer while also on staff as an instructor and choreographer for Universal Dance Association. He received his B.A. from Florida State University where he was Captain and choreographer of several top routines which placed consistently in the top 10 at UDA college Nationals and include top 5 finishes in 2012 and 2013, and 3rd place rankings in 2011 and 2018. He also choreographed for the Miami Heat and Miami Marlins dancers, as well as the University of Miami dance team. This is his second year with SF Dance Space. Mr. Caleb is available to book for choreography privates.
Ms. Allie
Miss Allie began dancing with San Francisco Dance Space at the age of three and continues to train in ballet, pointe, and contemporary. She has performed the roles of Coppelia (Coppelia), the Spring Fairy (Cinderella), and The Girl (Le Spectre de la Rose). In 2016, she was accepted to the Joffrey SF Summer Intensive Program where she trained with Artistic Director Josie Walsh, Andrew Brader, and Alison DeBona. From 2017-2021, she supplemented her training with ODC Teen Lab, working with Chris Lam, Kristin Damrow and Augusta Moore. In 2021, Ms. Allie joined the SF Dance Space staff as an assistant teacher working with our younger level students and taught ballet and jazz classes at our summer dance camp. When not helping out at the studio, Ms. Allie is at Chapman University where she is pursuing her major in Graphic Design with a minor in Dance!
Ms. Delila
Delila Bertelsen began her dance training when she was five at San Francisco Dance Space. She performs annually with San Francisco Dance Space, her most notable roles having been Sylvia in Sylvia and Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. During the summer of 2019, Delila attended the Joffrey San Francisco summer intensive on Scholarship, after which she was invited to join the pre-professional Joffrey Trainee program in New York City. In 2020 and 2021 she attended the Ballet West summer intensive, training under a myriad of wonderful instructors including Christopher Sellars, Calvin Kitten, and Kathryn Morgan. Ms. Delila is pursuing dance at UC Santa Barbara and continues to help us out at SFDS when in the Bay Area.
Ms. Allegra
Substitute Teacher: Allegra Bautista graduated from Saint Mary's College of California with a double major in Dance and Liberal & Civic Studies. A San Francisco native, she trained in classical ballet at San Francisco Ballet and City Ballet School. She has performed with Garrett + Moulton Productions, Davalos Dance Company and Emote Dance Theater and continues to perform professionally throughout the Bay Area. Most recently, she studied with Sidra Bell in New York. In addition to dance, Ms. Allegra also shares a love for yoga and music. She graduated from the S.F. Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division where she trained in classical guitar and is a certified yoga instructor. Ms. Allegra joined the faculty of SF Dance Space in 2015 and be seen on stage throughout the Bay Area and Europe when not substituting dance classes at SFDS.
