Meet the Dancers
Michael Armstrong
Michael Armstrong received his bachelor’s in Dramatic Art-‐Dance from UC Berkeley as well as touring with their resident company. He then performed with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre company for 10 years. Mr. Armstrong has danced with Nancy Karp & Dancers, Joan Lazarus/Dance and Robin Greenberg’s Dance Current and has been a member of DLD since 2010.
Leah Curran
Leah Curran received a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Montana. Upon moving to the Bay Area in 2007, Leah immersed herself in the dance community as a professional dancer and arts administrator. She has worked as the Director of Operations at Oakland Ballet Company since 2011, serves on the Dancers’ Group Board of Directors, and is certified in Nonprofit Management by CSUEB. Leah has been a company member of Dana Lawton Dances since 2012 and has also performed work by various Bay Area choreographers over the past decade including Nicole Bradley Browning, Gretchen Garnett, Aura Fischbeck, and Rebecca Ann Wilson, among others. In her non-dance life, Leah works as Operations Coordinator for Can Do! Eduction Foundation and teaches pre and postnatal friendly yoga and fitness throughout the Bay Area.
Aaron Draper
Aaron Draper comes from the San Francisco Bay Area. Throughout his youth he participated in African and Afro-Caribbean Dance and other dance styles along with athletics and a b-boyin’ (breakdance). He earned a BA in Spanish with a minor in performing arts from the University of California at Davis where he began to study Modern Dance and Ballet. He earned MFA in Dance Performance and Composition from Mills College. In California he danced with the Modern Dance Companies of Robert Moses, Bonnie Simoa and the Nexus Modern Dance Collective. For five years he worked with the historic Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City. In 2000 Aaron relocated to New York City where he danced with Randy James Dance Works, Rhombus Dance, Hilary Easton and Julia Ritter. Aaron was a member of Nicholas Leichter Dance for the last 12 years. He was co-Director/Choreographer for Banana Peel Dance for 7 years. Aaron has brought his unique blend of dance styles to venues all over the world including Singapore, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and almost every state in the US. Aaron is an avid teacher of dance as well as various fitness forms.
Garth Grimball
Garth Grimball received an MFA in choreography and performance at Mills College where he performed original and repertory works by Merce Cunningham, Molissa Fenley, Mel Wong, Sheldon Smith, and Katie Faulkner. He performed with Asheville Ballet for five seasons under the direction of Ann Dunn. His choreography has been featured in ODC’s Pilot Program, SpectorDance Choreographer’s Showcase, NC Dance Festival, with commissions from Asheville Ballet, Wofford College, UNC Asheville, and NC Stage Company. In addition to DLD, Garth is the co-founder of Wax Poet(s) performance collective and dances with Oakland Ballet. He is currently on faculty at Diablo Valley College.
Leah Hendrix-Smith
Leah Hendrix-Smith found dance in the 7th grade, and eventually went on to graduate from St. Mary’s College of California in 2013 with degrees in Dance and Creative Writing. While dancing with the Saint Mary’s College Dance Company, she had the great honor of performing a Janice Garrett piece at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the 2010 American College Dance Festival. Since her college graduation, Leah has continued to dance in the Bay Area and is proud to have performed with companies and choreographers including Rogelio Lopez, Shaunna Vella, Stranger Lover Dreamer, Jessie Barber, Nichele Van Portfleet, and Tyler Eash. While Leah isn’t dancing she enjoys a career in politics including her work on two presidential campaigns. Leah is proud to be a DLD member since 2014.
Katie Lawson-Gill
Katie started as a Ballet dancer in her childhood and performed for South Bay Ballet Arts. She later focused on Modern dance when she attended Saint Mary’s College of California and obtained her B.A. in Dance: Choreography and Performance. While in college, Katie completed an artist residency in Cork, Ireland where she premiered her first work entitled “One Way or Another.” As a recent graduate, Katie is currently teaching dance around the Bay Area and is honored to be a new member of Dana Lawton Dances.
John McConville
John McConville has been a dancer all his life. He has taught dance, performed, and toured with various modern dance and ballet companies in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States and in Thailand. Mr. McConville founded the Dance Program at the International School Bangkok, was an adjunct professor at Chulalongkorn University teaching Western Choreography, and taught Modern Dance at Dance Center, Bangkok. He joined Dana Lawton Dances in 2014. Of his many wonderful teachers and mentors, Mr. McConville would like to thank Victor Anderson and Frank Shawl, founders of the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA, for their love, support, and inspiration. It is a joyful occasion to return to Thailand with Dana Lawton Dances to teach and perform one more time!
Robin Nasatir
Robin Nasatir started dancing as a child and has been performing and teaching modern dance on and off since 1980. In her earlier career, she was a founding member of Mobius Dance Company and then worked with various choreographers in the Bay Area and New York City. She has been performing with Dana Lawton Dances since 2010, and performed for 10 years with the Ruth Botchan Dance Company. She has also had the pleasure of working in the past few years with Nina Haft, Kate Mitchell, Risa Jaroslow, and AXIS Dance Company, among others. She teaches adult modern dance classes at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. For more information visit www.robinnasatir.com.
Vera Schwegler
Vera Schwegler performed at the Kennedy Center for the 2010 American College Dance Festival and worked with Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton on their production of “The Experience of Flight in Dreams” in 2011, for which the cast was nominated for an Isadora Duncan award. She has danced with Dana Lawton Dances since 2011, and also dances for ka·nei·see | collective with whom she has toured domestically.. She is a certified yoga instructor and teaches full time at Ace Dance Academy.
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith has been performing and teaching dance for over 25 years. As a performer Jennie has danced with a variety of Bay Area choreographers and has been a member of DLD since 2007. As a teacher, she has created multiple dance programs – from middle school to graduate school programs in public and private institutions. Jennie received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from Saint Mary’s College. She currently runs the dance program at Korematsu Middle School.
Emeritus and Collaborators
Colin McDowell
(Emeritus Company Member)
Colin MacDowell began dancing in London in the 70’s and has worked with Sally Silvers, Bill Colemen, Kate Foley, Betsy Hulton and Janet Lilly. His own work has been presented at PS 122 in New York and the Picnic House in Brooklyn. Mr. McDowell joined DLD in 2012. When not in a dance studio, Colin teaches nursing at the Samuel Merritt School of Nursing.
Eduardo Rivera-Garcia
(Emeritus Company Member)
Eduardo spent his early years dancing and performing with the Oakland Ballet Academy. After a long hiatus from dance, he found his way back into the studio via Contemporary Dance and has not looked back since. When he's not in the dance studio, you can find him in the music studio, shimmering under his homemade disco lights. This is Eduardo’s first season with DLD.
Olutola Afolayan
Costume Designer
Olutola Afolayan is a Nigerian American who transplanted to Oakland, CA in 1995. She holds a Bachelors degree in Theater Arts and an MBA. Her passion and interest in textiles and design was inspired by her mother Monilola Afolayan.
In addition to serving as DLD Costume Designer, Olutola is also a company dancer and has danced with Dana Lawton since 2018.
In her non-dance life, Olutola works as Managing Director at Empower Initiative She is also the Founder of ShopBespoke Tailor.