Faculty

Ayako Takahashi Director & Founder Ayako School of Ballet
Artistic DirectorPeninsula Youth Ballet

Originally from Japan, Ayako was a principal dancer with the Tokyo City Ballet Company and the Matsuyama Ballet Company. She has studied with Sulamith Messerer, Aleksei Varlamov and Mikiko Matsuyama. View Profile

Logan Martin Ballet Instructor

Logan Martin (they/them), is a trans non-binary individual from Silverdale, WA. Logan trained at Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy and has danced professionally with Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet View Profile

Shelley Keefe Ballet Instructor

Shelley trained from age 5 in the UK’s Royal Academy of Dancing curriculum and system of examinations. She went on to dance with the ballet company of Innsbruck’s State Theater, Austria, Nuernberg View Profile

Rika Nina Onizuka Ballet Instructor

A native of the Bay Area, Rika Nina Onizuka trained locally with Ayako Takahashi, Richard Gibson and Zory Karah. She then went on to study at the San Francisco Ballet School, and as a scholarship stud View Profile

Karina Eimon Ballet Instructor

Karina is a classical and contemporary dancer and teacher from the Bay Area. She started her training at Ayako School of Ballet in Belmont, CA, and continued her studies at Milwaukee Ballet II an View Profile

Mimi Rana Contemporary, Jazz and Acro Instructor

Mimi Rana, who has trained for over 15 years in numerous styles of dance in the Bay Area, grew up to be a competitive dancer at the age of 10. She has won numerous titles in View Profile

Guest Teachers

 

  • Laura Alonso
  • Yuko Katsumi
  • Alexey Kulpin
  • Le Mai Linh
  • Joseph Levinson
  • Lara Lowe
  • Mariko Miyauchi
  • Jared Redick
  • Pollyana Ribeiro
  • Robert Sund
  • Mikhail Tchoupakov
  • Regina Zarhina
  • George de la Pena
  • Yuka Omori
  • Mario Vitale Labrador
  • Hansuke Yamamoto