Instructors & Staff

Collette is a dancer, choreographer, and instructor based in Santa Cruz, CA. She is the current Director of Motion Pacific Dance. Collette views dance as a source of healing, community, collaboration and inspiration. From 2010-2012 Collette studied dance at Cabrillo College where she received both the Roberta Bristol Award and Tandy Beal Scholarship. She then graduated with her BFA in Dance from San Diego State University in 2014 and received the “Outstanding Graduate in Dance” award. That same year, she co-founded E&C, a dance performance collective, in partnership with Erin Reynolds. Their works show representations of the intricacies of the human condition through a kinesthetic experience. E&C performed work in Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Sacramento including ArtStreet Sacramento, Looking Left & max10, and in 2018, E&C produced an evening of work In Explicit Memory premiering at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz. Collette Tabone has also been a member of Cid Pearlman Performance dance company since 2014 and has danced in works premiering in Sweden, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Cruz and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for Ensemble Performance for Two, a duet, in 2019. Collette plans on continuing to find the small and large dances in the world, using the artform as a platform for connection, conversation and social change. 

Cookie Harrist (she/they) is a dancer recently relocated from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. She's thrilled to be here! She has danced in works by Sara Shelton Mann, Joe Goode Performance Group, LEVY Dance, NAKA Dance Theater and others. She was a faculty member at ODC School in San Francisco before her move and Cookie is a well known advocate for the #metoo movement in contemporary dance and contact improvisation. Cookie gives thanks to the wisdom of master teachers Sara Shelton Mann and Kathleen Hermsdorf, from whom she has developed her teaching practice.

Elizebeth Randall Rains grew up in Santa Cruz dancing with wonderful teachers including Ruth Fisher, Valentina Belova, Vicki Bergland, Rebecca Blair and Sara Wilbourne. She received her BA in Dance from San Francisco State University and her MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Elizebeth performed extensively in the SF Bay Area and toured nationally and internationally with companies including Paufve Dance, Liss Fain Dance, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Davalos Dance Company and Paco Gomes and Dancers. She began teaching as a teenager and has enjoyed collaborating with students at Saint Mary's College, SF State, Endicott College, Boston Ballet School, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center and at public schools and libraries. Elizebeth currently teaches in the MFA program at Saint Mary's College and studies somatic movement with Bill Evans and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Her teaching and embodied research explore the bridges and connections between somatic awareness, functional anatomy and ballet practice. Elizebeth is very grateful to be back in Santa Cruz with her family and can often be found meandering through the magical redwood forests with her two little loves. She is thrilled to be joining the Motion community.

Emily is a writer who dances for fun. She is currently working on an MFA at San José State University and has probably emailed you asking if you'd like to become a Member in Motion. If she hasn't, hey, have you considered becoming a member?

Coming soon...

Coming soon...

Lauren Korth has a BA in Environmental Studies and a Minor in Dance from UCSC. Since starting dance at age 4, Lauren carries over 20 years of dance experience in Hip Hop, Tap, Contemporary, and Ballet. As a competitive dancer in Sacramento during her youth, Lauren has a deep understanding of technique, choreography, and improvisation. At UCSC Lauren danced and choreographed for multiple shows, including Random With a Purpose and En Route: Urban Dance Showcase -- both of which she co-directed during her senior year. Lauren currently dances with re.DEFINE Collective, an adult competitive hip hop company in Hayward, CA. She enjoys taking dance classes within Santa Cruz and the greater Bay Area to continue her personal growth as a dancer. Lauren began taking classes with Motion Pacific in 2012 and is thrilled to now be teaching with the studio!

Leslie Guzman started dancing at age 5. She began her formal classical ballet training with Connie Schwarze emphasizing the Vaganova Syllabus and continued on scholarship with the San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet in New York. She has taught adult ballet at Zohar in Palo Alto, International Academy of Dance (IAD), and Pacific Arts Complex (PAC) in Santa Cruz. Leslie is an American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Certified Teacher for ABT's National Training Curriculum in Primary through Levels 4-5 & Pointe. She has performed locally with Tandy Beal & Karl Schaffer and continues to participate in the IAD annual production of The Nutcracker at the Crocker Theater. She is continually inspired by her own studies with Vicki Bergland, Rebecca Blair, Lisa Burnett, and Kristine Elliott.

Melissa is Motion Pacific’s newest board member, and one of our longest teaching staff members. She began teaching for Motion in 2005 after moving from Southern California and transferring to UCSC, with already a decade’s worth of experience choreographing and teaching ballet, tap, hip hop and jazz.

Motion became an immediate home away from home, and she has been integral in helping develop our youth program.
Over the last 10 years she has grown into the Artistic Director role of Stockings; a Holiday Cabaret, our annual fundraiser event that takes place in December.
After taking over Family Network Preschool in 2014 she decreased her teaching schedule, and now teaches adult Contemporary Jazz to a dedicated following, and loves bringing new folx into the fold.

Melissa’s style ranges from slow(ish) paced and moody, to fast paced and fun, to sultry and sexy, and is always technical and expressive. Class always starts with a meditative flowing warm-up and stretch, incorporating toning and conditioning, and then moves to choreography.

Coming soon...

Coming soon...