Our Faculty
Julianne Spratlin
Artistic Director, Founder of DTC; Director of The Ballet School of San Francisco
After her successful, twenty-plus year professional career dancing with Atlanta Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet, Ms. Spratlin established the Dance Training Center / San Francisco in January of 2014. She sensed the need for a new kind of ballet school in San Francisco: one with the highest quality of training, smaller classes and a warm and supportive environment. Now named the Ballet School of San Francisco, it gives individual attention to students in a healthy, positive atmosphere, and is a place where professional dancers and students from other ballet schools come to tune-up and work on their technique. In SF, Ms. Spratlin has taught for Amy Seiwert's Imagery and regularly teaches company class for Smuin Ballet. She also returns to the Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education as a faculty member for both the Advanced and Professional Summer Intensives.
Ms. Spratlin has been teaching ballet for over 30 years now and is thrilled that, under the umbrella of Dance Training Center, The Ballet School of San Francisco was successfully launched in June 2025.
Kristin Long
Acting Director, The Ballet School of San Francisco and Director, Ballet Prelude (teaches levels 3c, 5 and Prelude)
Kristin Long enjoyed a 23-year career as a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet, before embarking on a teaching career upon her retirement as a performer.
Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, she trained at Allegheny Ballet Academy, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet School. Named an apprentice in 1989, she joined the Company in 1990, was promoted to soloist in 1992, and to principal dancer in 1999. She performed the lead role in full length works such as Tomasson’s Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, and Nutcracker; and Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote.
Many of the worlds most important choreographers created roles for her, including Christopher Wheeldon, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, David Bintley, Stanton Welch, Paul Taylor and Helgi Tomasson and she danced leading roles in numerous ballets by Balanchine, Ashton, Forsythe, Robbins amongst many others.
She was in frequent demand as a guest artist, including most notably, performing the role of Odette/Odile with English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
She was awarded the Princess Grace Foundation award in 1990 and an Isadora Duncan Dance Award in 2001. She was one of the subjects of Lucy Gray’s groundbreaking book “Balancing Acts”, which followed three prima ballerinas becoming mothers and juggling their careers with motherhood.
She started teaching towards the end of her performing career and retired from dancing in 2012. She taught at City Ballet School of San Francisco, before joining The Ballet School of San Francisco in 2017. She enjoys being able to teach students at the highest level, whilst balancing a positive approach to the rigorous training, helping to ensure their love of dance continues throughout their life.
Samantha Clark
Associate Director & Head of Student Administration (Teaches Levels 3b and 4)
A Bay Area native, Samantha began her training under Damara Bennett and Henry Berg while spending summer’s training at American Ballet Theater (ABT). She began her professional career dancing with the Oakland Ballet and Northern Ballet Theater. In 2004, Samantha moved to New York where she danced for the innovative Cedar Lake Ensemble , the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Nejila Yakin/Dance among others.
Julia Adam (Teaches Ballet Prelude, Level 5 and Rec)
Julia Adam was born in Canada and began her early dance training in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. At the age of thirteen, she continued her studies at the National Ballet School in Toronto, graduating in 1983. Julia then spent five years honing her skills with the National Ballet of Canada before joining San Francisco Ballet in 1988, where she completed her illustrious dancing career. As a principal dancer, she gained recognition for her lyricism, musicality, and broad theatrical range, performing a wide array of roles under the direction of Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson. Julia retired from the stage in the spring of 2002.
Upon retiring, Julia turned her focus to choreography, a passion she had cultivated throughout her dancing career. Her first ballet, The Medium is the Message, created for San Francisco Ballet’s Choreographic Workshop in 1993, received acclaim for its wit and distinctive movement style. This success was followed by many other works and led to commissions from variuos companies and earned an Isadora Duncan Award for Choreography.
In collaboration with composer Matthew Pierce, Julia created Night for San Francisco Ballet’s 2000 Discovery Program, which was met with critical and popular acclaim. The ballet toured internationally, performing at venues such as the Paris Opera’s Palais Garnier, The Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, and City Center in New York. Julia and Pierce continued their collaboration with Crossing for The Joffrey Ballet in 2001 and Reverence for Cincinnati Ballet in 2002. The success of Night led to further commissions by San Francisco Ballet, including Angelo (2002) and Imaginal Disc (2003), another collaboration with Pierce. In 2008, she created a rose by any other name for San Francisco Ballet’s New Works Festival, celebrating their 75th anniversary. In 2009, Julia choreographed her first full-length ballet, The Nutcracker, for Marin Ballet, and subsequently created full-length works for Diablo Ballet and Ballet Memphis.
With over 90 works to her name, Julia has choreographed for numerous prestigious companies, including San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and The Joffrey Ballet. She has also created and staged ten works for Ballet Memphis, where she served as Artistic Associate from 2010 to 2013.In 2014, Julia co-founded Julia Adam Dance with her partner and husband, Aaron Lucich, a project that reflects their shared passions for art, community, food, and the natural world. She was named Performance Director and Resident Choreographer at Marin Ballet in 2022 where she continues to teach and choreograph for the students. Julia continues to choreograph across the country, earning critical acclaim while also teaching and mentoring the next generation of dancers.
A former dancer with Smuin, Benjamin now serves as Rehearsal Director, teaching, staging, rehearsing, and coaching the Company Artists. Benjamin teaches ballet around the city and in the East Bay, and acts as creative producer and art director on various projects outside of Smuin. Benjamin holds a M.A. in Arts Administration from Goucher College.
Benjamin Warner (Boys Program, Pas de Deux)
Kyla Marcus (Teaches Prelude)
Born in San Francisco, Kyla Marcus developed her love for movement and dance at an early age. After dabbling in multiple styles, she began her ballet training at Oakland Ballet School, before attending San Francisco Ballet School. During her four years at SFBS, she had the privilege of performing with the company in Frankenstein, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. In her senior year of high school, Kyla completed her pre-professional training at The Ballet School of San Francisco; where she trained with Kristin Long, Julianne Spratlin, and Samantha Clark. Kyla spent two seasons as a trainee with Ballet Idaho starting in 2022, where she performed corps de ballet roles in Divertimento No. 15, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake, as well as original works by Penny Saunders, Joseph Hernandez, Quinn Wharton, Laura O’Malley, and others. Kyla currently dances with Diablo Ballet, where she has performed Donizetti Variations, as well as Julia Adam’s The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker Suite.
Victoria Wright (Level 2)
Katie Choi (Level 5 and REC)
Terez Dean Orr (REC Ballet & Int/Adv Open Ballet)
Terez is a ballet teacher and arts program director based in San Francisco. Originally from Hudson Valley, New York, Terez received her training at the prestigious School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet. Starting her professional dance career in 2005, Terez danced with State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara and Smuin Ballet, featured in works by Jiří Kylián, Trey McIntyre, Helen Pickett, Val Caniparoli, Anabelle Lopez Ochoa, Amy Seiwert, James Kudelka, and Jennifer Archibald. Orr has her BA through the Saint Mary’s College LEAP program, and in 2021, she co-founded Jettison Creative, an SF-based production studio built to assist emerging creatives. Honing her passion for ballet and building a community, Terez's classes are rooted in technique, energy, and heart, promoting a comfortable and inclusive atmosphere that makes artists excited to explore and grow.
Henry Berg
Called "one of San Francisco's leading dance teachers", Henry Berg has, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "carved a strong artistic niche as a teacher". With a career that spans over three decades in dance, film, television, theatre and academia, Mr. Berg has established himself as one of the foremost dance teachers in the country. (Read one of his interviews with Dance Magazine). He created the Berg Method, a floor barre technique that serves as a basis for improved balance, stability, and coordination.
In 1962, he joined the San Francisco Ballet. Subsequently, he danced for over seven years with the Joffrey Ballet and assisted choreographer Twyla Tharp in New York City. In 1975, Mr. Berg created the Pacific Ballet Company with co-founders John Pasqualetti and Sue Loyd. He was a co-founder of City Ballet School in San Francisco, and later opened The Ballet Studio - a haven for professional dancers when recovering from an injury. For many years, Mr. Berg taught the company dancers’ “rehabilitation class” at San Francisco Ballet.
Guest Faculty
Jennifer Polyocan (Int/Adv Adult Ballet)
A native of Great Neck, New York, Jennifer Polyocan (she, her) received her training at the prestigious School of American Ballet and with Nancy Bielski at the David Howard School of Dance. After graduating from Professional Children's School in NYC, she joined the Miami City Ballet where she remained for five years having the opportunity to perform soloist and principal roles. Jennifer later joined Wes Chapman's Alabama Ballet and the Washington Ballet where she performed soloist and principal roles. Jennifer performed title roles in Coppelia and Giselle and danced principal roles in works by Antony Tudor, Nacho Duato, Septime Webre, Kirk Peterson, and Dwight Rhoden. In addition to a career in ballet, Polyocan is a graduate of New College of California with a degree in Arts and Social Change. She has taught ballet for over 20 years to both children and adults. She has taught at ODC, UC Berkeley, For Smuin Ballet, Amy Stewart’s Imagery, Belvoir Ballet, and the University of San Francisco. She acquired a certification in the Vaganova method of levels 1-3 from the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, and training in RPM (Revolutionary Principals of Movement). Polyocan has studied extensively with her mentor and friend Augusta Moore, and shares many of her teaching pedagogies as she had the most significant influence on Jennifer as a teacher. She has completed a three-year training course at the Alexander Technique Center of Cambridge and is ATI certified and also certified in PBT (Progressing Ballet Technqiue™) Throughout her career she experienced mind-body techniques as an essential and valuable measure for preventing injuries and firmly believes that body awareness and curiosity leads to an intelligent dancer, performer and artist.
Joseph Walsh
Joseph Walsh is a Principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet. He was born inDoylestown, Pennsylvania and began his early training began at Walnut Hill School for the Arts where he studied under the direction of Michael Owen and Sam Kurkjian. He spent summers honing his technique at various summer programs including: American Ballet Theatre (ABT), (where he was named National Training Scholar in 2004 and 2005,) Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB), Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Chautauqua School of Dance, Stiefel and Students and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy.
He has created roles in Forsythe’s Pas/Parts 2016, Peck’s In the Countenance of Kings (The Protagonist), and Wheeldon’s Borealis. He has performed principal and featured roles in Balanchine’s The Prodigal Son, Diamonds, Rubies, Emeralds, Coppélia (Franz), Allegro Brillante, The Four Temperaments (Sanguinic), Rubies, Serenade, and Symphony in C; Cranko’s Onegin (Lensky); Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Makarova’s (after Petipa) “The Kingdom of the Shades” from La Bayadère, Act II (Solor); van Manen’s Solo and Variations for Two Couples; Morris’ Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes; Possokhov’s Magrittomania and Swimmer (The Swimmer); Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas and Shostakovich Trilogy; Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering (Brown) and In the Night; Scarlett’s Frankenstein, Fearful Symmetries and Hummingbird; and Wheeldon’s Prince in Cinderella, Continuum, Rush and Within the Golden Hour. Tomasson’s Nutcracker (Nutcracker Prince and King of the Snow) and Romeo & Juliet (Benvolio); Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote (Gypsy King); Caniparoli’s Lambarena;
Elsewhere, Joseph danced principal roles in Cranko’s Onegin and Taming of the Shrew; Hynd’s The Merry Widow; MacMillan’s Manon; McIntyre’s Peter Pan; Stevenson’s Coppélia, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty; Welch’s La Bayadère, Cinderella, Madame Butterfly, and Marie. His repertory includes other works by Balanchine, Forsythe, MacMillan, Morris, Welch and Wheeldon and ballets by Ashton, Barton, Bournonville, Bruce, Fonte, Kudelka, Kylián, Tharp, Tudor, Walsh.
Lauren Strongin
Lauren Strongin (she/her) was born in Los Gatos, California, and grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. At 11, she was offered a full scholarship to attend The Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC. In 1999, she was awarded a full scholarship to the John Cranko-Schule in Stuttgart, Germany. She was a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition in Switzerland and IBC at Jackson, Mississippi.
Lauren joined Sarasota Ballet and quickly was promoted to Principal dancer. She then danced for Houston Ballet and finally, as a soloist for San Francisco Ballet. Her classical repertoire includes principal roles in Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Giselle, Balanchine’s Coppélia, The Nutcracker, Le Corsair, Scarlett’s Frankenstein, and Cranko’s Onegin among others. She danced principal roles by Ashton, MacMillan, Balanchine, Robbins, Van Manen, Bourne, Tudor, Cranko, Kylián, Scarlett, Morris, Tharp, Possokhov, Wheeldon, Tomasson, Ratmansky, and Forsythe. She created roles in ballets by Scarlett, Morris, Elo, Barton, Peck, and others.
Lauren retired from a professional ballet career in 2019. She is a certified instructor for the Dance for Parkinson’s program, has interned with the SF Ballet in their wellness department, focusing on mental healthcare accessibility for dancers. Lauren has designed costumes for SFDanceworks and other companies and runs marketing for SFDanceworks. Currently, she is a stager and trustee for the Liam Scarlett Trust and is completing her degree in American Studies at Stanford University.
She is most proud to be mother to her daughter, Cy, with her partner Joseph Walsh. They live in San Francisco.