BCACSB Teachers

BCACSB is committed to being an safe space for teachers and students to come together to share the joy of cultural arts from around the world. We hope that you will come to meet our featured teachers in person as they have so much to share with you!

Master Mariano Silva

Capoeira, Afro-Brazilian Dance, Music, Drumming, Ballroom Dance, Samba, and Youth Music & Movement

Elizabeth Stephens (Agulha)

Capoeira, Youth Music & Movement, and Yoga

Elizabeth was diagnosed in her early 20s with an auto-immune disease and found quickly that stress and poor eating habits only made things worse. When her doctors suggested pills and surgery, she turned to Capoeira, Dance and Yoga as a welcome relief from pain and as an outlet for much needed stress relief. Over the years, these healing art forms have been there during every trying time in her life, whether it was changing careers or battling persistent health issues. And while Capoeira and Yoga have taught her many new things about herself, she says one of the most important lessons was how to use movement as a way to listen and connect with what her body and mind need at any given time.

As a result, Elizabeth believes that movement is medicine and has been an active member of the Brazilian Cultural Arts Center through Capoeira, Afro-Brazilian Dance, Samba and now Yoga. Since her first Capoeira lesson in 2005, she’s spent over a decade learning from Mestre Mariano Silva and received the title of Aluna Formada in 2016. In 2020, she received her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training degree through Yoga Vida NYC.

Annalisa Zaccardelli

Samba

Annalisa grew up dancing. Whether it was with her parents listening to music after dinner or her formal education in ballet, modern and jazz, dance has always been a passion of hers.

She was introduced to Samba, Afro-Brazilian Dance and Capoeira in her early years at UCSB and fell in love with the art forms. She has been studying under Mestre Mariano Silva since 2010.

Dance is Annalisa’s creative outlet that she believes we all need in our lives. Annalisa also believes that dance is about freedom of expression and the freedom to be ourselves. You don’t need experience to dance. We have all rhythm within ourselves. She is grateful to be a part of the BCACSB team that creates an inclusive environment and excited to share her love of dance!

Kunjal Patel

Indian Folk Dance, BollyX, and Yoga

Kunjal has been dancing for as long as she can remember. She grew up learning and practicing Indian Classical Dance (Bharatnatyam), Indian folk dance (Garba/Raas), and Yoga. Since then she's been on various dance teams and has choreographed, performed, and taught numerous pieces of varying styles of dance (Bhangra, Bollywood Fusion, Filmy Dance, Hip Hop, Kathak, etc.). To her, dance is a form of meditation and is a beautiful way to freely express emotion and release tons of endorphins. She finds it a complementary addition to the mindful practices of yoga and meditation.

Paris Davison

Hip Hop, Jazz funk, and Adult Heels

Paris is a well known choreographer, instructor, creative director, and dancer in the 805. Paris has been in a number of professional dance and training opportunities with Samantha Caudle, Melissa Barlow, Eric Bellinger, Candice Craig, Hiphop Mindset, D Main and more. She has competed on Latin TV and Hiphop International making it to the semi finals. Paris is the founder and creator of The P$ Experience and P$ Academy. She offers classes for all ages in Hiphop and Jazz funk, and also specializes in Adult Heels classes.

Kamilla Silva

Forró

Kamilla began dancing forró in 2010 when she moved to the United States. Since 2014 she has choreographed and taught at many events and festivals in cities like Boston, New York, Amherst and Chicago. One of her choreographies was performed in a soccer game at Gillette Stadium! Kamilla has a Masters degree in Education and is currently in a Portuguese PhD program at UCSB. She uses her education background in her forró lessons and hopes to bring a more fun and open minded mentality into her classes. Kamilla has fun being a leader and a follower and she believes dancers should explore and experience both roles.

ELVAN

Bellydance

Elvan is a dancer, choreographer and performer with over 10 years of experience. She is an alumni of the UCSB Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble. Elvan is trained in American Cabaret bellydance and traditional Middle Eastern folkloric dance styles, including Turkish, Persian, Lebanese, and Egyptian. She performs regularly at Zaytoon Restaurant in Santa Barbara as well as local shows and community events.

Jaylia McGary

Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theatre

Jaylia McGary teaches Kids Dance including ballet, hip hop, tap, lyrical and jazz. She is a multi-talented artist that loves playing piano, taking dance classes, teaching ballet and karate and performing in competitions. She has a black belt in Karate and trains daily and is an award winning dancer in many national dance competition awards! Jaylia says that teaching kids dance classes has been an extremely enriching experience and she hopes to be a positive influence in young children’s lives at BCACSB.

Hector Sanchez

Salsa, Bachata

Hector Sanchez teaches Bachata and Beginning and Intermediate Salsa at BCACSB! From a young age Hector has made a career of performing and teaching a variety of Latin dance styles, including salsa, cha-cha, and merengue, as well as ballroom dance. Sanchez hopes to create a space to inspire people to get into dance and have a program where anyone, regardless of socioeconomic background or ethnicity, can perform in a safe environment. Hector strongly believes that dancing is a powerful tool for creating unity and understanding.

Katie O’Malley

Katie is a trained contemporary dancer focusing on contemporary jazz, hip-hop, ballet, and modern techniques. She has been dancing for over 20 years. Katie grew up in Chicago and studied dance as an undergrad at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana where most recently she was a resident choreographer for the Purdue Contemporary Dance Company in April 2023. After graduating from UCSB in 2022 with a master's degree in Earth Science, Katie now works in Santa Barbara as an Environmental Consultant pursuing dance in her free time.