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 Artistic Director Kellye Dodd began her dance training with Joann Black at Willion Glen Dance Center and further developed her choreographic skills at the San Jose City College and San Jose State University. She performed with San Jose State's University Dance Theatre and with Leda Dance Company under the direction of Jimmyle Listenbee. She completed a graduate course in Laban Studies at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London and obtained her Maste of Arts degree in dance at Mill's College in Oakland, California. Dodd also received her degree in English from San Jose State University and attained her teaching credential in English and Dance in 1990. She has been a dance educator at Independence High School, directing the school's premier dance company, IndepenDANCE. Dodd has taught modern and jazz classes for over ten years while closely working with Juilliard alumnus Gary Masters and the Limon Dance Company. Her modern classes focuses on the Limon technique. In the recent years, Dodd also co-founded San Jose's own modern dance company, sjDANCEco, but since then has stepped down from the committee to focus on the prospects of IndepenDANCE. Dodd's Choreographed Pieces for IndepenDANCE:
Assistant Director Cristina Ross McClelland trained and focused ballet throughout her childhood and danced extensively in high school and college. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Social Science at San Jose State University in 1994. Her teaching credential and supplementary authorization in dance were also attained through San Jose State University. She started her career at Independence High School teaching history but has really found her calling teaching dance. What she enjoys most about her job is helping students reach their full potential, improving their self-confidencec as dancers and appreciation of dance. She also loves the opportunity to choreograph for IndepenDANCE as well as extravaganzas involving hundreds of students for student body assemblies. McClelland also instructs all the ballet classes at Independence High School, as well as multiple jazz classes. McClelland also works in the community by teaching in local studios and summer intensives. For several years, she was the assistant director for San Jose Dance Theater, and for the past few years she has been the assistant director for San Jose Youth Ballet's production of The Nutcracker in partnership with Dance Theatre International. McClelland's Choreographed Pieces for IndepenDANCE: - "Undercurrents" (1999)  Artist-In-Residence Gary Masters has danced almost his whole life. He grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he watched Fred Astaire and danced everywhere around the house. At age eight, he started taking tap classes at a local school of music and dance. After two years of tap, Masters moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his family and started studying modern dance and ballet under the direction of Norman Cornick at Colorado College. He also took modern jazz and Spanish dance. At fifteen, he received a Ford Foundation Scholarship to study with the San Francisco Ballet during the summer. Masters studied with the San Francisco Ballet at seventeen was accepted into the world-renowned Julliard School in New York. At Juilliard, Masters trained rigorous 12-hour days with only half-hour lunch breaks. Masters also performed with the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, where he toured through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He also studied dance composition and created his own dances, which he would premiere informally at the school. Masters was one out of the 41 incoming freshmen who graduated, which demonstrates his perseverance and passion. He said he loved the competition at Juilliard, and in 1969, Masters met Jose Limon. Limon asked Masters to dance with The Limon Dance Company, and Masters was one of the six men in Limon's masterpiece, The Unsung. From 1970 to 1972, Masters danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet, while managing to take classes from Limon at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. In 1972, Masters performed in the last two pieces Limon choreographed before he died: Carlota and Orfeo. Now Masters teaches courses at San Jose State University and works especially with San Jose State's University Dance Theatre. When his plan to bring The Limon Dance Company to California failed, Masters took part in co-founding sjDANCEco. Masters has also been working exclusively with IndepenDANCE for the past several years, teaching dancers Limon modern technique and choreographing pieces for the company. Masters has also re-set original works by Limon on the IndepenDANCE Company with permission from The Limon Dance Company.
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