Faculty & Staff
Wilhelmina Frankfurt -
Executive Artistic Director
Wilhelmina is a former dancer with New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She is best known for her roles in the ballets now known as “Balanchine Black and White.” She was Artist-in-Residence at academic institutions including Sarah Lawrence College, Vassar College, and The Masters School, and she has held faculty positions with Talent Unlimited High School for the Performing Arts, where she created a Balanchine Curriculum for the New York City Department of Education approved by the George Balanchine Trust©. Wilhelmina has been Artistic Director of Catskill Ballet Theater, Artistic Advisor for Ulster Ballet Company, Co-Director of Woodstock Children’s Theater, and Director of Dance and Musical Theater for South Bronx Charter School for International Cultures & the Arts. She is a licensed teacher in both Dance and Work-based learning who has been choreographing and directing dance and theater for over twenty-eight years. She is on the advisory boards of Rosie’s Theatre Kids and MindLeaps. She is a member of the nominating committee for the Chita Rivera Awards and an advisor for I Can Still Do That, a branch of the Florence Belsky Charitable Foundation. Wilhelmina feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to study and work with the great masters of Dance of the 20th Century. She believes it is her responsibility to pass on the great gifts that were bestowed upon her.
Janell McFarland -
Managing Director
Janell grew up in Sonoma County and has lived in Marin since 2017. In 2022, she graduated with Honors from American University with a Masters in Strategic Communication focusing on advocacy and social impact. She has been a core member of Stapleton School of the Performing Arts since 2019, and is passionate about arts, education, and social justice. Janell is honored to be part of the dynamic team that continues to build the incredible legacy of excellence and inclusion that is synonymous with SSPA.
Email: janell@stapletonschool.org
Laura Lunde - Director of Upper & Advanced Divisions
Laura is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. She trained at the Kirov Academy in Washington DC, Contra Costa Ballet, Central West Ballet, and Danville Ballet. After graduating, Laura began working in Australia with Tasmanian Classical Ballet and then with Manassas Ballet Theatre, Columbia City Ballet, Sierra Nevada Ballet, and Ballet Tucson where she performed both principal and soloist roles. Last year Laura returned to San Francisco and began performing with Oakland Ballet, Oceanica Ballet, and Trivial Motion. Ms. Lunde had been a ballet teacher at the Stapleton School of Performing Arts since 2021.
Email: laura@stapletonschool.org
Megan Cherry Gmelin -
Director of Lower Division
Megan is a native of Marin County and began her dance training with Virginia Stapleton at age 4. While dancing with Stapleton School of the Performing Arts for 14 years, Megan performed in 11 Nutcrackers; La Fille Mal Garde, Coppelia, David McNaughton's Tom Sawyer, and numerous repertory pieces. She later returned to perform with the Offspring Company. Megan earned her BA in dance in May 2004 from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. While at Denison, she received training in classical ballet as well as contemporary dance. Megan performed in various repertory pieces and danced in a collaborative performance with Bobby McFerrin. She was a teacher and director of the Creative Movement Program at Denison, introducing dance to children ages 3-8. Megan began her teaching career with Stapleton in Fall 2004 and has loved instilling her passion for dance in her students.
Email: megan@stapletonschool.org
Brynn Vogel -
Director of Contemporary Division, Instructor Upper & Advanced Divisions
Originally from Sacramento, Brynn Vogel grew up dancing at Capitol Ballet Center. Upon graduating high school, Brynn danced at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre while attending Point Park University. After receiving her Bachelor of the Arts, she shifted her focus to contemporary dance and joined Texture Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Brynn danced for Texture for eight years and continued to work with them as she moved towards a freelance career in San Francisco and New York City. She now is a Certified Personal Trainer and is so excited to join the amazing faculty at Stapleton!
Email: brynn@stapletonschool.org
Virginia Stapleton -
Founder
Virginia received her professional dance training at the San Francisco Ballet School, under the tutelage of American ballet pioneers, Willam and Lew Christensen. She began touring with the San Francisco Ballet Company and the San Francisco Opera Company in 1961, performing in such works as Swan Lake, Symphony in C, Con Amore, Caprice, and Concerto Barocco. Eventually switching focus from performance to instruction, Virginia embarked on an extensive teaching career, instructing advanced and master classes for Jane Stamps Studio in Albany and the Petaluma Ballet, and eventually developing a dance program for the San Anselmo Recreation Center. In 1988, Virginia founded the Stapleton School of the Performing Arts with the unique mission of providing professional dance training, while incorporating a compassion for students as whole individuals. Since the inception of the Stapleton School, enrollment has grown steadily, and currently over 500 students are enrolled in the Ballet Division. In 1998, Virginia developed the Stapleton Youth Company to provide a semi-professional experience for the school's advanced students helping to bridge the prep-professional to the professional level.
Email: virginia@stapletonschool.org
Isabella Qureshi - Director of Youth Theater Division & Stapleton Theatre Company
Isabella Qureshi was born and raised in Marin County, CA. She began her early dance training at age 4 at Dance Theatre 7 in Fairfax, CA. Isabella went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance with a concentration in Visual Media at MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE in New York City. Upon graduating, she returned to the Bay Area to teach Jazz, Contemporary, & Ballet. Isabella has performed professionally with the Carmen Carnes Dance Ensemble, Salsa Vale Todo, Marin Musical Theatre Company, Novato Theatre Company, and the Altarena Playhouse in Alameda. Isabella, most notably, was the Choreographer for the Grateful Dead’s New Year’s Eve concert to ring in 2020, and choreographed a dance segment in an episode of the ABC tv series “Scorpion.” Isabella joined the Stapleton faculty in 2016, and continues to share her passion for dance to children and adults throughout the Bay Area.
Email: bella@stapletonschool.org
Héctor Jaime -
Instructor, Upper & Advanced Divisions
Héctor (they/she/he) was born and raised in Mexicali, Baja California, México. They began their training with Manuel Torres in El Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART) and attended a couple of summer intensives in the US throughout their high school years. They were one of the recipients of The Herb Alpert Foundation Scholarship when they attended the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) in 2015. Héctor recently graduated from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet BFA Program affiliated with Dominican University of California. Post-graduation, they had the opportunity to work with Sean Dorsey Dance, Detour Dance Company, and Dawson Dance SF in the Bay area.
Email: hector@stapletonschool.org
Saoirse Staples -
Instructor, Lower Division
Saoirse was born in San Francisco. She started dancing when she was 3, and has wanted to teach ballet ever since. When she was 12, she transferred to Stapleton from a different ballet school, and danced there until she graduated, performing in the Stapleton Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and many repertory pieces. More recently, she's returned to Stapleton as the Queen in Swan Lake, as well as joining in community theatre productions. She is glad to be home at Stapleton and sharing her love of dance with a new generation!
Email: saoirse@stapletonschool.org
Morgan Olson -
Instructor, Advanced & Lower Division
Morgan first started studying all forms of dance in her small hometown, Lake Arrowhead in Southern California. As she became a more serious student she honed in on ballet and contemporary. She then started auditioning and attending summer intensives. She attended summer intensives such as American Ballet Theatre, Philadelphia Ballet and Idyllwild Arts. After attending Idyllwild Arts Academy's summer program she was encouraged by the chair of the dance department to apply for the year around school. Morgan was accepted and awarded a full scholarship to Idyllwild Arts Academy, a boarding arts highschool. She attended and lived on campus at the academy for all four years of highschool. There Morgan studied ballet, contemporary, jazz, composition, improv and more, as well as performing various classical and contemporary works. She graduated from Idyllwild Arts in Spring of 2021 with scholastic honors and a certification in the arts (dance). She is now working locally here in Marin and is very excited to begin her teaching journey at SSPA as well as share her passion for dance and the arts with younger generations.
Email: morgan@stapletonschool.org
Babatunji Johnson- Choreographer in Residence
Babatunji is a dance artist, choreographer, and creative innovator based out of San Francisco. Over the past 8 years, Babatunji has developed a unique movement language, blending his background in ballet, contemporary, breaking, and hip hop. For over a decade he has worked with one of the greatest American choreographers, Alonzo King. As a freelance dancer, Babatunji has worked with Post:ballet, Ishida Dance Company, SFDanceworks, tinypistol and Ballare Carmel. Additionally, his work for film includes features in Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting on Starz, as well as Misty Copeland’s short art film Flower.
We are incredibly honored and excited to announce that Babatunji will be choreographing a piece for Stapleton’s 2024 Spring Showcase.
Tim Fox- Guest Artist, Instructor
Mr. Fox began his training at the age of nine in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with Moscelyne Larkin and Roman Jasinski who danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. He studied on full scholarships at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and The School of American Ballet (SAB) where he was personally asked by George Balanchine to join The New York City Ballet. While dancing at NYCB, Tim worked under the direction of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. He also danced as a Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. Tim is grateful to have had teachers like Stanley Williams, Andre Kramarevsky and Suki Schorer. Tim performed principal roles in Divertimento #15, Symphony in C, Four Temperaments, Midsummer Night's Dream, Serenade (George Balanchine), Fancy Free, Four Seasons (original cast), and Interplay (Jerome Robbins), Romeo and Juliet (Michael Smuin), Val Caniporoli as well as Forgotten Land by Jiri Kylian and Sunset by Paul Taylor .
Peter has been designing sets and lights for the theater for the past 20+ years in the San Francisco Bay Area while teaching art and drama throughout the Tamalpais Union High School District. From a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Humboldt State University to a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Design and Lighting from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Peter continues to learn from his students and every production. Currently, Peter teaches Architecture and Engineering at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, CA.
Peter Parish- Scenic Lighting, Design
A huge THANK YOU to our artistic collaborators!
Steven Caras - Photography
Leonardo Ferri - Photography
Michael Taylor - Photography
Sam Lamott (Hello Humans) - Videography