What makes CAPA different from other studios is the unparalleled caliber of our staff and teachers. Many of our teachers are internationally renowned. They have performed on Broadway, the San Francisco Ballet, in Germany, Japan, Hungary, India, Iceland and Chile - literally all over the world. The list of dance legends they have worked with is remarkable - Jerome Robbins, Michael Smuin, our much-loved, the late Ronn Guidi, to name just a few. Our teachers are professionally trained by some of the best teachers and choreographers in the world.
After more than 40 years of success in teaching the art of dance in Moraga, CAPA has an outstanding reputation for quality and attracts the best dance educators. It’s a testament to the experience we provide that several of our staff members grew up dancing at CAPA, continued their dance education in college and/or the professional world, and have come “home” to teach for us. Many of our teachers have been with the studio for ten plus years. All staff/faculty continue to sharpen their skills and participate in supplemental dance education.
Thanks to the professional-level training at CAPA, our students routinely gain acceptance via auditions to elite college and summer programs at The Bolshoi Ballet, Julliard, Boston Ballet, Joffrey, San Francisco Ballet, Alonzo King Lines, American Ballet Theater (ABT), Alvin Ailey, UCLA and more. Numerous CAPA graduates have been accepted to the dance program at The Tisch School of the Arts at NYU; one of the most elite dance programs in the world that only accepts 35 dancers each year from an international pool of applicants.
CAPA Management
Joan and Doyle
Joan Robinson Borchers - Artistic Director
Joan Robinson Borchers began her professional career at age 13 when cast to play Ginger Rogers’ little sister in “Annie Get Your Gun.” Roles with Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, Barbara Eden, Gene Barry and many other stars followed. At Duquesne University, she was a full scholarship student and a member of the world-renowned Duquesne University Tamburitzans. After living and performing in Berlin, Germany, she made her way to El Paso, Texas, where she was a television news anchor for the NBC affiliate. Joan lived in Moraga from 1973-1999 where she, with her late husband Peter, raised their two daughters, AJ and Megan. She is now married to Doyle Borchers and lives in the Napa Valley.
Doyle Borchers - President and CEO
Doyle Borchers, a native Texan, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he was Captain of the U.S. Heavyweight National Championship Crew Team. In 31 years of service in the Navy, Doyle was an acclaimed fighter pilot, test pilot, and finally, the Captain and Commanding Officer of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. He retired from the Navy and after retiring twice more in the corporate world, Joan convinced him to bring his remarkable management and people skills to CAPA.
Cathy Demos - General Manager
Cathy Demos has been involved with CAPA in several capacities over the years: as a dancer’s parent (2006-2021), as Lead Seamstress and Wardrobe Co-Manager (2011-2021), and now as General Manager.
She comes to us with a wealth of experience in management, team building and client care from other Bay Area businesses.
Cathy’s interest in Arts Education is long standing - her first career was as an Archaeologist on numerous projects in the Middle East, California, and Hawaii. She has taught at UC Berkeley, travelled all over the world, and loves the Bay Area Arts scene - and she continues to be an advocate for professionals and students in the Arts.
Lynn Silverfoote - Assistant General Manager
Lynn Silverfoote grew up dancing at CAPA since the age of 5, and we are so happy to have her “home.” After thirteen years at CAPA, she attended UCLA where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in World Arts and Cultures with an emphasis in Dance Studies. While at UCLA, she was a member of the UCLA Undergrad Dance Company as well as an assistant teacher at a nearby elementary school teaching movement to children ages 3 through 10.
After college, she moved back to the Bay Area and continues to train under the legendary Lynn Brilhante and Ann Barrett and also performs with City Dance Studios, Alonzo King Lines Ballet/SF Dance Center, and Dance Mission. While she continues her own studies to continue to grow as a teacher and choreographer, we are thrilled to have her back at CAPA teaching to pass on her incredible dance training and knowledge to the next generation of CAPA dancers.
CAPA Genre Directors
Lynn Brilhante
Jazz and Contemporary Director
Lynn Brilhante is constantly in demand as one of the top teachers/choreographers in the nation and boasts an impressive resume of choreographic and performance achievements, spanning the diverse media of stage, film, television and video. Her dancing and choreography are often described as dynamic, fluid, and gutsy, and her pieces are always among the most memorable in our shows. She brings a fresh and innovative approach to the world of jazz and contemporary and shows a unique ability to merge and update various elements, in the process creating her own trademark style. These talents have earned her a nomination for the Theatre L.A. Ovation Award for Choreography. Ms. Brilhante has also received the Dance Masters of America Choreographer’s Award and the Robbi Award for Choreography.
Her acclaim reaches internationally to the Jazz Workshop, Die Werkstatt, in Dusseldorf Germany, where she has been invited as a guest artist. Her success in transferring her love of dance through teaching is evidenced by a flock of loyal students, both in her studio classes in the San Francisco Bay Area and at numerous workshops, master classes and camps throughout the world. Her contributions will continue to enrich the dance world for decades to come. CAPA is extremely fortunate to have had Lynn as a major backbone of our esteemed faculty for many years.
Rachel Chew
Ballet Director
CAPA’s Ballet Mistress, Rachel Chew was awarded the George Balanchine scholarship at the age of 11 to study with the School of American Ballet in New York City. She went on to receive full scholarships with both the San Francisco Ballet and Hungarian State Ballet School in Budapest. Upon graduation, she was asked to join Ballet de Santiago in Chile at the age of 18. She was promoted to soloist within the year and went on to dance for Ivan Nagy at the Cincinnati ballet as a soloist and principal.
She has also danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Smuin Ballet. A few of the roles she has performed are Snow Queen (San Francisco Ballet), The Great Gatsby, Giselle, Paquita, Cinderella (Cincinnati Ballet), & Romeo and Juliet pas de deux (Smuin Ballet). She is married to former professional dancer Sedley Chew and they have three young boys. She has also taught for the Marin Ballet and Contra Costa Ballet. She joined the teaching faculty at CAPA in 2009.
Namita Kapoor
Tap Director
Namita Kapoor is a former CAPA dancer and now serves us as our Tap Director. Namita takes tap to a whole new level, having worked with the likes of Jerome Robbins and Gregory Hines (among many others). She is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, and visual and graphic artist. From Bollywood to jazz, tap, and vocal and body percussion, Namita’s varied dance disciplines have resulted in a variety of achievements. Her credits include the first National Broadway Tour of Bombay Dreams, Bollywood’s “So you Think You Can Dance: Just Dance” with Bollywood film star Hrithik Roshan; Jerome Robbins ‘The King and I,” Mike Myer’s ‘The Love Guru” with Jessica Alba; the internationally acclaimed tap dance company, “Jazz Tap Ensemble,” and various other national venues including the Joyce Theater NYC, the Supper Club off Broadway, and NYC’s Lincoln Center.
Namita has performed and taught abroad in Brazil, India, Italy, Iceland, Japan, and Turkey. She currently performs with Keith Terry’s all body band, Slammin, working closely with international artists in annual Body Music Festivals in the Bay Area and abroad. Her work also includes collaborations with Bay Area jazz choreographers Lynn Brilhante and Ann Barrett as well as performing Bollywood, tap and jazz dance in various venues across the Bay Area. Namita is currently on faculty at ODC and Rhythm and Motion and is responsible for helping to create and promote Tap and Bollywood Dance in both Youth and Adult programs, as well as choreographing works in their annual productions. Namita is a graduate of UCLA with a BA in World Arts and Cultures and Fine Art and has performed works choreographed or directed by Jerome Robbins, Gregory Hines, Marguerite Derricks, Baayork Lee, Farah Khan, Lynn Dally, Maria Gillepsie, Vigi Prakash, John Pennington, Sam Weber, Fernando Barba and many others. Namita currently has her own art studio and works professionally as a visual artist alongside her dance career with large art installations in and around the Bay Area. You can see more of her work at www.namitakapoor.com.
Stacey Yuen
Primary Director
A native of Moraga, Stacey began her dance training at CAPA. Now she is our Primary Division Director forming children as they begin their first three years of dance at CAPA.
She attended respected summer dance intensives at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2014, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, graduating with honors and performing in works by notable choreographers such as Crystal Pite and Kendra Portier. Stacey went on to work with Seán Curran and the Santa Fe Opera, dancing in the American premiere of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. She also worked with and performed in works by Johannes Wieland and Stella Zannou at the one small step dance festival in Corfu, Greece. Stacey spent 3 seasons as a dancer with the Sticky Trace Company in Hamburg, Germany.
Upon moving back to the Bay Area, Stacey has worked with choreographers and companies such as Lenora Lee Dance, Alyssandra Katherine Dance Project, little seismic | Katie Faulkner, Robert Moses’ KIN, and RAWdance among others. She is grateful to be back at CAPA, her second home. For upcoming performances, go to staceyyuen.com.
CAPA FACULTY
Shirley Wong
Shirley Wong, while still in high school, taught ballet and tap for the Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department. While attending UC Berkeley, she continued to take classes at Berkeley Ballet, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and Contra Costa Ballet. After graduating from Berkeley, she taught classes at Contra Costa Ballet from 1983 through 1992. During her tenure at Contra Costa Ballet, she attended several Vaganova training seminars taught by Karen Morell, who was certified in Vaganova pedagogy.
Shirley has been teaching at CAPA for 25 years and is known for her wonderful pointe classes.
Lisa Cameron
Lisa Cameron began her dance studies at age 4, with her mother Deborah Pitts, a former professional dancer and member of the CAPA faculty. At age 7, Lisa was given a scholarship to attend San Francisco Ballet School, where she remained for 9 years, continuing to the highest level in the ballet school. At 8 Lisa was given a scholarship to attend the Oleg Briansky Summer Program in New York and at age 10, a scholarship to attend the American Ballet Theater School Summer Program in Los Angeles. '
During her years at San Francisco Ballet, Lisa performed many roles in the company’s Nutcracker, including a child in the party scene, Clowns, Dragon Flies and Butterflies, performing in more than 100 performances at the San Francisco Opera House. While at SF Ballet, Lisa was chosen to perform in La Bayadere with the famous Bolshoi Ballet. In 2013, Lisa joined CAPA’s Senior Ballet Company and that Christmas and the following year, exquisitely performed the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker. In 2015, Lisa attended the University of California Santa Barbara, working on a double major in Biology and Dance. She has now returned to the Bay Area where she continues to attend college while working towards her career goal, being a dance educator. We are so delighted to have her back!
Jennifer Jaffe
In 1994, Jennifer became a founding member of Smuin Ballet S/F where she danced until 1998 performing principal roles in the Christmas Ballet, Dances with Songs, Bouquet, Songs of Mahler, the Tempest Suite, and others. With the company she has had the honor of being on film in the Fantastiks, A Walk in the Clouds, and the Return of the Jedi Special Edition. In addition to CAPA, Jennifer also teaches at Petaluma School of Ballet, Sebastopol Ballet, and Sonoma State University where she is an adjunct faculty member of both dance and academic courses. Jennifer also holds a Master's of Arts Degree in History. In her spare time she enjoys taking ballet class, reading, and going on hikes with her husband and son.
Michelle Anjani
Initially, Michelle joined the CAPA family at age 12 to expand her dance vocabulary, since her only training before was in ballet. After a few intense years of doubling her weekly technique courseload, she learned enough to hold her own among peers in her classes, and she grew to embrace and cherish every major dance form. Upon completing her Kinesiology and Dance studies at San Francisco State University, Michelle returned to CAPA as a Strength & Conditioning, Tap, Jazz, and Contemporary instructor. Today, Michelle's love of Movement Sciences and Performance Psychology greatly informs her teaching style and further nurtures her passion for the performing arts. She is thrilled to be back at CAPA, her second home.
Robyn DeGuzman
Robyn DeGuzman, MPH, has been a vessel of nurturing artistic movement for over 20 years. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from UC Irvine, Robyn began a professional musical theatre career in New York City and toured the country with the Broadway musicals Beauty and the Beast (Assistant Dance Captain), Elf!, and Miss Saigon. Her coaching and teaching career also expanded at this time, with her students appearing professionally in Broadway shows such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Mary Poppins, and Kinky Boots, as well as TV and film. Robyn was on the faculty of Marymount Manhattan College’s Theatre Arts department for several years, training undergraduates in ballet, tap, and jazz.
With a dedication to inspire more members of underrepresented communities to pursue the performing arts, Robyn was instrumental in developing Baayork Lee’s National Asian Artists Project’s after school program at The Yung Wing School, a public elementary school in Manhattan’s Chinatown. They subsequently went on to win numerous awards annually at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA, a legacy that contines to today.
After obtaining a Master of Public Health degree from California State University, Northridge, Robyn began a public health career in Stockton, CA, where in addition to collaborating on the implementation of Assembly Bill 617 as a constituent of the San Joaquin County public health department, Robyn began her tai chi training with Dr. Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Arthritis, an evidence-based program endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Today, Robyn continues her devotion to empowering and healing movement as a mother, tai chi teacher, and tap coach.
Ann Marie Dragich
Ann tap danced in New York from 2008-2020 after studying at the Eddie Brown Studio for the Arts (THE BEAT) with Gregg Geoffroy, Babs Yohai and Mark Mendonca in Berkeley, CA. She is a member of Cole Collective under the direction of Nicole Ohr, and was a founding member of Guilty Pleasures Cabaret. Ann has presented her own work in NYC at Dance Astoria, Stam-pede (Symphony Space), Director’s Choice Showcase, Local Produce and Winter Follies (produced by Spoke the Hub), Denise Caston’s “Choreographer’s Canvas”, Kat Wildish’s “Performing in New York” and Sol Dance Center’s “Dancesanity" (Frank Sinatra School of the Arts), and in San Francisco at Safehouse Arts. Ann has also presented work in the Emerging Choreographer’s Series curated by Mare Nostrom Elements, and was a Spring 2018 cycle AiRe Artist in Residence at Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana creating tap dance choreography. Ann was a recipient of the Deans Summer Fellowship at UC Davis for research in tap dance and identity, and the recipient of the Pine Award for her work in dance theater at UC Davis. Ann holds a teaching certificate from the American Tap Dance Foundation, and an MFA in Dramatic Art.
Sofia Amador
Sofia started dancing ballet at 4 years old in her home town in Northern Mexico. She then continued dancing jazz until she decided to quit at 8. After trying different sports she decided to go back to dance at 14, when she started training Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Since then, Sofia’s been training in different styles including modern dance techniques like Graham and Horton as well as somatics. After moving to the United States she continued trying new dance styles by taking summer intensives in the Bay Area and LA. She trained at Millenium Dance Complex, LINES Ballet and ODC. Sofia also studied at Mills College with choreographers like Robert Moses and Crystaldawn Bell. She completed her AA Degree at DVC and BA in Performing arts and choreography from Saint Mary’s College. She’s happy to be part of CAPA and for the future she wants to continue teaching, dancing and choreographing.
Charlsie Green
Charlsie began dancing at CAPA the day after she turned three years old. She began training in Artistic Gymnastics at the age of two, and at the age of five she started her career as a Rhythmic Gymnast. In 2009 she danced in the Carlos Carvajal’s Oakland Ballet Company “Nutcracker” and that Spring, with Peninsula Ballet Company as a Fairy Paige in the “The Sleeping Beauty Ballet.”
In 2013, 2014 and 2015, Charlsie danced the part of Jester for “CAPA’s Nutcracker.”
In 2016, Charlsie once again danced in the Oakland Ballet’s “Nutcracker” under the direction of Graham Lustig, and that following Spring was invited to dance in Graham Lustig’s West Coast Premiere of his “Midsummer Nights Dream.” Over the years she has studied under several Russian Instructors in the Vaganova Ballet Method.
As a Rhythmic Gymnast, Charlsie competed at NorCal State, Regionals, National Championships, and has competed Internationally. Charlsie competed around the United States for several years and has attended several intensive training camps where she was trained by Olympic Champions. She has also attended National Training Camps with USA Gymnastic Coaches and Team members. She became a USA Gymnastics Certified Coach, and has coached many levels and choreographed routines. One of the highlights in her professional Rhythmic Gymnastics career was the Grand Opening of the Chase Center in San Francisco.
In January of 2021, Charlsie returned to CAPA and danced with the Junior Ballet and the Junior Ballet Company. Later that summer, she began dancing with the Senior Ballet Company and returned to all Genres of dance at CAPA. She was honored to earn the role of Rose Queen for the 2021 “CAPA Nutcracker”. She is thankful for the opportunity to have graduated with her Academy Classmates in June of 2022.
Charlsie is very grateful for the excellent foundation CAPA provided her. Dancing under the leadership of Joan Robinson Borchers, Lynn Brilhante, Rachel Chew, Lynn Silverfoote, and Namita Kapoor, just to name a few of the amazing instructors that have taught her so much more than dance!
Charlsie looks forward to teaching the new generations of dancers at CAPA.
Nick Wagner
Nick Wagner is a contemporary and tap dancer and somatic healer in the Bay Area holding a BFA in dance performance and a minor in kinesiology from Chapman University. He is also a certified massage therapist (CMT) and a level two Responsive Body specialist (responsivebody.com). Since moving to the Bay Area, he has performed works by RAWdance, Robert Moses' KIN, ZiRu Dance, and Marika Brussel, and teaches for ODC's Youth & Teen tap program. When not in the studio, Nick manages his bodywork practice nwbodywork.com and is a teacher's assistant for Responsive Body workshops.