Elizabeth Castañeda

Elizabeth Castaneda has been teaching and choreographing for over twenty five years. Under the direction of Arletta Howard-Logan, Elizabeth was encouraged to create choreography for yearly performances for the Youth Ballet Theater of Austin, while receiving an extensive Royal Academy of Dance training. She began studies at Ballet Arts Academy at age seventeen when she was living in Spokane, Washington. She and her twin sister Melissa, were asked to create several dance pieces for Ballet Theater of Spokane that took place in theaters and schools. They later received the 1st place Award of the Choreography Division in the Northwest Allied Arts Festival.

Elizabeth went on to study at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington as a dance major. While living in Seattle, the Pacific Northwest Ballet employed Elizabeth as a camp counselor and mentor for the students attending their summer program. Alonzo King LINES Ballet caught Elizabeth's attention after she attended a performance in Seattle, and she attended the LINES summer program in San Francisco in 2003 and the LINES Ballet Year Round Training Program in 2004. After LINES she toured the United States and Canada for four months as a dancer and co-choreographer with Carpetbag Brigade, a physical theater group. Elizabeth has created three new works for the Oberlan Dance Collective PILOT program in San Francisco over the past 6 years. ODC was incredibly generous and essential in the creation of TWINSPACE, Elizabeth's dance studio that presided on the corner of 17th and Mission St. for the last three and a half years. Elizabeth managed TWINSPACE and created, collaborated, and choreographed with the San Francisco dance community. Elizabeth is one of the creators and co-choreographers of The Fossettes, a group inspired by Bob Fosse that has been performing in the Bay Area for over four years. Elizabeth has been teaching at the ODC Rhythm & Motion School for three years and has created choreography for both the ODC School and the ODC Dance Jam.