Tanya Tolmasoff-Knippelmeir has been an instructor at Santa Rosa JC Dance Department since 2015.  Her dance classes have a strong emphasis on artistic collaboration, contemporary ballet & release technique, Modern improvisation, choreography and performance quality. She holds her MA in Arts Administration & Cultural Policy from Goldsmith University London, and a BA in Theatre, Dance, and Costume Design from Cal Poly, SLO.  She is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of UPside Dance Company in California since 2012, bringing innovative dance to unconventional spaces. Tanya Tolmasoff is also the newest dance instructor at ArtQuest at Santa Rosa High School.  Tanya has performed Internationally with Variable Velocity Performance Group (California), Deyo Dances (California and St. Petersburg, Russia), Interweave Dance Theatre (Colorado), AMP: Dance (NYC), RE:DS Dance Company (London, UK), and a Viennese Circus Act.  As a designer she created Theater costumes for off-Broadway productions in NYC and directed a Californian Fashion Company called Melanie Renee Design.