UPside Dance Company is a local contemporary dance company directed by Tanya Knippelmeir. UPside is known for presenting innovative choreography in unconventional spaces since 2012.  The Company is composed of professional dancers living in Sonoma County who bring their world wide dance experience and multitude of dynamic talents to the stages, streets and hillsides of Northern California.  

UPside Directors

Tanya Tolmasoff Knippelmeir (Artistic Director):

A homegrown Healdsburg native, Tanya Tolmasoff Knippelmeir has worked professionally as a dancer, performer, designer, and arts/cultural manager both nationally and internationally for two decades. Tanya is also an instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College Dance Department and ArtQuest Dance program at Santa Rosa High School. Her SRJC choreography has twice received awards and been nationally recognized at the American College Dance Association.

Tanya holds an MA with Distinction in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmith University of London, and a BA in Theatre, Dance, and Costume Design from Cal Poly University, SLO.  While in London (2011-2012) she worked in the Creative Development Department for Sadler’s Wells London’s Dance House working for renown choreographers Mathew Bourne, Akram Khan, Sidhi Larbi, Wayne McGregor, Russel Maliphant, and artists from Pina Bausch, and helped coordinate ‘BIG Street Dance 2012‘ where over 1,000 performers danced on the steps of London’s National Gallery and Trafalgar Square.

On stage and on tour, Tanya has performed with Deyo Dances in St. Petersburg (Russia), Interweave Dance Theater (Boulder CO), Variable Velocity Performance Group (California), Civic Ballet (California), AMP:Dance (NYC), RE:DS Dance Company (London, UK), and a Viennese circus act (Yes, you read that right, she was a clown!). As well as a performer, she has also designed theater costumes for off-Broadway productions in NYC, dance costumes for Variable Velocity and the SRJC Dance Department, and directed a Californian fashion company called Melanie Renee Design.

Erin Meyers (UPside Company Manager)

Erin Meyers is a Healdsburg mother, wife, acupuncturist, body worker and winery owner. Erin has been dancing all her life, taking classes in ballet, jazz, contemporary, West African, and belly dancing. Erin danced at Creighton University on their Dance Team in Omaha, Nebraska, was part of the Barefoot West African Dance Company in Durango, Colorado, and was a founding member of UPside Dance Company in Healdburg, CA in 2012 where she still dances today. Erin is also the Manager of Healdsburg Dance Collective and is dedicated to helping HDC grow into a supportive, vocal and visible advocacy group. She wishes to facilitate experiences in and exposure to various types of dance, spreading Healdsburg’s passion for the art form to all corners of our diverse community.   Erin is an original UPside Dance member since 2012.

Kate Ahumada (UPside Co-Founder):

Kate is a life-long mover. Drawn to dance at a young age, this kinetic language continues to speak her truth. Her technical foundation is in classical ballet, which she began in her hometown of Healdsburg, at Healdsburg Ballet. She has performed many classical roles at the Luther Burbank Center (now the Wells Fargo Arts Center), and the Marin Civic Center with Marin Ballet and Marin Dance Theatre. In college, she discovered the grounded freedom of modern dance. Kate received her BFA in Dance from UCSB in 2005. There, she studied with brilliant teacher/choreographers: Nancy Colahan, Christopher Pilafian, Tonia Shimin and Stephanie Nugent; and performed their works on tour with the UCSB Dance Company. Kate was honored with the Alice Condodina Performance Award upon graduation. She lived in NYC the next fall, studying with inspirations Milton Myers, Peff Modelsky, and Jessica Hendricks. When the west coast drew her back home, she taught dance and became a pilates teacher before moving to San Francisco. While in the beautiful Bay Area, Kate performed with Garrett and Moulton Productions, VISPO Dance, and Prana Bachata. During the summers since 2002, Kate is a member of the modern-jazz company, Interweave Dance Theatre in Boulder, Colorado. Now living in the place of her roots, Kate is happy to have trusted the tiny dancer always alive in her, and continues to reach for the best version of herself.

UPside Company Dancers

All UPside Dancers are diverse, bright, adventurous, generous, and bring something new to the dance floor. UPSide revels and reveres the diverse backgrounds, styles, and ideas of their dancers and creates movement inspired by and for the company.

Gianna Davy (Soloist, Guest choreographer) fell in love with dance at age 8 and has never stopped.  Her passion took her through a 16 year professional career dancing at many companies including Smuin Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Robert Moses’ KIN, State Street Ballet and Company C Contemporary Ballet. In addition to being a performer, a teacher, and student herself, Gianna is also a co-founder of the Healdsburg Dance Collective, a hub and advocacy group for dance in Healdsburg.  Gianna is a freshly published author of a children’s book called No One Owns the Colors. She is the mother of two sweet boys, a maker of nature-inspired jewelry, and a wanderer and ponderer. In 2009 Gianna received a BA in Performing Arts and is now proudly almost complete with her MS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from NYU.   Gianna has been an UPside Company Soloist since 2014.

Allison Low is a Sonoma County native who discovered her passion for movement at an early age.  She enjoys studying all forms of dance and has trained, collaborated and performed in California and Oregon.  Throughout her youth she trained locally with Ballet California, then continued dancing through college and after in Eugene and Portland Oregon.  After completing her doctorate in physical therapy at UCSF she returned to Sonoma County where she’s performed with CCD, the SRJC dance program and now UPside Dance.  She’s the proud wife of David, winemaker/co-owner of AntHill Farms and a new mother… Allison’s new tiny UPsider, Natalie, performed on stage in Allison’s belly in 2016! Allison has danced with UPside Dance since 2015. 

Originally from Boston, Nina Saraceno began her early training at the Ana Roje School of Ballet also dancing as a 4th generation Isadora Duncan dancer. She holds bachelors degrees in Dance and Psychology from Skidmore College and has danced professionally with the Boston Dance Company, Anna Myer and Dancers, Ariel Rivka Dance and Palanza Dance. She has also participated in projects with Garrett & Moulton Productions, Project Tremolo, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Interweave Dance Theater and Rarefied Bear among others.  Nina lives in San Francisco and works as a pre/elementary school movement and mindfulness teacher.  Nina has been dancing with UPside since 2016. 

Melissa Emilie Paris, originally from Southern California, has trained and performed all over the country in various styles of dance with multiple dance companies and theatre houses. Her first professional job was at the age of sixteen as a Flying Angel at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California where she stayed for an additional three years as a company dance member. She fell in love with musical theatre and was in numerous shows throughout Southern California, leading her to New York. Melissa realized that her love for dance and passion for performing needed a stronger financial backbone and pursue her inner nerd. She has her Bachelor of Science in Wine and Viticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Melissa was folded into UPside and the Healdsburg Community immediately after arriving as a laboratory technician at Mauritson Wines. Shortly after the debut of ‘all. things. PAPER’, her next adventure begins in Marlborough, New Zealand where she will be working her second international harvest. Melissa has danced with UPside since 2015.

Greta Schoenberg A former professional ballet dancer, Northern California native Greta Schoenberg has been teaching movement for over 25 years. Greta has helped hundreds of students of all ages and abilities refine their movement and eliminate pain. She danced with the Norwegian National Ballet and in many independent contemporary projects as she developed her teaching practice, earning a BFA in Ballet from the University of Utah in 1995 and her Pilates certification in 1999. In San Francisco, Greta served on the ballet faculties of ODC, City Ballet School, The Ballet Studio, and the Ruth Asawa School Of The Arts.  As the founder of the award-winning San Francisco Dance Film Festival, she continues to remotely connect with artists around the globe, fielding over 500 annual submissions as a film curator and arts presenter. She now resides in the beautiful wine country town of Healdsburg, where she shares her passion for movement with her community, recently launching a youth and adult dance program through her independent practice, Movewell and also a co-founder of Healdsburg Dance Collective.  Coming back from her 12 year vacation from performing on the stage, Greta has been an UPsider since 2023.

Jordan Hayes (UPside Dancer & Collaborator)

A lifelong skateboarder, Jordan decided on a whim to try a ballet class, and fell instantly in love with the art and sport of dance. Since that first toe dip in the pond of dance, she has pursued her new found passion at every turn as a student, performer and dance educator. Jordan has a great respect for the instructors and choreographers she has worked with including: Watta Ribas, Beth McEnery, Alonzo King, Kahz Zmuda, Britt Juleen, LeeWei Chao, Erik Wagner, Christine Cali, Tamara Grose, Susan Matthies, Lara Branen, Mary DiLillo, Nancy Gallenson, Ana Bribiescas, and Jamie Wright of the The Dance Wright Project, of which she performed as company member for 2 seasons. As a studio artist, Jordan premiered her solo art installation/performance work (The Valley Box Project) at the Marin Museum of Art in May of 2017. Jordan is propelled by her ongoing dance exploration and education.  (UPside Dancer since 2013 and Collaborator in ‘Chrysalis’ 2015 and Choreographer/Designer ‘all.things.PAPER’ 2016, Photographer in ‘Family Album’ 2019, co-choreographer’Zipper’ 2019)

Janelle LaCumsky is a preschool teacher working in the lab school at Santa Rosa Junior College. From early childhood, Janelle was passionate about dance and performed in choir and musical theater.  After receiving the California State Arts Scholar award & attending Cal Arts summer program, Janelle continued her training in Modern, Ballet, and Theatre throughout California with Jude Clark Warnisher & Bree Valle (Cuesta College San luis Obispo),  Jacqueline Burgess (Laney College), Tamara Grose (CCD), Victor Temple (New World Ballet), Bernadette Alverio (Movement Lab), Jordan Hayes (For By With).  Janelle is honored to have found a home as an original UPside Dance Company member since 2012.

Jessica Martin  is a multi-media artist based in Healdsburg. Her passion for dance began early, learning ballet from Balanchine muse, Gloria Mohr. At 14, Jessica began flamenco with Yaelisa (Caminos Flamencos), then studied Limon and Graham technique with Steve Rooks in New York. Martin received an MA at California College the Arts and a BA in Anthropology from Vassar College. Jessica has been dancing and collaborating with UPside since 2012 when they first brought their wonderful work to Sonoma County. She is also  multi-media artist who’s work explores the relationship between revelatory experience and the mundane everyday.  Her work includes paintings of the homes of famous explorers, stop-animation films based on mountain expeditions, an anonymous collection of people’s risks and dreams, and a sculpture series of limited edition 3D prints of people’s cherished personal belongings.   Her work has been shown at Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Traywick Contemporary, Pro Arts, The Lab, the diRosa Preserve, and New Langton Arts.   (UPside Dancer since 2012 & Collaborator:  (un)tied 2013, Strum 2014, all.things.PAPER 2016, Wildlands REsidency 2016, ‘Anatomy of Happiness’ 2017)

Karin Tredrea has lived in Healdsburg for the past 20 years, raising her daughter and nurturing her massage practice.  Dance has been a source of joy since the age of 5, whether through ballet, swing, performance teams or simply letting loose in her living room.   Dancing with UPside is her first experience with modern and has been keeping her on her toes (and on the ground) since 2014.

Nika Kozlov  has been frolicking through the dance world since the age of 5 when she began her training at Healdsburg Ballet with Teresa Lubarsky. She continued this rigorous training with Ms. Lubarsky for 10 years, while also engaging in ballet competitions that nourished her competitive spirit. As the teenage years crept in so did Nika’s yearning for a diverse palette of movement, and there began her discovery into contemporary and modern world attending classes at Bernadette Alverio’s studio, diving head first into the competition world. Nika has danced with Velocity Dance Company, Touring Dance Company of SRJC, and now is beyond elated to have been invited to work with UpSide Dance Company  since 2018.

Jeni Turner began her dance training at the Sebastopol Ballet School under the tutelage of Susan Borgeson, Lois Hartman, and Paula Martens. She completed a program with the Golden State Ballet Company in Irvine, California and was also awarded a scholarship from the Sonoma County Ballet Guild. Jeni continued her dance education at Smith College where she performed in the Fall Faculty Concert (2008 & 2009), Bare Bones (2010), and the Senior Thesis Show (2011). After a long break from dance and a law school journey, Jeni is exploring modern dance for the first time and is an UPside Dancer since 2017.

Christopher Bennett started his dance training at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in los Angeles CA in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Tap, Flamenco, and musical theatre. While in LA, he also was in several Broadway productions including ‘Brothers of the Knight’ and ‘Oman O’Man’.  Besides UPside Dance, Chris studies at Santa Rosa Junior College majoring in Dance and Business Administration, working towards his goal of opening a dance academy and youth art center dedicated to keeping kids and teens off the streets.