Kim Weiss - Business Planning & Development Advisor

Kim Weiss joined danceCREATE in 2018, in the role of Business Planning and Development Advisor after a successful 21-year career in sales and account management at Hewlett-Packard (HP), a Fortune 100 company, followed by a 5+ year post as Executive Director of Student Recruitment and Corporate Relations for Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School. Kim is excited to be an integral part of the evolution of danceCREATE both as a business advisor and a current student.

Liz Stratton- Social Media Manager

Liz Stratton grew up in South Pasadena and has been dancing with Maria since 2008. She started dancing at the age of two and instantly fell in love with it. Liz received pre-professional training in ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary, and various ethnic dances and earned her BFA in Dance Pedagogy from Texas State University. She trained with dance experts such as Cynthia Young and Laurence Blake, Phip and Chip Fuller, Roxana Olesijuk, Julia Ortega, and Helene Williamson. She was also accepted to Burklyn Ballet Theatre’s summer dance program where she received training from dance masters such as Thom Clower, Arthur Leeth, and Alan Jones. She has choreographed many works for South Pasadena High School, Texas State University, and Pasadena City College where she received multiple awards for her work.

Harley Salbacka- Dance Assistant to Maria

Harley Salbacka was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula. Growing up she fell in love with dance through musical theater. By 17 she was teaching dance and musical theater classes to kids, as well as choreographing for her local theaters and dance schools. She has danced many lead roles in theater including Dream Laurie in Oklahoma, Etcetera and a soloist in Cats, the Angel Purity in Anything Goes, and more. She also played Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Cinderella in Into the Woods, and Marian in The Music Man. She went on to major in dance at UCI, with a focus in Jazz and Modern dance techniques. Harley has taken dance intensive workshops with many experts in the field including the Martha Graham dance company and Cleo Parker Robinson.