Biography
Lisa Saunders, Founding Executive Director
Lisa Saunders is a passionate, cultural arts advocate and veteran of the ethnic dance community in the San Francisco Bay Area. By age 17, she had already established herself as an accomplished performer of classical West African and Afro-fusion dance: serving as a founding member and principle performer with two ground-breaking dance companies.
Her dance education includes immersion studies/apprenticeship with George Naope (celebrated hula master and leading advocate and preservationist of native Hawaiian culture ), Jose Lorenzo (Viva Bahia & Ballet Folclorico do Brasil), and C.K. Ladzekpo, PhD (critically acclaimed African musicologist and director of SF Ethnic Dance Festival). Serving in this capacity, Lisa developed an inimitable style and mastery of dynamic repertoire: expressing an authentic voice of African-american consciousness.
Today, she joins the ranks of Bay Area artists/activists who apply artisitc practice towards meaningful social impact. Although she still enjoys a regular teaching schedule, Lisa is most widely recognized for her work as a arts entrepreneur: expanding markets for specialty multicultural arts programs.