About Pearl Street Dance Collective

At Pearl Street Dance Collective, we are a community of early-career dance artists who have earned our Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in dance. Based in San Francisco, we are dedicated to amplifying the voices of young, emerging dancers, contributing to the arts scene of the Bay Area.

By providing opportunities for performance and artistic growth, we aim to uplift the San Francisco arts community and create space for more dancers' voices to be heard. Through our work, we aim to reveal the raw beauty of the female experience, inviting audiences to experience the vulnerability and power of the human spirit. Inspired by San Francisco’s landscape and natural beauty, our collective wants to expose our untouched authenticity through movement.

Pearl Street Dance Collective is passionate about building a lasting foundation for new artists and helping share the arts with diverse communities in San Francisco.

Story of Pearl Street

Pearl Street, located in Sausalito, California, was just a block away from the apartment Elizabeth lived in when she first moved to San Francisco as a recent college graduate pursuing her dance career. Her first few months in California were filled with chaos, loneliness, and change. Amidst it all, walking past Pearl Street each day became a comforting constant. After long days of building a new life and community, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and passing Pearl Street felt like a reassuring sign that everything would be okay. This small but meaningful moment planted the seed for what would become the dance collective.

Meet the Collective

Meet the creative minds and movers behind Pearl Street. Our collective is a growing community of dancers, choreographers, and collaborators dedicated to storytelling, connection, and pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance. Get to know the artists who bring our work to life

Artistic Director & Founder

Elizabeth Wiehe

Elizabeth Wiehe is a dance artist and choreographer based in San Francisco. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance with a minor in journalism from George Mason University. In addition to her dance training at Mason, Elizabeth also studied at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Sydney Dance Company, and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. She has performed in works created by Rafael Bonachela, Martha Graham, Robin Dekkers, Lawrence Jackson, and Susan Shields. Elizabeth has had the opportunity to work with dance companies in the DC area, including ChamberDance Project, directed by Diane Coburn, and Company Medusa, directed by Rob Priore. She has presented her choreography at the George Mason School of Dance, the Carmel Dance Festival, and Safehouse Arts RAW showcase. Elizabeth has performed with Dragons Dance, directed by Erin Yen & Joe Landini Dance, as well as an active collaborator with Tethered Dance Project. Elizabeth is thrilled to be directing Pearl Street Dance Collective and looks forward to contributing to the San Francisco arts community.

Artistic Coordinator & Dancer

Bella Soo-Hoo

Isabella “Bella'' Soo-Hoo (she/her) was born in Oakland, California and grew up training at the

San Francisco Ballet School, performing in Helgi Tómmason’s The Nutcracker and George

Balanchine’s Coppelia. From 2013-2020 she attended Oakland School for the Arts under the

direction of Reginald Ray-Savage and Alison Hurley, and in 2017 she joined Savage Jazz Dance Company, a repertoire dance company, where she performed in multiple shows and dance festivals across the Bay Area. In 2024 she graduated summa cum laude from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with her BFA in Contemporary Dance and minor in Global Studies. At the Conservatory she trained in multiple techniques; ballet, modern, jazz, and improvisation. Bella has worked with and performed works by artists such as Aszure Barton, FLOCK, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, José Limón, and Loni Landon. Bella has furthered her training and artistic growth at programs including Orsolina28, b12, Carmel Dance Festival Fellowship Program, Arts Umbrella, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, NorthWest Dance Project, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. After graduating, she returned home to the Bay Area and is currently a freelance dancer and apprentice with ZiRu Dance. Bella is excited to be a member of Pearl Street Dance Collective for their 2025 season premiere!

Dancer

Sophia Berger

Sophia Berger (she/her) is a dance artist and choreographer based in San Fransisco, CA. She recently graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, receiving her BFA in Dance + Choreography. Her performance credits include works by Sinclair Emoghene, Stephanie Martinez, Scott Putman, Eric Rivera, Jelani Taylor and Autumn Waddell. Sophia has performed and presented work at events such as Safehouse Arts’ RAW Residency (San Fransisco), EDANCO (Dominican Republic), ACDF, Uplift Festival (MD), KoDaFe Festival (NYC), VCU DanceNOW and VCU student concerts (VA). She had the privilege of assisting Rivera in setting and staging work on the Ballet Contemporáneo de Camagüey (Cuba). Sophia has previously been a guest artist with Starr Foster Dance and a company artist with Conflux Dance Theater. She has additionally trained with BODYTRAFFIC, YYDC, Orsolina28 and Whim W’Him. Sophia worked with SFDanceworks in production, is a level I EBAS certified instructor, and a coach at [solidcore].

Dancer

SiQi He

SiQi He is an Asian American artist based in San Francisco. She began her dance training at a local classical ballet studio in Spokane Valley, Washington. She later attended the University of Washington where she got her BS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in dance. Whilst dancing alongside her academics, she had the opportunity to perform works by Camille A. Brown and David Rousseve. Upon graduation, she furthered her training at the LINES Ballet Training Program where she performed works by Sidra Bell, Gregory Dawson, Chuck Wilt, Natasha Adorlee, and David Harvey. She has attended workshops with YYDC, Alonzo King, Rena Butler, Jermaine Spivey, and Bryan Arias. Recently, SiQi was a part of RMK’s 30th anniversary performance.

Dancer

Julia McCullock

Julia Mccullock is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer with artistic roots in the Bay area of California. Julia graduated from Santa Clara University, where she trained and performed extensively with the Santa Clara Department of Theater and Dance. As part of her honors thesis, she choreographed/produced a series of dance films, which received national recognition from the American Dance Festival. Julia continues to train and perform as a company artist with Twopoint4 Dance Theater.

Julia is also the competition director and lead choreographer of the award-winning Chinese American dance studio Lisa’s Performing Arts. Julia’s passion for teaching has allowed her to travel across the country as a masterclass teacher and freelance choreographer for various competitive studios and professional companies. You can see her most recent collaboration ‘Pedestal’ with Leandro Damsco, on tour with Waterstreet Dance Company. She is a founding member of the INK co-op and looks forward to contributing to their second season. Julia will also join the Precision Arts Collective as an adjudicator and convention teacher this fall.

Dancer

Whitney Ross

Whitney Ross is a San Francisco-based dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Originally hailing from the Bay Area, she began her training in a local college prep program, where she had the chance to work with renowned artists such as Sidra Bell, Cindy Salgado, and Anthony Lomuljo. Whitney went on to earn her BFA in Dance from UCSB alongside a BS in Ecology. There, she deepened her studies in modern and ballet and began developing her choreographic voice, receiving the Corwin Award for Choreography for her senior thesis. Since returning to San Francisco, she has performed with Robert Moses’ Kin, Joe Landini Dance and Mannakin Dance Theater. She has continued to grow her practice through training programs with companies such as Post:Ballet and Psychopomp, and through presenting original choreography in festivals across California. Whitney also teaches Contemporary and Ballet at SF Dance Space.

Collaborators & Choreographers

Choreographer

Hadassah Perry

Hadassah Perry is a queer artist and performer currently based in San Francisco.
Originally from Riga, Latvia, she began her training in dance and
piano before relocating to Nashville, Tennessee.

In 2017, after a year of study with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Hadassah joined New Dialect under the direction of Banning Bouldin.

While with the company, she had the opportunity to work with choreographers including
Alex Ketley, Rosie Herrera, Bryan Arias, and Roy Assaf.

Since moving to San Francisco in 2022, Hadassah has performed and collaborated with UNA Productions (Chuck Wilt), Sharp & Fine (Megan and
Shannon Kurashige), Detour Dance (Eric Garcia and Kat Gorospe Cole), KT
Nelson, and Deborah Slater.

Her choreographic work has been presented through New Dialect’s Third Voice installation, UNA Productions’ GLIMPSE, and the Kindling Arts Festival.

Hadassah is the co-director of the Contemporary Training Program at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts in Daly City and is on faculty at Training Ground SF. She is thrilled to be creating for Pearl Street Dance Collective.

Choreographer

Monica Zesch

Highly motivated, curious, and eager to discover, Monica Zesch (she/her) is a dance artist who communicates through movement. Learning the language and techniques at a young age, she’s trained extensively in classical, contemporary, and commercial genres. She’s had the privilege of working closely in residency with artists Aszure Barton, Daniel Pelzig, Kurt Douglas, and many more. Monica has also learned and performed repertoire by Ohad Naharin, Daniellle Agami, Sharon Eyal, José Limón, and more. Inspired by community, she thrives when working with other like-minded artists, fueled by a passion for the creative process. Her multi-genre choreography is grounded in rich musicality and a dynamic, rhythmic movement quality. Drawing inspiration from the artists she collaborates with, her work celebrates each dancer's individuality while weaving a distinct, collective narrative in every piece."

Musician and Composer

Brayden Meng

Brayden Meng (b. 2005) is a composer, violinist, and interdisciplinary arts entrepreneur passionate about transforming how audiences experience music and art. He is the youngest-ever artist-in-residence at the Aranya Theater Festival, a Wagner Fellow at Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, and the founder of two creative startups—MBODY, which designs performance-optimized concert attire for musicians, and ArtIs, an immersive arts platform blending disciplines. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Grammy-winning composer Mason Bates.