People & Partners
Kristine Elliott
Founder & Director
Born in Oakland, CA, Kristine received her formative ballet training from Richard Gibson. Her professional career began with the Stuttgart Ballet where she danced leading roles in ballets by artistic director and choreographer John Cranko and toured extensively to Japan, Israel, Europe, and Scandinavia, as well as to Russia and in the United States. After five years with the Stuttgart Ballet, Kristine joined American Ballet Theatre as a soloist and worked closely with director Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Following her performing career, Kristine now teaches and coaches ballet nationally and internationally. She works with American Ballet Theatre as a guest teacher for the company and for summer intensive programs.
In the academic world, Kristine Elliott taught at Stanford University for 18 years as lecturer in the Dance Division. Kristine received her BA from St Mary’s College and currently serves on the LEAP program faculty at St. Mary’s College of California.
Kristine is the founding director of the Gugulethu Ballet Project where she teaches ballet in townships around Cape Town and Johannesburg using ballet as a means of social change and to support diversity on the ballet stage. In 2022, Kristine was honored as an extraordinary dance educator, winning the prestigious Dance Teacher Award for her work with Gugulethu Ballet Project.
Partners in South Africa
Jazzarts Dance Theatre
Cape Town, South Africa
Training young people in contemporary dance with a philosophy firmly rooted in a social justice framework.
Dance for All
Cape Town, South Africa
Gives children in the townships of Cape Town the opportunity to experience the joy of movement while receiving a high standard of dance training.
First Step Ballet
McGregor, South Africa
Providing children with a creative, structured after-school programme to direct their focus and give them a sense of purpose in their lives.
Igugu-Lethu Arts and Leadership Project
Gugulethu, South Africa
A dynamic organization using the language of dance to develop artistic skills, while advocating and promoting education.
Dancescape
Zolani, South Africa
Facilitating dance classes in Zolani, South Africa. They teach at-risk youth ranging from 4 to 19 years old and employ full-time and trainee teachers.
Zama Dance School
Gugulethu, South Africa
Training young dancers, choreographers and teachers whilst equipping them with a sense of pride, self-discipline and achievement.
Dirk Badenhorst
Johannesburg, South Africa
CEO & Director of SA Ballet Competition and Mzansi Ballet, imagining diverse classical ballet opportunities and performances in Johannesburg and worldwide.
Eersterivier Arts and Culture Focus School
Eersterivier, South Africa
One of ten arts and culture schools created in 2006 by the Western Cape Education Department
Partners in the United States
San Francisco Ballet School
San Francisco, CA
The official school of San Francisco Ballet, training classical ballet dancers and offer young children and adults in the Bay Area an introduction to ballet and the joy of moving to music.
Alonzo King’s LINES Dance Center
San Francisco, CA
Alonzo King LINES Ballet embraces a spirit of inquiry and openness to change combined with a reverence for legacy and history,
ODC Dance Commons
San Francisco, CA
Through their company, school and theater, ODC aims to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, engage community, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance.
Saint Mary’s College LEAP Program
Moranga, CA
Delivering a comprehensive liberal arts education to professional dancers and performing artists, with the goal of completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts from Saint Mary's College of California.
American Ballet Theatre
New York, NY
Creating, presenting, preserving, and sharing the great repertoire of classical dancing, through high quality performances and educational programming.
Kaatsbaan International Dance Center
Tivoli, NY
A place for innovation and excellence in dance and related arts. Kaatsbaan can take art outside and beyond the traditional and be revolutionary in its thinking and actions.
The New Ballet School
San Jose, CA
New Ballet elevates the art of ballet in San Jose with artists who are devoted to the pursuit of excellence and thrive in an environment of inclusivity and creativity.
Academy of Ballet San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
The Academy of Ballet offers training preparing students for professional careers and for those who are studying ballet for its many other benefits.
Board Members
Jeffrey Egeberg
Jeffrey is a native Northern Californian and holds a BS and MS in structural engineering from UC Berkeley. He has held engineering management positions in both the private and public sector for over 40 years. Jeff is a ballet fan and for years has held season tickets to San Francisco Ballet and has frequently attended performances of American Ballet Theater and other dance troupes. In 2019 he and his wife traveled to South Africa and received a “guided tour” in Gugulethu and Kheyalitsha by Nqaba Mafilika recipient of Gugulethu Ballet funding. For GBP and other service organizations and nonprofits, Jeff continues to use his project management and computer skills to help fulfill their missions.
Dana Sittler
Dana studied the intersection of consumers, content, and technology at Stanford as an undergraduate. Since then, she spent the majority of her career at Facebook as a Product Manager building products in that intersection. While there, she grew a team of 3 Product Managers that drove the video consumption experience, defined integrity guidelines, and topical discovery. Since 2018, she has been a Product Manager at Netflix driving innovation at the intersection of Content and Product, with a focus on members and content in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Outside of the office, Dana has a great passion for dance. She has done ballet since she was 3, and studied at studios across the country from Boca Ballet Theatre in Florida to American Ballet Theatre in New York. While at Stanford, she studied with Kristine and got to learn a Pantsula with Nqaba on his visit! She is so excited to help support the mission of Gugulethu Ballet Project.
Heidi Sulcas
Heidi is Canadian born, grew up in the United States and is now a permanent resident of South Africa for the last nearly 20 years. Heidi holds a BS in civil engineering from the University of Florida and an MS in civil (geotechnical) engineering from UC Berkeley. She worked in the US in private consulting in the waste management and housing industries as well as in the public sector for the US Dept of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. Having grown up with a sister who was a dancer and now having a sister in law who worked as a critic for the Paris Opera Ballet, Heidi has always been a dance supporter and enthusiast. However, her greatest passion is in seeing young people achieve their dreams. After a chance meeting with Kristine more than 15 years ago, there was an instant bond over this common passion. Heidi has assisted Kristine over the years in the “nuts and bolts” of keeping dancers dancing and doing what they love. She offers up her skills learned in the years of project management as well as her varied network in the community and industry to assist in our vision.
Alli Folk
Alli completed her undergraduate degree at Stanford in Product Design, her MBA at Wharton, and has professional experience as a strategy consultant and venture capital investor. Alli works at Valor Equity Partners as an investor focused on seed and Series A investments in the food, retail, and sustainability sectors. She is a board member at several early stage companies, where she primarily advises founding teams on go-to-market strategy. Outside of work, Alli is a lifelong ballet dancer and has trained at Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Conservatory of Dance, and Stanford (with Kristine!) and now primarily trains at Steps on Broadway. In addition to her dance training, Alli has worked with the executive teams at San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Dance/USA on a range of strategy topics. Finally, Alli has deep family ties to South Africa: her dad was born in Zambia and she has relatives in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Alli is thrilled to support the Gugulethu Ballet Project mission.
Special Thanks
Our most sincere thanks to these individuals and organizations whose generosity, time, and energy have made the work we do possible.
