OUR TEAM

Rena has worked as a software engineer for over 15 years and is currently a product manager at Zillow. In addition, she has been a lifelong ballet dancer in the Orange County area. She danced professionally with the Anaheim Ballet, performing the Arabian Queen in their Nutcracker tour in Nevada and Southern California and dancing soloist roles in Hans Christian Andersen, Martini, Carnival of the Animals, and Balanchine’s Serenade.

Over the last decade she has been teaching ballet at schools throughout Southern California, including Jimmie Defore Dance Center, Anaheim Ballet School, Maple Conservatory, Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet, V&T Dance, and Laguna Dance Theatre. She has focused her teaching primarily on adult ballet, offering open classes to the community in a wide variety of levels from beginner to advanced. She loves passing down her knowledge and passion for ballet to her students, placing emphasis on artistry. During the covid pandemic, Rena began offering her classes complimentary to local professional dancers so that they could maintain their physical training during the difficult period of not having performance work. Through the SoCal Ballet Scene, she is able to continue offering this service to professional dancers.

Over decades of building connections with the ballet community in Southern California, Rena saw firsthand the abundance of great ballet talent that resides in this area. She also saw that there was a void of opportunity for the local professional dancers to perform and connect with the arts-loving community around them. This led her to found the SoCal Ballet Scene. In 2019 she started the organization on social media to help spread awareness about the various ballet companies in SoCal, with the goal of eventually creating a ballet festival to feature local artists and foster community. The plans for the festival got postponed with the onset of the pandemic, so Rena began producing short dance films as a means to provide opportunity for local choreographers and dancers. Rena's vision for the ballet festival was realized in September 2022. She directed and produced the festival performance at the Robert B Moore Theatre in Costa Mesa, featuring 34 professional dancers from across Southern California in a mixed repertoire program, showcasing a wide variety of styles from classical to contemporary ballet. The festival united many local ballet organizations in a single celebration of the artform, with over 550 people from the community who attended and were able to see and connect with the local ballet artists. Since then, the SoCal Ballet Scene has rapidly expanded, with an annual festival drawing over 1000 people and serving over 50 professional artists each year.

Tanya trained at the Pacific Northwest Ballet school on full scholarship in their year-round professional training division, as well as summer programs on full scholarship at the School of American Ballet in New York, Boston Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet. She was one of just 10 students nationwide to receive the Robert Joffrey scholarship.

Tanya danced professionally with the Los Angeles Ballet and afterwards pursued a freelance career, which gave her the freedom to work on numerous projects with famed choreographers around the world. She was chosen to dance with the New York City Ballet for the opening of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, formerly the Orange County Performing Arts Center. She has performed several ballets with both the New York City Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet, including Balanchine’s Stars & Stripes, Serenade, Mozartiana, Carmina Burana, and the Nutcracker. As a freelance artist, she has performed Principal roles for the Pacific Symphony, Long Beach Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Inland Pacific Ballet, West Coast Ballet, and numerous awards festivals choreographed by Lorin Johnson and Marie de la Palme. Tanya is also Signed with Clear Talent Group Agency in LA and is a member of SAG AFTRA. She has been in national television commercials with Boeing, Target, Haagen-Dazs, and Merck, and she has danced in the films “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “17”, “The Perfect Game”, and “Bratz”.

As a sought-out choreographer, Tanya was commissioned personally by Carl St. Clair, music director of Pacific Symphony, to choreograph a special work for American composer George Crumb, which received high acclaim from the LA Times. She has also been appointed to create numerous works for the Pacific Symphony Concert series, Family Concert series, Summer Park Concerts, and their remarkable Arts X-press program. The Crystal Cathedral commissioned her to choreograph, cast, and direct professional dancers and singers for their productions The Glory of Christmas and The Glory of Easter. 

Tanya is also an accomplished Latin Ballroom dancer, having won a Champion title at Blackpool, England, the most prestigious ballroom competition in the world. She has gained a World Title, US National Title, and won several regional competitions, as well as been invited to perform for the elite Gaynor Fairweather cup in Rome alongside pro dancer Gleb Savchenko from Dancing with the Stars.

Tanya has over 2 decades of teaching and coaching experience at numerous ballet and ballroom schools throughout Southern California, including Jimmie Defore Dance Center, Maple Conservatory, Southland Ballet, Orange County High School of the Arts, Huntington Beach Academy of Dance, Pave School of the Arts, and Fred Astaire Dance Studios.

Samantha Bell is a versatile dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Orange County, California. She trained at Anaheim Ballet under Lawrence and Sarma Rosenberg, performing the Russian Girl in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and earned third place at the Youth America Grand Prix, advancing to the New York City finals. She joined the Anaheim Ballet Company in 2008 and spent five years performing in parades at Disneyland.

Samantha danced with State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara for five seasons as a soloist, touring internationally—including a two-month tour of China—and choreographing the acclaimed Pistolero for the company’s “Evenings” program. The work was later added to the company repertoire, marking “the first time a current SSB dancer has presented their work alongside professionals” (SB Independent). She also participated in the company’s outreach initiatives and earned her BA in History from UC Santa Barbara.

In 2017, Samantha joined Oakland Ballet, where she danced for five seasons and rose through the ranks to principal dancer. Her repertoire includes the Hostess in Nijinska’s Les Biches, Zeena in Bat Abbit’s The Sound of Snow, and the Bride in Graham Lustig’s Luna Mexicana. She has performed with ARC Dance Seattle, Menlowe Ballet, Western Ballet, Opera Santa Barbara, Berkeley City Ballet, San Jose Dance Theatre, and Nouveau Chamber Ballet, originating roles by Josie Walsh, Peter Pucci, and Paul Destrooper, and dancing works by Bruce McCormick, Alex Ketley, Bill Soleau, Kabby Mitchell III, and Amy Seiwert. In 2021, she wrote, choreographed, and co-directed the dance film In Plain Sight for Oakland Ballet, later adapted for stage. Additionally, Bell was the lead instructor for Oakland Ballet’s You Can Dance! outreach program and led the Oakland Ballet Academy.

Samantha has been involved with SoCal Ballet Scene since its inaugural 2022 festival as a performer, choreographer, and Rehearsal Director. Her recent performance credits include An American in Paris (Musical Theatre West), Anastasia (Odette and ensemble), Aurora in Fever’s Ballet of Lights, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, and projects with the LA Follies and ARC Dance. Her screen credits include the MTV Video Music Awards, the CW’s Masters of Illusion, and SoCal Ballet Scene’s dance film Tango del Fuego.