DANCE

HEATHER ALMANZA

Heather Zornes-Almanza is the Visual and Performing Arts Dance teacher at Mission Hills High School. She earned her BA in Dance from San Diego State University where she was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Award in Dance. Heather earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, emphasis in Differentiated Instruction. She performed as a company member of Mojalet Dance Collective from 1999-2005 for which she served as Director’s Assistant. Heather has performed throughout San Diego County, Los Angeles, Mexico, and East Coast. She has performed works by Jean Isaacs (San Diego Dance Theater), Kevin Wynn (New York), Katie Stevenson-Nollet (Connecticut), and Christopher Pilafian (San Francisco). Heather performed in San Diego Dance Theater’s Trolley Dancers for 10 years including Yolande Snaith’s (internationally acclaimed choreographer) Ten Green Bottles. Heather danced with Allyson Green Dance (Allyson Green, UCSD Dance Department Chair, and now Dean of Arts at NYU), Sadie Weinberg (San Diego, LA), and BOUND Contemporary Dance Project (Jillian Chu, director), as well as working for Disney. Heather’s choreography has been shown throughout San Diego. Her more recent work, Sudden Take, was selected for presentation at the San Diego Emerge Festival VI to critical acclaim as “daring, aggressive… then [falling] into smooth unison. The movement was non-stop and embraced the music, but also played with the rhythms so it was never predictable.” (Janice Steinberg, San Diego Arts)

JACKIE GOLDBERG

For the past 15 years, Jackie Goldberg has been the director of the San Marcos Color Guard, which has grown from a regional to a national group under her leadership. During her early years as a coach she earned her Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and most recently her Master’s in Education with a Emphasis in Social Emotional learning along with her teaching credential. In 2021 she became a full time member of the San Marcos High School faculty as a dance teacher in addition to her role as the Color Guard Director. Jackie is the current VAPA Team Lead and serves as a Vice President of the West Coast Winter Guard association. She looks forward to maintaining and expanding her relationships in the community and sharing her passion for the performing arts.

LEAH JONES

Leah Jones has been dancing since of the age of five and has trained in the styles of ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, hiphop, samba, afro and contemporary Brazilian. She has studied, performed and competed with various studios and conventions across Southern California including New West Ballet School, Georgia's School of Dance, San Marcos High School Varsity Dance Team, Unity II Dance Ensemble, Tremaine, SHARP, ShowStopper, CADTD, MDDT, USA, Millenium OC, Tropicaleiza Dance Company, Infuse Dance Collective and more. In 2013 she graduated from the University of California Irvine where she received her B.A. in Art History and in 2015 earned both Multiple Subject and Physical Education credentials. While earning her teaching credentials, Leah worked as a dance coach and choreographer at San Marcos High School. She has also worked as a choreographer with Streetlamp Studios, an L.A. based arts non-profit that brings to life the stories of inner-city youth. Early in her teaching career, Leah founded a full time dance program and dance team at Landmark Middle School. In her spare time Leah can be found taking dance classes, drawing, painting, reading, choreographing or hiking. Leah is extremely excited to be returning to her roots at SMHS and can't wait to share her love of dance with her students!