karah m. abiog
founder & director
Karah Abiog's extensive and distinguished career in dance spans over four decades, encompassing performance, choreography, education, and artistic direction. For the past 15 years, she has been the Director of the LINES Ballet Training Program. During this time, she cultivated an internationally recognized pre-professional program and stewarded over 400 students. Many of her former students have achieved notable careers in professional dance or have transitioned into related fields such as healthcare, the creative arts, administrative, and leadership roles.
In 2019, Karah also assumed the role of Director for the LINES Ballet Summer Program. The onset of the global pandemic quickly tested her leadership, requiring her to swiftly pivot, develop, and implement comprehensive online programs. This innovative response ensured that LINES Education continued, providing meaningful engagement for the dancers and employment for teachers and artists. It also garnered significant acclaim from the dance community.
Karah takes pride in fostering a dynamic learning environment characterized by rigorous training, creative exploration, and personal growth for students, educators, and guest artists from around the world. A core tenet of her approach emphasizes the cultivation of diversity, versatility, and individual expression, both artistically and personally.
Karah is originally from Saratoga, California. She earned her Bachelors in Dance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Her professional dance career spanned over twenty years, where she had the pleasure of dancing with companies like Complexions Contemporary Ballet under the artistic direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, co-directed by Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott, to name a few. She also worked with a remarkable range of choreographers, from modern dance pioneers Donald McKayle and Katherine Dunham to today’s innovative leaders including Camille A. Brown and Hope Boykin. Karah has also had the privilege of working with music artists Roberta Flack and Jennifer Holliday.
Her pedagogical expertise is equally extensive, with years of experience teaching students of all levels and ages. Karah has held prominent teaching positions with LINES Ballet BFA, Summer and Training Programs and as a full-time visiting professor with the Conservatory of Music and Dance, University of Missouri – Kansas City and has been a guest teacher worldwide. Her participation in the International Seminar of Brasilia cultivated a lifelong connection with the Brazilian dance community and developed significant exchanges, allowing Brazilian dancers to come to the US.
Karah is pleased to partner with a dear friend and colleague in this new venture, Philein Wang of ZiRu Dance. Since 2013, she has served as Philein’s artistic advisor for ZiRu Dance.
Photo | Quinn Wharton
philein wang
founder
Philein Wang is the distinguished, award-winning Artistic Director and Founder of ZiRu Dance. A choreographer and poet with a national and international profile, Wang’s work has been recognized since 2008 by major foundations and government agencies, including two awards from the U.S. State Department for cross-cultural choreography. In 2016, she was honored at the inaugural San Mateo County Asian and Pacific Islander Heroes Reception for her leadership and commitment to community-focused arts.
She is also a former member of Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), where she supported nonprofit initiatives across a wide range of fields. Wang has collaborated with more than 35 local organizations—including Peninsula Open Space Trust—on projects in environmental conservation, education, mental health, and public service. Her work frequently bridges the arts with broader community needs, showing how movement can contribute to healing, resilience, and connection.
Born in Michigan to Taiwanese/Chinese parents, Wang founded ZiRu Dance to foster cross-cultural artistic exchange and to develop new movement languages. Her choreography blends modern dance, ballet, martial arts (wushu), Tai Chi, and poetry, shaped by intellectual research and lived experience. ZiRu Dance has produced 28 international tours, commissioned 18 original works, and led over 50 educational and outreach programs. In 2014, the company received support from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for a major international exchange project. In 2020, it launched Renewal, a year-long program addressing isolation and xenophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now based in Menlo Park, California, Wang focuses on the intersection of movement, psychology, and healing—especially for families and communities navigating transitions, stress, or disconnection. Her work centers on the body as a source of understanding and transformation. Through partnerships with local nonprofits and community-based initiatives, she uses dance as a tool for collective insight and emotional wellness.
Her process is rooted in listening and collaboration. She often begins by identifying gaps in the social or emotional fabric of a community, then works with people who have lived through the circumstances she’s exploring—alongside professionals, artists, and researchers. The final choreography is shaped in the studio through improvisation, inquiry, and shared exploration. She continues to push the boundaries of dance by integrating it with poetry, music, martial arts, visual art, film, and new technology—always in service of deeper human connection.