MorDance
MorDance, founded by Artistic Director Morgan McEwen in 2014, is a pioneering ballet company dedicated to pushing the boundaries of classical ballet. Based in Yonkers, NY, MorDance creates socially conscious, innovative works, emphasizing accessibility and community engagement through performances, outreach programs and educational initiatives.

Lilit Hogtanian (she/her)
Lilit Hogtanian, a Los Angeles native, started her training with Yuri Grigoriev. At the age of 15, she was featured as a Los Angeles Times “Face to Watch” following her performances as Clara for Los Angeles Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. She was a semi-finalist in the Prix de Lausanne and won first place in the contemporary and classical category of the Youth America Grand Prix in Long Beach, CA. Hogtanian graduated from Academie Princesse Grace on full scholarship and went on to work as a professional dancer at the Slovak National Theatre Ballet Memphis, Dance Theatre of Harlem and State Street Ballet.

Morgan McEwen (she/her)
Morgan McEwen is the founder, artistic director and choreographer of MorDance. A former ballet dancer with Richmond Ballet, BalletMet and the Metropolitan Opera, McEwen is passionate about creating work that inspires social responsibility, civic engagement and environmental stewardship. Her choreography has been showcased on stages across New York City and beyond. @mobunhead

Lauren Treat (she/her)
Originally from upstate New York, Lauren is a New York-based independent artist. She is currently a dancer with MorDance and AVID. Former company highlights include BalletMet Columbus, Milwaukee Ballet, Carolina Ballet and Charlotte Ballet. Treat shares her love for dance as director of dance at the Riverdale Y and as a faculty member at Union Square Play and Manhattan Youth Ballet Kids. @laurenetreat

Laura Perich Villasmil (she/her)
Laura Perich Villasmil was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she started dancing at the age of 3. She then moved to Houston to continue her training with Catriona Steel. After graduating, she joined Texas Ballet Theater’s Studio Training Company. She then moved to New York City to join Ballet Hispánico’s Professional Training Program where she had the opportunity to perform and tour with the main company. She then joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet as an apprentice. This is Villasmil’s first season with MorDance. @lauraperichh

kNoname Artist
kNoname Artist is a Berlin-founded, now New York City-based company created in 2015 by Roderick George. kNoname Artist is a collective that strives to use art as a form of protest and healing method to find agency. The company invests in reflecting the times, both past and current events, and using the culture of origins as a vessel for creative expression. The knowledge of division created by colorism, class and social-economic differences provoked the mind of George, yet also with joy and hope to motivate the growth of kNoname Artist. kNoname Artist has performed at festivals such as Festival Quartiers Danses, Suzanne Dellal, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Zurich Tanzhaus, Hollins University, New York Live Arts, Pavillon Noir | Ballet Preljocaj, Sophiensæle Festspiele, Pocantico Art Center and Fall for Dance North | NIGHT/SHIFT.

Roderick George (he/him)
Roderick George was born and raised in Houston. He has trained at Houston Ballet Academy, The Alvin Ailey School and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. George was a bronze winner of the Youth America Grand Prix in 2005 and a YoungArts Winner and Presidential Scholar of the Arts in 2003. He has danced for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Basel Ballet/Theater Basel, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and The Forsythe Company. He has been commissioned by dance companies, institutions and festivals including Bodytraffic, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Festival Quartiers Danses, Suzanne Dellal and more. This year, he created Venom, a piece commissioned by Gibney Dance as part of the organization’s DoublePlus program in collaboration with New York Live Arts. Last summer, George was the recipient of the Princess Grace Award and the inaugural Jacob’s Pillow Men Dancers Award. @mrroderickgeorge

Nazear Brown (he/him)
Nazear Brown, signed to Clear Talent Group New York, is an emerging dance artist from New Bern, NC. He was part of the inaugural class of the CLI Conservatory and subsequently joined its company for the 2022-2023 season, working with Teddy Forance, Mike Tyus, Micaela Taylor, Spenser Theberg, Ethan Colangelo, Jermaine Spivey and more. Brown is now based in New York, and having met choreographer Roderick George through DanceLab NYC, recently performed Venom at Gibney DoublePlus, curated by Kyle Abraham. @nazearbrown

Nouhoum Koita (he/him)
Nouhoum Koita is a Japanese and Malian dance artist from Brooklyn, NY. He started his training at the National Dance Institute. Koita then went on to train at LaGuardia High School and The Juilliard School. He is also an alumni of MOVE|NYC|‘s Young Professionals Program under the direction of Nigel Campbell and Chanel DaSilva. In 2020, Koita was named a National YoungArts Finalist at the Gold Award level and a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He has performed with Aszure Barton and Artists, kNoName Artist, TRI314 Multidisciplinary Visual Performances and GALLIM. Koita has performed works by Trisha Brown, Roderick George, Ohad Naharin, Shamel Pitts, Aszure Barton and Andrea Miller. @nouhkoit

Zoey Anderson (she/her)
Zoey Anderson received a BFA in ballet from Marymount Manhattan College in 2015. Her performance experience includes the Broadway premiere gala of On the Town, the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Dancing with the Stars webisodes. In 2019, she received the Clive Barnes Dance Artist Award. Anderson joined Parsons Dance in 2015.

Masterz at Work Dance Family
Masterz at Work Dance Family is a group of talented individuals who come from all different dance backgrounds including jazz, hip-hop, street jazz, house, African, voguing and contemporary. The company was founded by Black trans femme choreographer Courtney Washington Balenciaga. Informed by her own experience as a teased queer teenager who found refuge in dance, her work conveys how her gender transition spurred transformative emotional, creative and physical liberation. The dances she creates are a representation of resiliency, and foster community and family in under-resourced areas of Brooklyn. With Works & Process the company has performed at the Guggenheim, Lincoln Center, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, SummerStage Von King and internationally at the Guggenheim Bilbao. The company has been presented by Jacob’s Pillow, Fire Island Dance Festival, Queens Pride and recently performed for Madonna.

Courtney Washington Balenciaga (she/her)
Courtney Washington Balenciaga is from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Washington Balenciaga attended the Jackie Robinson after-school program where she trained in African dance. Washington Balenciaga is known as a community organizer and founded her own dance company, Masterz at Work Dance Family, in addition to founding a kiki ballroom house known as The House of Juicy Couture. As a legend in the community, she continues her work in organizing and innovating ballroom.

DeAndré Cousley (he/him)
Queens, NY, native DeAndré Cousley began training at 13, following his acceptance to LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. He has worked under the direction of artists including Sidra Bell, Earl Mosley, Billy Porter and Desmond Richardson. Cousley attended Steps on Broadway’s Professional Training Program, where he honed his technique in classical ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and modern techniques such as Graham, Limón and Horton.

Jay Parel (he/him)
Jay Parel studied hip-hop, jazz and modern dance at Brooklyn School for Music & Theatre. He has trained with companies such as NonaLee Dance Theatre, Mad About Dance and Urban Dance Alliance. Parel has danced for multiple tours, music videos, television shows, films and onstage.

Brian Starke (he/him)
Brian Starke, Bronx, NY, born and Queens raised, has been dancing since the age of 6. Choreographing for stages including The Guggenheim Museum in both NYC and Spain, Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Summer Stage and more, he’s set out to stamp himself as a household name in the industry and continue to create safe spaces for dancers of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

Jaylen Wallace (he/him)
Jaylen Wallace, a passionate Brooklyn native who has been infatuated with the arts since a young age, has a growing infatuation with the act of expression, specifically through bodily movement. He’s trained primarily in hip-hop and its fundamentals, with additional experience ranging from street styles and classical to contemporary and West African dance styles.

Queer The Ballet
Choreographer Adriana Pierce created the initiative Queer the Ballet to broaden the scope of classical ballet to authentically include LGBTQ+ voices and narratives. Focusing on queer cis women, trans people of all genders and nonbinary dancers in ballet, Queer the Ballet seeks to “queer” our ballet spaces and explore choreography often absent from ballet stages.

By developing and producing works by queer artists, providing community support for LGBTQ+ dancers and creators and facilitating outreach and education, Queer the Ballet hopes to expand ballet partnering and choreography, offering a genuine representation of queer and gender-diverse ballet dancers.

Sierra Armstrong (she/her)
Sierra Armstrong joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in November 2017 and became a member of the corps de ballet in June 2018. Her repertoire includes Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote; Moyna and Zulma in Giselle; one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters and the Spanish Dance in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker; the pas de trois, a big swan and the Polish Princess in Swan Lake; Young Clarissa and “Becomings” in Woolf Works; a leading role in New American Romance; and a featured role in Deuce Coupe. She created leading roles in City of Women and Overlook and a featured role in Collage & Creed.

Remy Young (she/her)
Remy Young trained at the Charlotte School of Ballet under Gay Porter and Bridget Porter Young until age 16. She attended American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in 2013, joined ABT’s Studio Company in 2015, and joined ABT’s main company in 2016. Overlook is very meaningful to her and she is excited to perform at Hudson Valley Dance Festival. @remyyounggg

Keerati Jinakunwiphat (she/her)
Keerati Jinakunwiphat, from Chicago, earned her BFA from SUNY Purchase and the Adopt-a-Dancer Scholarship. She studied at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Springboard Danse Montreal. Working with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham since 2016, she’s choreographed for Evanston Dance Ensemble, Martha Graham School and more. She was named to Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2021 and she became the first Asian American woman to choreograph for New York City Ballet in 2023. A 2024 artist in residence at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jinakunwiphat received the Jadin Wong Fellowship Artist of Exceptional Merit and a 2023 Princess Grace Award in choreography.

Jourdan Epstein (she/her)
Jourdan Epstein, an NYC-based artist, has danced with Complexions, The Met Opera, The Rockettes and Twyla Tharp’s “How Long Blues.” Epstein served as assistant choreographer for Amazon Prime’s Etoile and Andy Blankenbuehler’s Only Gold. Epstein was an original cast member and dance caption of the musical The Prince of Egypt. Other TV/film credits include Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, In the Heights and The Flight Attendant. @justjourdance

Claude “CJ” Johnson (he/him)
A Chicago native, Claude “CJ” Johnson is a dancer, choreographer and movement director. After finishing his studies at The Chicago Academy for the Arts and SUNY Purchase College, where he was awarded the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship. Johnson then became a full-time company dancer with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. Johnson has performed works by Abraham, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Twyla Tharp, Aszure Barton, Johannes Weiland, Doug Varone, Kevin Wynn, Nicole Von Arx, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Princess Madoki and many more. @CJ4400

Joseph Markey (he/him)
Originally from Jacksonville, FL, Joseph Markey began his training at Debbie’s Dance Company before moving to Orlando and joining Orlando Ballet as a trainee. Markey then joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in 2018 and in 2021 joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice. @Josephemarkey

Carlos Gonzalez (he/him)
Born in Madrid, Carlos Gonzalez joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in September 2015, became an apprentice with the main company in December 2016 and joined the corps de ballet in June 2017. He was promoted to Soloist in March 2024. In his time at ABT he has performed in many different contemporary and classical ballets and worked with some of the most world renowned choreographers. @carlosgonzalezolivo

Aleisha Walker (she/her)
Aleisha Walker was born in Houston, and, at the age of 11, began to study classical ballet at Houston Ballet Academy. In 2018, Walker attended American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive and began training at the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School that September. Walker joined ABT Studio Company in September 2019, became an apprentice with the main Company in November 2022, and joined the corps de ballet in June 2023. At the 2023 Prix de Lausanne, Walker received a Young Creation Award for her solo Do You Care? @Aleisha.Nichole

Billy Griffin (he/him)
Billy Griffin is a New York City-based artist. His extensive choreography credits include restaging As You Like It for Shakespeare in the Park with The Public Theater, national tours of Friends! The Musical Parody, Off-Broadway’s Matthew McConaughey vs. The Devil, and events such as Broadway Bares and Red Bucket Follies. As a performer, Griffin has toured nationally with Mary Poppins, White Christmas and Young Frankenstein. He teaches at NYU’s New Studio on Broadway, Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center, and holds a BFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Griffin is a legacy ambassador for lululemon and a proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. @sillybillygriffin

Khori Petinaud (she/her)
Khori Petinaud is a NYC-based performer and educator. She studied at Dance Theater of Harlem, NCSA, The Ailey School and received her BFA in dance from New York University. Some credits include the original Broadway casts of Aladdin, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Lempicka, as well as Chicago and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. She is a Verdon Fosse Legacy Protege and a lover of all things Fosse. Thank you to Dancers Responding to AIDS, my Waynie and Carver, my family and friends and my soul sibling Billy.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, founded in 1974 to present a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and with men performing all of the roles – and in the case of roles usually danced by women: en travesti and en pointe.

Jake Speakman (he/him)
Jake Speakman was born in Philadelphia and trained at Marymount Manhattan College. Speakman joined the Trocks in November 2021 having previously performed with New York Dance Project and New York Theater Ballet. @jake.speakman

Takaomi Yoshino (he/him)
Takaomi Yoshino was born in Osaka, Japan, and trained at Vaganova Ballet Academy, Ellison Ballet. Yoshino joined the Trocks in August 2018 having previously performed with Atlantic City Ballet. @takaomi0916

Parsons Dance
Parsons Dance was founded in 1985 by Artistic Director David Parsons and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. The company performs works selected from repertory created by Parsons and commissions new dances from established and emerging choreographers. Parsons Dance provides enriching experiences through education and outreach programs, post-show discussions, open rehearsals, studio showcases, video workshops, open company classes, summer workshops for pre-professional dancers and in-school workshops for public school students. All these activities are driven by the vision of Parsons, who combines his choreographic gifts and talent for training dancers with a real passion for the art form. @parsonsdance

Zoey Anderson (she/her)
Zoey Anderson received a BFA in ballet from Marymount Manhattan College in 2015. Her performance experience includes the Broadway premiere gala of On the Town, the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Dancing with the Stars webisodes. In 2019, she received the Clive Barnes Dance Artist Award. Anderson joined Parsons Dance in 2015.

Luke Biddinger (he/him)
Luke Biddinger was raised in Colorado. After moving to Pennsylvania at 14, he studied at Touch of Class Dance Studio. In NYC, he has trained at Steps on Broadway, Kanyok Arts Initiative and the New York City Dance Alliance, which honored him as its 2021 National Teen Outstanding Dancer.

Odin Brock (he/him)
Odin Brock was raised in Woodbridge, VA. He received his BFA from George Mason University’s School of Dance in May 2024. While in college, he was an apprentice for Chamber Dance Project, the Washington, DC-based company devoted to partnering contemporary ballet with live music. This is Brock’s first season with Parsons Dance. 

Joseph Cyranski (he/him)
Joseph Cyranski began dancing at age 8 in his hometown of New Baltimore, MI, and went on to study at Marymount Manhattan College, where he received his BFA in 2020. He recently performed with Chicago-based company Giordano Dance. This is his second season with Parsons Dance. @joe_cyranski

Justine Delius (she/her)
Justine Delius is from a Paris suburb, where she trained in ballet and jazz before attending the Conservatory National of Paris in 2017. She appeared in Paris with MIXITY, the music hall cabaret sensation. In 2021, Delius arrived in New York to study at The Ailey School. This is her second season with Parsons Dance. @juju.dls

Emerson Earnshaw (he/him)
Emerson Earnshaw was raised in Cedar Hills, UT, where he trained at the Utah Conservatory of Performing Arts. He continued to train as a member of Brigham Young University’s Contemporary Dance Theatre and at the GibneyPRO Professional Certificate Program. This is his first season with Parsons Dance.

Megan Leigh Ziminski (she/her)
Megan Leigh Ziminski received a BFA in dance from the University of Arizona in 2019. During college, she attended intensives at Hubbard Street, Giordano Dance, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company and the Rockettes. After graduation, she assumed the role of Rockette in the 2019 Radio City Christmas Spectacular. This is her fourth season with Parsons Dance. @megangarcia11

Joanne Hwang (she/her)
Joanne Hwang was raised in Sydney, Australia, before graduating from Point Park University with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Musical Theatre. She has continued to train with such companies as BODYTRAFFIC, Move NYC and The Pillow Project. This is Hwang’s second season with Parsons Dance. @joannehwang_

Téa Pérez (she/her)
Téa Pérez is from Dallas where she trained and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. In 2021, she graduated from The Ailey School/Fordham University with a BFA in dance. An understudy with Parsons Dance for one season, she was promoted to company dancer in June 2022. @tea_perez

Luke Romanzi (he/him)
Luke Romanzi trained at LaGuardia High School before joining Rock the Ballet, a contemporary ballet company, where he was featured on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance and HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness. In 2018, he was accepted into the Young Choreographer’s Festival and was designated a YoungArts finalist. This is his third season with Parsons Dance. @lukeromanzi