Team 1 — Young Dancer Workshop

Faculty

Melissa Brenner

Melissa Brenner is an Assistant Professor of dance at Santa Fe College where she teaches Contemporary Technique, Dance Composition, World Dance, and Dance Fundamentals. Melissa studied dance at Arizona State University (MFA), the University of Florida (BFA), Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and holds a Pilates Certification. Melissa has had the pleasure of performing the works of Mary Fitzgerald, Karen Schupp, Elizabeth Johnson, Ashleigh Leite, Shapiro and Smith Dance, Kelly Drummond-Cawthon, Elina Mooney, and many others. Her choreography has received national awards and has been selected and presented throughout the U.S. since 2001. Melissa is the Coordinator of the Young Dancer Workshop of North Central Florida and directs the Dance Theatre of Santa Fe.

Alex+Xan-byScottShaw-25.jpg — Xan Burley

Xan Burley was based in Brooklyn, NY until 2018 where she performed and toured with Doug Varone and Dancers from 2012-17. She has had the pleasure of working with Jeanine Durning, Shannon Gillen, Angie Hauser, Shannon Hummel, Tami Stronach, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, among others. Xan’s co-creative research with her partner Alex Springer has been presented by venues such as Movement Research, Danspace Project, Center for Performance Research, Joe’s Pub, the 92Y, and the American Dance Festival. They have received opportunities such as the University Settlement Artist Residency, Jacob’s Pillow Research Fellowship, and Mertz Gilmore Late Stage Production Grant. Their process-oriented site-responsive research is rooted in progressive movement development, compositional improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Burley has held teaching positions at institutions such as the Bates Dance Festival, University of Maryland, SUNY Purchase, Wesleyan University, and Smith College, where she received her MFA in Dance and Choreography. **www.xanandalex.com**

Andrew Cao

Andrew danced on Broadway in Disney’s *Aladdin*, the 2011 revival of *Anything Goes* with Sutton Foster, and *Nice Work if You Can Get It*, spanning almost 10 years and thousands of performances. Television credits include *Iron Fist, The Mysteries of Laura*, *Blue Bloods*, *The Detour*, *The Late Show with David Letterman*, *The Tony Awards*, Nickelodeon’s *The Backyardigans*, and commercials for PNC Bank, Huggies, Baby Jogger, Vanguard, and Cheerios. He now teaches Musical Theatre and Dance fulltime for The University of Florida’s School of Theatre + Dance. @ufmusicaltheatre Go Gators!

Rachel Carrico

Rachel Carrico holds a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California–Riverside, an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU, and a teaching certificate from the Limón Institute. Her research explores the aesthetic, political, and social histories of second lining, an improvisational dance form rooted in New Orleans's African diaspora parading traditions. Her scholarship has been published in *TDR: The Drama Review,* *TBS: The Black Scholar*, and several edited volumes: *Freedom’s Dance: The Second Line in New Orleans* (LSU Press: 2017), *The Oxford Handbook on Dance and Competition* (Oxford UP: 2018), *Contemporary Scholars and Artists Respond to the Baby Dolls of New Orleans* (University of Mississippi Press: 2018), and *The Futures of Dance Studies* (University of Wisconsin Press: 2019).
**In 2008, Dr. Carrico co-founded the performance ensemble** **Goat in the Road Productions** in New Orleans, with whom she has directed two international artist residencies and launched Play/Write, a youth playwriting festival, in New Orleans schools. Carrico is also a contributor to New Orleans's *Data News Weekly* and a consultant for the 2018 documentary film on New Orleans vernacular dance, *Buckumping,* by Lily Keber. She parades annually with the Ice Divas Social and Pleasure Club.
Before joining the faculty at UF, Dr. Carrico held faculty appointments in the Dance Department at Reed College, the Department of Theatre and Dance at Colorado College, the Dance Department, Anthropology Department, and Folklore & Public Culture Program at the University of Oregon, and the MFA program at Wilson College. In 2015-16, she was the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Dance Studies in/and the Humanities in the Department of Theater & Performance Studies at Stanford University.

Mohamed DaCosta

Mohamad is a master teacher in West African Music and Dance. He also performs multiple duties beyond that of the principal musician, drummer, and performer. These duties vary, but they consistently call upon his skills as a director, composer, choreographer, lecturer, demonstration organizer, and designer in collaboration with other esteemed colleagues of the theatre, costume, and dance areas.
He is versed in many dances performed throughout West Africa. The primary dance and music styles that he teaches comes from Guinea, Ghana, Gambia, and Senegal. From Guinea, he teaches dances from the Malinke, Sou Sou, Baga, Landoma, and Fulani ethnic groups; from Ghana, he teaches dances from the Ewe ethnic group; from Gambia, he teaches from the Mandinka and Jola ethnic group, and from Senegal, he teaches Sabar dance (drum). He also teaches songs, traditional folklore, meanings, and the culturalism of the dances. This includes teaching and instruction with and about the following instruments: djeme, dun dun, sangban, kenkeni, and krin.

Jessie Dominguez

Jessie Dominguez is a classically trained ballerina who started her education at the Alejo Carpentier Elementary School of Ballet in Havana, Cuba, in 1993. She continued her studies at the Cuban National Ballet School Fernando Alonso, obtaining numerous awards, including a silver medal in 1998, another silver medal in 1999, and a gold medal in 2000 at the International Ballet Encounters of Academies Competitions for the Teaching of Ballet held in Havana, Cuba. In 2001, she graduated from the Cuban National Ballet School as a Distinguished Graduate and received Gold Diploma, the highest award given to only one person per graduating class”. The same year, she was selected to become part of the world-renowned company, the National Ballet of Cuba, under the artistic-technical direction of the founder and absolute prima ballerina Alicia Alonso. After initially serving as a soloist, she was rapidly promoted to principal dancer. Her repertoire as a principal dancer included Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Apollo, Carmen, Nutcracker, La Fille Mal Garde, La Bayadere, Theme and Variations as well as contemporary and neoclassical works by creators such as Alberto Alonso, Laura Alonso, Alberto Mendez, Gustavo Herrera, Ivan Tenorio, Jean Gran Maître, Annabelle López Ochoa, Luis Serrano, Peter Quanz, Gerard Ebitz, among others. Jessie Dominguez possesses a rare combination of skills and experiences. She has trained and performed at the highest level in the masterful tradition of Cuban National Ballet yet she fluidly transitions she excels in performances of a more creative/experimental nature. Her work ethic is impeccable and she has delightful interpersonal skills. She is a thoughtful critic and teacher, encouraging and enlightening dancers of all ages and abilities. Jessie is currently the ballet professor at Santa Fe College.

Rujeko+Photo+Wassa+Wassa.jpg — Rujeko Dumbutshena

Rujeko Dumbutshena is a Zimbabwean-born dancer, pedagogue, and performer who specializes in neo-traditional and contemporary African dance. She just began her role as an Assistant Professor of West African Dance at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She recently held the same position at the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds an MFA in dance from the University of New Mexico. She has been on faculty at the Central New Mexico Community College, the University of New Mexico, and Sarah Lawrence College. Rujeko has participated in an artist in residencies at Williams College, and the University of Rochester. At Duke University she is part of the “Afro Feminist Performance Routes” cohort of Black dance artists. For 16 years, Rujeko directed African music and dance camps: Camp Mabina, Camp Tumbuka and Bantu Camp and has since been guest teaching at African drum and dance conferences across the United States. She was an original ensemble member in Bill T. Jones’ Off-Broadway and Broadway musical production of FELA! She conducts her scholarly research on the interplay of gender and power in ritual performances.
*photo by Gregory Evans (www.LathePhotography.com*)

Isa García-Rose

Isa was a principal dancer with Dance Alive National Ballet, a professional ballet company located in Gainesville, Florida, since 1990. As principal she danced a variety of classical, contemporary, and character roles including: Clara and the Dew Drop Fairy in *Nutcracker*, Stella in *A Street Car Named Desire*, Ophelia in *Hamlet,* the lead role in *Lady Bug: Action Hero,* as well as featured roles throughout the company’s repertoire and Balanchine’s works. Cuban born, Isa studied and performed with Ballet Concerto in Miami, Florida. She was also a member of the Demetrius Klein Dance Company. She received her BFA in Theatre and Dance Performance from the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Florida with whom she is currently a Senior Lecturer in Dance, teaching courses in the upper-level Ballet sequence, Pointe, Pilates, and choreographs for the school. She has performed extensively throughout the southeast and various international venues as in a tour of Russia as a guest artist with a UF production of *A Midsummer Night’s* *Dream*with choreography by Alberto Alonso. Isa has been seen on the stage of the Hippodrome State Theatre in their production of the Just So Stories in one of her memorable roles as the Dingo Dog, as well as the premiere of their children’s show for dance, *The Canta Danca Dancer.* Other performances with the Hippodrome include Dracula, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Isa spent many years as the Associate Director of *The Shadow Dance Theatre*, an experimental company of actors and dancers at UF directed and conceived by her beloved Ric Rose. Isa received her MFA in Dance from FSU. She has taught master classes and intensives throughout the Southeast, including a full-time ballet position for a semester at Florida State University. Isa is also certified in mat and reformer with STOTT PILATESÒ. She has been a part of the London Dance intensive with James Madison University with Shane O’Hara and Ric Rose since 2008.

April Henehan

April, MFA Choreography and the recipient of the ‘22-23 Hicks Choreography Fellowship’ with Jacob’s Pillow most recently taught for two years at Jacksonville University and spent 8 years on Faculty at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, where she was the director of the Creative Dance Ensemble. April’s first professional experience came at the age of 16 performing lead roles for “Jacksonville Symphony’s: First Coast Nutcracker;” and her early professional experiences continued with companies: Ka'Mia Contemporary Dance Theatre & A Rhythm Nation, as a semi-finalist on Season 4 of FOX's hit show “So You Think You Can Dance,” and as a semi-finalist on BRAVO TV’s “Step It Up & Dance.” Additional performance credits include works by: Demetrius Klein, Douglas Gawriljuk, Yanis Pikieris, Ronen Koresh, Michael Foley, Mia Michaels, Adele Myers, Eddy Toussaint, Kavin Grant, Cathy Young, Alyn Cassal, Bill Evans, Amanda Coogan, Amy Miller, and Nita Little. Besides being a seasoned performer, April’s choreography and leadership as a dance practitioner has been recognized internationally by ChoreoLab Europe and featured in articles for POINTE Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, and Dance Teacher Magazine. Further teaching and choreographic credits include the Candice Glover, Florida Dance Festival, Cal State University Long Beach, Santa Fe College, Lindenwood University, Brenau University, Jacob’s Pillow 360 Intensive, LaVilla School of the Arts, New World School of the Arts, Episcopal School of Jacksonville, the Movement Talent Agency, DanceLook, American College Dance Association, National College Dance Festival, Institute of Classical & Modern Dance (Mumbai), and Dance Ireland (Dublin). April holds certification in both Progressing Ballet & Contemporary Techniques, and last year she assisted Andrew Winghart on his new dance film, *Is Anyone Receiving the Data?* (2023) during his residency with CLI Conservatory.

Millicent Johnnie

A child of South Louisiana and daughter of dance, Ms. Johnnie follows in the footsteps of her immediate ancestors and dance heroines. Her father, Donald Briggs, a zydeco and blues musician, toured with Bobby Bland and Buckwheat Zydeco. Her mother, Geneva Johnnie, Louisiana history teacher and historian, placed the biographies of Katherine Dunham and Alvin Ailey within her reach. Her grandmother, Alma Briggs, was a Zydeco dance queen who took her last breath on the dance floor.

As a teenager, Johnnie hosted a local social justice TV show met by protests from the KKK; she traces her professional determination and commitment to social issues in Black culture to this early opposition. She was a teaching artist with the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana (PASA) and after two seasons there, became an instructor with Universal Dance Association. While in New Orleans, she served on the faculties at Tulane University and Dillard University before signing a commercial dance contract with the Bloc South talent agency.

As a two-time United States Artists nominee in dance, former Associate Artistic Director of Urban Bush Women with choreography featured on ESPN, the Prince William Network and Sunshine Networks, Johnnie worked A&R through Marvelous Enterprises, bringing her diverse experiences in theater and dance into the music industry. After choreographing Broadway-bound “Thoughts of a Colored Man”, produced by Syracuse Stage and Baltimore Center Stage, she received her MFA in film, specializing in producing and story development. In collaboration with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, her NEFA National Dance Project “Bamboula: Musicians’ Brew” inspired her short film “Bamboula is Not Bamboozled” and with significant support from the National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago, she developed and produced “La DiaBlesse Curse”; both toured the film festival circuit in South Africa, Trinidad, and Tobago. Her hybrid concert film, “Pulling Back the Curtain”, released in 2020, exposed the Ballet world’s fragility and reckoning with the intersection of COVID-19 and systemic oppression. She is also known for her choreography in the major motion picture “Scary Movie 5” and is currently in post-production for her feature “Ma Negresse” featuring Grammy nominated fiddle player, Cedric Watson.

Ms. Johnnie’s kinesthetic language is robust; a patois of African, American, and European ideals— from classical African dance to European classical forms, hip hop and folk. The infinite variation she offers through the work she creates or performs whether for large scale stage productions like Disney’s “Frozen: Live at the Hyperion” and operas like “Parable of the Sower”, in academia, for commercial film and television such as the National Basketball Association and the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games/ Rio2016, or for world- renowned ensembles like Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, is layered with soul, intellectual rigor and curiosity, scholarship and grace.

Selected theatrical credits include: Cry You One “CREATIVE CAPITAL AWARD”; Ameriville produced by Universes; Parable of the Sower the Opera produced by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon; We are Proud to Present a Presentation and The Shipment produced by UnderMain Theater; Cubamor produced by Village Theater; Universes’ Party People produced by OSF, Berkeley Repertory Theater “TBA AWARD, BEST CHOREOGRAPHY” and The Public Theater “2017 AUDELCO AWARD, CHOREOGRAPHY NOMINATION”; Robert Wilson’s Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter Opera, The Love Project produced by Rhodessa Jones and Cultural Odyssey; Symphony for the Dance Floor produced by Sozo Artists and Brooklyn Academy of Music; Walt Disney Creative Entertainment’s Frozen: Live at the Hyperion; Rent produced by Ferndale Repertory Theater receiving awards for "BEST DIRECTOR" and "BEST MUSICAL". Johnnie also directed and choreographed West Side Story for the historic Howard Theater in South Africa and performed in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Brazil.

Elizabeth Johnson

Elizabeth Johnson, BFA (George Mason University), MFA (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is a performer, choreographer, educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (GL-CMA), Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique (M.AmSAT, ATI), Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200), and Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist (RSME/T—ISMETA). She teaches and presents nationally and internationally on dance/movement and somatic pedagogies that center developmental movement, prosocial/trauma informed education, and feminist perspectives. Her choreographies—rooted in autobiography and her love/hate relationship with popular culture—aim to subvert cultural tropes regarding propriety, relationships, and bodies as objects/commodities. From 2004-2017 her company, Your Mother Dances, featured her choreography as well as produced national and regional guest artists; her work has been seen in New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and beyond. Johnson also performed professionally with David Parker and The Bang Group (NYC), Sara Hook Dances (NYC), and Molly Rabinowitz Liquid Grip (NYC).

Johnson is the co-author of an upcoming book from University of Illinois Press featuring a co-created movement analysis system called Framework for Integration; she has also co-authored/authored three book chapters featuring applied Alexander Technique and developmental movement. She has been Dance faculty at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin (Madison), University of North Carolina-Greensboro, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Texas Tech University, and is now an Associate Professor in the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Florida.

Calypso May

Calypso is a director, choreographer, educator, and artistic collaborator working primarily in the world of musical theater. Calypso holds multiple dance and choreography degrees including an MFA from Florida State University, a BFA from Elon University, and an AA from Sante Fe College where she was a Performing Arts Scholarship Student. Calypso has over 27 years of dance experience and 14 years of teaching experience ranging from higher-level courses at FSU and Santa Fe College, to being a full-time elementary school dance instructor and arts integration specialist. Calypso has created works for the FSU School of Theatre, the FSU School of Dance, The Hippodrome State Theatre, The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, The Young Actors Theatre, ACDA, and many pre-professional programs throughout the United States. Calypso is passionate about arts education and creating community collaborations that strive to make dance and theater more proactive, inclusive, and conscious. Calypso is currently an adjunct dance faculty member at Santa Fe College where she teaches Musical Theatre Dance, Jazz Dance, and Dance Fundamentals.