Artistic Director + Choreographer

Nicole von Arx is a Swiss & British immigrant performer and choreographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She is actively working in the USA and Switzerland. She is a 2023 & 2025 NYSCA and 2024 Brooklyn Arts Council grant recipient, a 2024 CUNY Dance Initiative (NY) and 2022 Dance Initiative (CO) artist in residence, 2022 Leimay Incubator, 2020 Lauréate of a Gland Culture Grant, a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow, and 2018 STUFFED artists in residence at Judson Memorial Church.

Nicole’s been commissioned to create original works for the Wolf Trap Opera, Edmonton Opera, Stanford Live, NW Dance Project, Whim W’Him, Limón 2, DAF Dance Arts Faculty, LINK Choreography Festival, the Luminato Festival, SALT2, Brooklyn Ballet and Sam Houston State University. She creates under the name NVA & Guests.

Her performance career led her to becoming a soloist at the Royal Opera House and Chicago Lyric Opera while dancing for Jasmin Vardimon. She’s worked for Carte Blanche - The Norwegian National Company for Contemporary Dance, Bryan Arias, The Metropolitan Opera, Company XIV, Loni Landon, and Romeo Castellucci.

Photo by Jim Laffery

Performer/Costume Designer

Caitlin Taylor earned her B.F.A. in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and has worked for the past eleven years as a freelance dance artist in NYC and abroad. She worked with Alexander Whitley Dance Company from 2017-2019, and has had the privilege to perform at The Royal Opera House, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Royal Danish Opera, The Joyce Theater, Scottish Opera, and many more. Since 2021, Caitlin has worked with NVA & Guests on their last four works, Stay With Me, TOMORROW, Mont Blanc, The Fear Project, and their film, SOI. Caitlin is also a costume designer.

Photo by JJ Geiger

Performer

Christian A. Warner is an interdisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and director. His company credits include Boca Tuya, Sidra Bell Dance New York, TU Dance, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Ponybox Dance Theatre and Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre. He has performed select repertoire from creators Alvin Ailey, Bryan Arias, Raja Feather Kelly, Alan Lucien Øyen, Aszure Barton, Darius Barnes, Yoshito Sakuraba, Rena Butler, Stefanie Batten-Bland, Kayla Farrish, and Slowdanger. His choreography and direction has been commissioned by Triskelion Arts, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Trevor Jackson, McKoy Dance Project, Ballet Co-Laboratory, James Madison University, Full Out Creative, and the Blacklight Summit curated by Tariq O'Meally.

Photo by Spencer Weidie

Performer

Southern California born, Liane received a BFA Degree in dance at the University of California, Irvine. As a professional on the west coast, Liane spent five seasons with Backhausdance & Artistic Director, Jenny Backhaus. Later, six seasons with Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Company & Artistic Director Olivier Wevers. Liane performed original creations with Joseph Hernandez, Ihsan Rustem, Maurya Kerr, Yin Yue, Miceala Taylor, Mark Caserta, Danielle Agami, Ethan Colangelo, Rena Butler and Sidra Bell to name a few. Currently Liane is a freelance artist in the NY/NJ region, performing new creations and repertory with Flockworks Dance, Yin Yue Dance Company, NVA & Guests, Alejandro Cerrudo, Seattle Dance Collective, Schoen Movement Company & PARA.MAR Dance Theatre.

Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

Performer

Annie Morgan hails from Birmingham, Alabama and studied at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Dance. After graduating, Annie performed for GroundWorks DanceTheater for four seasons, and was named “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. Recent credits include Valerie Chiang's short film, "You Gotta Dance for It," Joelle Santiago's "another route demands,” Brian Golden’s “Smile and Wave,” WHITE WAVE Dance, backup dancing for comedian Hannibal Buress and Impractical Jokers, and performing as an immersive character in Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s “Casa Bonita.” Annie is currently a Community Actionist for Gibney Dance’s Hands Are for Holding community programming.

Photo by Jenna Maslechko

Performer

Rachel Harris is a dancer and choreographer based in New York City. 2023 Bessie Award Nominee for “Outstanding Performer,” Rachel Harris (Charlotte, NC) graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance with BFA in 2020 where she performed the works of William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, d Sabela Grimes, Barak Marshall, and many others. Harris later joined Zeitgeist Dance Theatre under Francisco Gella and Yusha Marie Sorzano and Parsons Dance where she performed works by David Parsons, Robert Battle, Rena Butler, Chanel de Silva, and Matthew Neenan. Rachel has been named Howard University’s 2021 Emerging Choreographer to Watch, Gibney Dance Converge2Emerge 2021 Film Grant Recipient, and 2022 Finalist for New Century Dance Project. Rachel's work has been commissioned by Howard University, Traverse City Dance Project, amongst others, and she has produced an evening length show with Emmy Award winning singer songwriter Paul Brill. She has most recently performed at the Metropolitan Opera and Traverse City Dance Project and continues to freelance as a dancer and choreographer throughout the US.

Photo by Zui Gomez

Performer

Lavy is a gender queer, Queens based, choreographic dance artist. Graduating with their BFA from Marymount Manhattan College, they have performed works by Kyle Abraham, Nicole von Arx, Andrea Miller, and Jenn Freeman. As a choreographer, they have been commissioned by Mare Nostrum Elements, Pioneers Go East Collective, Emerging Artists Theatre and Reworked Runway. In 2022, they were selected as an artist in residence at MOtiVE Brooklyn, as well as, the international choreographic residency at Art Omi. Recently, they performed in the Off-Broadway show Emergence and their company, VERBAL ANIMAL, premiered its first evening length work at Laguardia Performing Arts Center.

Photo by Alicia Steeves Photography

Performer

Rush Carson, a graduating senior from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance and a concentration in Composition, is an upcoming performing artist and choreographer. In 2020, he was selected as the YoungArts winner for choreography. Recently, he has worked with choreographers including Ethan Colangelo, Andrea Miller, Loni Landon, Gregory Dolbashian, Kimberly Bartosik, Hannah Garner, and Francisco Gella. Beyond his dance career, Rush has also composed and produced musical scores for choreographers such as Gregory Dolbashian, Michelle Thompson, Juan Carlos Franquiz, Elinor Kleber Diggs, and for his own choreographic projects.

Photo by Ken Osadon

Performer

Gabe Katz (he/him) is a dancer, choreographer, and educator with a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. He is also an alum of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, HSPro at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Gabe has performed repertoire by choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shechter, Peter Chu, Sonya Tayeh, Jonathan Campbell and Austin Diaz with MADBOOTS DANCE, Jenn Freeman, Akira Uchida, and Rena Butler. His commercial credits include Gap, Puma, Eartheater, Shygirl, Paul McCartney, and Ryan Heffington. He was featured in Akira Uchida’s film “Still” which premiered on NOWNESS. He has taught and choreographed at dance institutions around the country, creating numerous live works and dance films. Gabe was also a performer and swing in the final years of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More in NYC.

Photo by Cole Witter

Performer

Jemoni Powe is an upcoming Dancer and Choreographer. He was chosen as a Merit winner in Dance and Choreography for the National YoungArts Foundation. He has debuted in a music video by Grammy award-winning Jazz artist, Gregory Porter entitled "Revival.” He is highlighted in the November 2020 issue of Dance Spirit Magazine as one of five dancers to follow. Graduating from New York University Tisch School of the Arts he is currently a Gallim Company artist, recently performing the works From and Sama by Andrea Miller.

Photo by Yasmeen Enahora

Performer

Jerimy Rivera, a native of New York City, practiced gymnastics from an early age, but following several professional opportunities with New York City Ballet, decided to dedicate himself exclusively to dance. After training at schools such as School of American Ballet, Steps on Broadway, JKO School at American Ballet Theatre, and Alvin Ailey, Jerimy broadened his stylistic reach to modern , hip hop, jazz, and musical theatre. In 2012, Jerimy toured with West Side Story The Musical, introducing him to theater. In 2013, he moved to Montreal to dance with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens for four years. He’s worked with choreographers such as Mats Ek, Jiri Killian, Ohad Naharin, Stinjin Cellis and Stephan Thosse inspiring him to explore. He joined RUBBERBAND in 2017 and toured with them through 2022. He currently dances at The Metropolitan Opera performing in the new production of El Niño. He also choreographs, performs and teaches alongside Taylor Graham in NYC, LA, and Miami.

Photo by Jim Lafferty

Performer/Understudy

Sasha West began her dance training in Atlanta, Georgia and was accepted as a conservatory student at Atlanta Ballet. Sasha continued her dance education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and performed in works by Sidra Bell and the Trisha Brown Dance Company. She also participated in summer intensives such as Gallim Dance Intensive and the Arts Umbrella ISDI. Since graduating, she has been a guest artist with David Dorfman Dance and is an assistant teaching artist at the Mark Morris Dance Center. Sasha is very excited to be working with NVA & Guests for the Fall/Winter 2023/24 season.

Photo by Kyle Hall

Understudy

Aubry grew up in Orange County, California where she studied ballet from Dmitri and Jenifer Kulev at the Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy. Simultaneously, she joined Westside Dance Project under the direction of Jessie Riley to further her training in contemporary dance. Most recently, Aubry danced professionally with SALT Contemporary Dance from 2019-2023 and was a guest artist with Dance Aspen in 2023. Aubry has performed works by Peter Chu, Micaela Taylor, Ihsan Ruhstem, Alex Ketley (The Foundry), and Garrett Smith to name a few. She has also studied at intensives with BODYTRAFFIC, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, and Batsheva Dance Company.

Photo by Samantha Little

Understudy

Lorenzo Guerrini, of Florence, Italy, started his career as an actor and earned a Performing Arts Management degree from the University of Florence. He started dancing at 21 in the same school where he used to work as an administrator and went on to receive his Bachelor’s in Contemporary Dance from ACTS / Ecole de Danse Contemporaine de Paris, where he performed in works by Antonin Rioche, Claude Brumachon and Herman Diephuis. In 2021, Lorenzo moved to New York to attend the Martha Graham School. He was a member of Graham 2 and has danced for various contemporary choreographers around New York City.

Advisor

Dan Gross is a seasoned advocate for artists who has worked around the entertainment industry for nearly 20 years. He has focused on matching brands with musicians, and is currently the Director, Sync at Warner Chappell music publishing. In the past, his work with the advertising industry has included brands like Microsoft, Mastercard, Verizon, L'Oréal, and has been awarded Clios, D&AD Pencils, Cannes Lions and more. Dan has been heard on panels at places like SXSW and Nashville's Who Knew, and in guest lectures at institutions like New York University and Berklee School of Music. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Economics and a Certificate in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing. He brings his love of dance and live performance to NVA & Guests.

Photo by Katie Henry

Creative Advisor

Melissa is a Swiss environmental scientist based in Paris with a strong interest in art and visual aesthetics. As a scientist, she moves from one environmental issue to another. She investigated chemical pollution and how humans and ecosystems are exposed to it. She is now working in the field of climate change, supporting the production of IPCC assessment reports. In parallel, she directed a short film on the impact of clouds on the fast-warming Arctic climate. Her work experiences brought her down to Ivory Coast up to Svalbard: along her way, she witnessed the fragility of the environment and human societies, and how both are intertwined. She strongly believes in the power of art and artists in raising awareness on environmental issues and ultimately in supporting scientists, who have been sounding the alarm for decades.

Acting Coach

Charlotte is a performer, creator and teacher who works primarily at the intersection between text and movement. She has choreographed Off-Broadway, around NYC and for leading regional theaters such as the Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Virginia Stage Company and the Cape Playhouse. Additional credits include: season choreographer for Comedy Central’s, ALTERNATINO, and choreographer for the national tour of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Select performance credits include: The Michaels (Public Theater), HELP (The Shed), A Month in the Country (Williamstown), Much Ado About Nothing (The Old Globe) and Monica Bill Barnes & Co. (company member). Charlotte created ‘Moving into Language’, a movement-based approach to acting. She has taught at Juilliard, Limón Dance Company, Gibney, Barnard, Peridance and HB Studio among others. She is on faculty at Stella Adler and The New Group/LIU BFA Program. Training: Juilliard BFA in Dance, The Old Globe/USD MFA in Acting. www.charlottebydwell.com

Photo by Deb Lopez