Making Moves Dance Festival Makes its Return to Jamaica Queens
A free, community-based Dance Festival to check out
A few months back, we let you all know about an opportunity for dancers coming to Queens NY. Now, Making Moves Dance Festival presented by the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL), is officially here and below you can check out each of the dancers. Making Moves Dance Festival 2021 ~ To Life is a free two day event set to take place on Jamaica Performing Arts Center’s outdoor stage on September 17th and September 18th at 7pm.This year, JCAL presents what is by far it’s most diverse lineup of Choreographers and Dance Companies yet with disciplines including Ballet, Afro-Latin, East Asian, Middle Eastern, Afro-Caribbean, East Indian, and more. After an open call in April, JCAL’s professional jurors selected nine NYC based dance companies. “There was a moment in 2020, when I feared we would never see live performances again;" Says Artistic Director Courtney Ffrench. "But now here we are, dancing through the fear, planning to leap across the abyss of melancholy. This year’s Making Moves Dance Festival will be special, it will be a tribute to life”.RSVP to the event hereCheck out the performers to Making Moves Dance Festival below!
Meet the Dancers
Patrick Coker
Patrick Coker is from Chester, Virginia was awarded the American Ballet Theatre's National Trainee Scholarship from 2008 to 2010. In May 2014, Coker graduated from the Ailey/Fordham University BFA Program, where he apprenticed with Ailey II in his final year. After graduation, he danced for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and then went on to join Jessica Lang Dance. He has also performed with The Mark Morris Dance Group and LA-based BODYTRAFFIC. In 2019, Coker joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where he is currently still dancing. Coker’s choreography has been commissioned by the Ailey School (in both the Professional and Junior Divisions), Skidmore College, The San Antonio Met Ballet and Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance. His work has been showcased at the 92nd Street Y’s Future Dance Festival, the Williamsburg Movement and Arts Center's Moving Beauty Series, the Jamaica Center for the Performing Art's Making Moves Festival, and the New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble’s Inkubate Installation.
Ranardo-Domeico Grays
Ranardo-Domeico Grays is the Founder/Artistic Director of VISIONS Contemporary Ballet, an ethnically diverse company. An alumnus of The Juilliard School, California Institute of the Arts (BFA), Alvin Ailey and Interlochen Arts Academy, he has performed with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, LaToya Jackson Tour, Celebrity Cruises, Sensedance, Zach Morris, and Urban Wash, and has acted in film, TV and theater (SAG/AFTRA, AEA). He is a brain cancer survivor!Grays was awarded LMCC Creative Engagement and UMEZ Arts Engagement grants for self-produced VISIONS concerts: In Truth and In Light 2021, Traces 2019, and Healing Works II 2018, performed in NY and Michigan. VISIONS has been presented by Harlem Arts Festival; Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center; Dixon Place; Green Space; Wassaic Project; ACS/Making Strides Central Park; BAAD and others.
Cory “Nova” Villegas
Cory “Nova” Villegas has been training in Salsa since she was five years old. She has trained at The Ailey School, Lehman and Hunter College. Cory is interested in the intertwining, of Afro-Latin forms with traditional styles, technique and its marriage with music and poetry. She has worked with Latin artists such as reggaetón sensation Don Omar. In February of 2019 she co-founded her company as artistic director of Soul Dance Co.: The Soul Experience. She also attained her BA/MA and certification in Pre-K-12 in dance education from Hunter College in the May 2020. Cory is currently the dance educator at Beacon High School in Manhattan
Charly and Eriel Santagado
Sisters Charly and Eriel Santagado have been dancing and creating together for more than ten years and use this experience to continue to collaborate with each other and other dancers and artists to create new work that explores elements of various artistic mediums through movement. The company has presented work at many festivals including KoDaFe, Dumbo Dance Festival, Triskelion’s SummerFest, Waxworks, Peridance's APEX, and Koresh’s Come Together Dance Festival. Their work has been produced by HERE Arts Center's Co-op Sublet Series, Inclined Dance Project's inQuad Split Bill Series at Dixon Place, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning's Friday Nights Series, The Berrie Center at Ramapo College, and Jersey City Theater Center.
Guanglei Hui
Originally from China, Guanglei is an independent artist, choreographer, dancer and teacher. He studied at The Russian National Ballet Dance Academy from 2001-2003 and earned a major in Choreography/ Classical Ballet Performance with Education. While studying in Russia, he took second place in the Russian International Dance Competition. In 2005, Guang-lei joined the first modern dance company in China, Guangdong Modern Dance Company. In 2008, he was invited to perform with GMDC in the anniversary celebration of the Pina Bausch Dance Company. He was invited as a young choreographer for Yokohama Dance Collection in 2011; and in 2012, he was invited to participate in the International Choreographers Residency Program (ICR) at the American Dance Festival. In 2013, Guang-lei joined White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company. He began working with Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2014. In 2016 he was invited to Taipei Dance Round Table Project to work on a new original piece. He has toured to international arts festivals in more than twenty countries.
Persephone DaCosta
Persephone DaCosta, born of Trinidadian descent, trained with renown Master Dancers; Vado Diamonde, Rose Marie Giraud, Jewel Love, Mikerline Pierre, Michel Kafando & Patrianne Edwards. She became a principal dancer in Kotchegna Ensemble, Bambara Dance and Drum Company and Mikerline's Haitian Folklore Dance Company. In 2005 she started her own company as the Artistic Director of Batingua Dance & Drum Productions LLc. Ms. DaCosta served as the Cultural Director of Sesame Flyers International and represented the Caribbean at the 2020 Thanksgiving Macy's Day Parade. She is also the recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Council BAF Award 2018 - 2021, NYC Fund For Teachers Award, Charlene & Ella Entrepreneur Award and the Nina Simone Arts Award. Her mission is to preserve, educate and celebrate cultural arts by focusing her choreography on building unity and healing communities through sharing arts and culture from West Africa and the Afro Caribbean Diaspora.
Quaba Venza Ernest
Quaba Venza Ernest was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He began his dance training at Dance Theatre of Harlem. He later attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, and continued studying dance at State University of New York at Purchase College Conservatory of Dance. Quaba is a recipient of the 2019 Thayer Fellowship in the Arts and was a member of Ballet BC in 2019/2020. Quaba has been featured in the NY Times for performances at BAM Fisher & Jacob’s Pillow. His piece titled “String Theory” was selected to be a part of the 2019 New Century Dance Festival & his dance film “Astomi” was selected as a winner in the 27th Quinzena de Dança de Almada – International Dance Festival (2019). In 2021 he will be one of The Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellows at Jacob’s Pillow & was selected as an Early Career Artist for the 12th Annual Making Moves Dance Festival.
Ted Thomas and Frances Ortiz
Ted Thomas and Frances Ortiz met while earning their Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in dance at the State University of New York at Purchase. They then went on to achieve their Masters of Arts degrees in Dance Education at New York University. Mr. Thomas danced in Ballet Hispanico, Elisa Monte, Murray Louis and Nikolais Company and the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Ms. Ortiz has performed with a number of choreographers including; Kevin Wynn, Tim Martin, and Carl Paris. The two founded Thomas/Ortiz Dance in 2003 and while choreographing and continuing to perform, Mr. Thomas was for two years Artist-in-Residence at Barnard College and 2018 Connecticut Artist Fellow for Excellence in Dance. Ms. Ortiz is the dance teacher at Greenwich High School and was a guest teacher and choreographer at Yale University. Thomas and Ortiz along with her twin sister Ginna Ortiz are co-owners and directors of the New England Academy of Dance and New England Dance Theater in New Canaan, CT.
Thuy Wyckoff
In 2018, Thuy Wyckoff graduated from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance having earned her BFA in Dance Performance with a Minor in Arts Management. During her time at Purchase, Thuy performed works by Taryn Russell, Kimberly Bartosik, Gary Jeter, Stuart Loungway and multiple works by George Balanchine. Additionally, Thuy has trained at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, BalletX, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell and The Washington Ballet among others. In 2019, Thuy founded WyckoffCollective, a new and emerging collective based in NYC with the mission to celebrate women as strong leaders capable of being at the forefront of the dance industry. WC has premiered her work in theaters located in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Along with being the founder and artistic director of WyckoffCollective, Thuy Wyckoff was on Faculty at Drexel University for their 2021 Summer Term and is currently the Company Associate for Gibney Company.
Be sure to RSVP to Making Moves Dance Festival here