ANGEL BLANCO
Angel Blanco is a Puerto Rican dancer/choreographer whose work focuses on exposing the inequalities that members of colonized and queer communities endure. They're compelled to sharpen the gaze of the onlooker with narrative scopes that seek to formulate conversations of the subject matter at hand. Characterizing traits of their culture, as experimental guides for movement departure, help nurture their creative process. Their movement is in constant conversation with what it means to be maximal, minimal and necessary; questioning these forms of movement through research laboratories that invites others to collaborate, explore and fail. They currently hold an MFA in Dance and Social Justice from the University of Texas at Austin and a BFA in Commercial Dance from Pace University.
CELLISE BROWN
photo by Elysia Perkins
Cellise is an artist and dance educator from Houston, Texas. She received her BFA in Dance Education from the University of Texas at Austin. She has had the honor of performing works by renowned choreographers, such as Sidra Bell, Jacob Jonas, Charles O. Anderson, and Alicia Graf-Mack. In addition to teaching and choreographing for local studios and schools, she regularly performs with Allysen Hooks Projects, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, Ty&Co, Performa/Dance, and Early Era Collective. She is a passionate dancer and teacher, eager to inspire and share her love for dance with everyone.
ALEXA CAPAREDA
photo by Corey Haynes
Alexa Capareda received her early training at the Philippine High School for the Arts in her native Philippines. After moving to Texas, she trained professionally at Ballet Austin. She continued her studies in Canada at Ecole Superieure de Ballet Contemporain de Montreal before joining Mario Radacovsky’s Balet Bratislava in Slovakia, where she had the privilege of performing Jiri Kylian’s Falling Angels and Six Dances. She began exploring her own choreography before leaving Europe, winning 3rd prize at the 2013 Festival of Choreographic Miniatures in Serbia.
Alexa joined Ballet Austin’s artistic staff and Academy faculty in 2015. As Rehearsal Director for Ballet Austin TWO and the Butler Fellows, she has restaged ballets by Stephen Mills, Nelly van Bommel, Nick Kepley, Thang Dao, and Jimmy Orrante for Ballet Austin TWO, has assisted guest choreographers Alexander Anderson and Joshua Manculich with their commissioned works, and has created original pieces for BA2 and the Butler Fellowship Program. Maria and the Mouse Deer, her new ballet for BA2 based on Philippine folk stories, was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and received seven B. Iden Payne nominations.
Alexa is an artist and Assistant Director with Jennifer Hart's Performa/Dance. She has co-produced and performed with Frank Wo/Men Collective and has worked with ARCOS, BLiPSWiTCH, Jennifer Sherburn, and Magdalena Jarkowiec. Her work has been featured in collaborations with sound artists/musicians Steve Parker, Brent Baldwin, Henna Chou, Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, Austin Camerata, LOLA Austin, VAMP, and visual artists Essentials Creative, Tom Suhler, Sarah Annie Navarrete, Susan Scafati, and Joi Conti. She has been commissioned by SALT Dance (Salt Lake City, UT), Houston Contemporary, Columbia Repertory Ballet, ZACH Theatre, and tbd. dance collective (Omaha, NE), and has presented work at the Blanton Museum, Big Medium, Austin Dance Festival, Barnstorm Dance Festival, and Fusebox Festival.
Alexa recently had her acting debut in Salvage Vanguard Theater’s Decapitations and has a growing interest in expanding her skillsets within the greater creative industry. She has also assisted several arts entities with marketing and social media.
In 2017, Alexa received an Austin Critics Table Award for Excellence as a Dancer. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (with High Honors), and a minor in Theater and Dance from the University of Texas at Austin.
JAIRUS CARR
photo by Stephen Pruitt
Jairus Carr is a local dancer, choreographer, and artist who has been in the Austin area since 2007. With a B.S. in Business Management from WGU which has served him very little, Jairus has choreographed and danced for many persons and companies in the Austin Area—to name a few: Early Era Collective, Jennifer Sherburn, and KDH Dance Company. Jairus and his partner, Anna, make work together. These works have been showcased in many events across the US, festivals such as the Austin Dance Festival, Barnstorm Dance Festival, RAD Fest; and residencies like Keshet Makers Space and Homeport Art House. The more Jairus makes and does, the more confused he is by what all this is. And, hey, that’s alright!
HENNA CHOU
Henna Chou (HC) is a sound explorer with experiences living in Tucson, AZ; Overland Park, KS; Berkeley, CA; Ames, IA; Beijing, China; and Montpelier, VT. Chou enjoys participating in Austin’s creative community as a cellist, guitarist, keyboardist, and sound artist. Previous work includes collaborations with Salvage Vanguard Theater, Paper Chairs Theater, COTFG, BLiPSWiTCH, Collide Arts, The Blanton Museum of Art, The Contemporary Austin, Museum of Human Achievement, Phonography Austin, and Golden Hornet.
ARNALDO HERNANDEZ
Arnaldo Hernandez was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, where he began training at Pasos Ballet Academy and The Conservatory of Ballet Concierto of Puerto Rico. He was later accepted to The Rock School for Dance Education where he performed in Nutcracker 1776 as well as Gala and Fringe Festival showcases. He later joined Pennsylvania Ballet’s second company and danced the pas de trois from Paquita, Celtic Fire and the pas de deux from La Fille Mal Gardée. He also appeared in company productions such as George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Macmillan’s Romeo & Juliet, Angel Corella’s La Bayadere and Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces. In 2020 he joined Ballet Austin’s second company where he performed Paquita pas de Deux, Sleeping Beauty pas de deux and contemporary works choreographed by Alexa Capareda. Since then he has joined the main company and performed pieces by Stephen Mills, Jennifer Archibald and Jessica Lang.
AÍDA HERNANDEZ-REYES
photo by Umi Akiyoshi
Aída Hernandez-Reyes is an interdisciplinary artist based in Austin, Texas. They work in mediums ranging from printmaking and installation to stage and video performance. Through movement and dance, their creative process is motivated by the mundane and the sublime, building stamina, resting, upside down positions, and revelry of their queerness and multiracial nuance. Since receiving their BFA in dance performance from the University of Texas at Austin, Aída has performed and presented works locally, nationally, and abroad. Recent credits include Joy Alpuerto Ritter’s Oculus (2024), Thee Gay Agenda’s Justice is Served (2025), and Aída’s original work Nosebleed (2025).
TARYN LAVERY
photo by Joi Conti
Taryn Lavery, a Utah native, is a freelance dancer, choreographer, cross-disciplinary design artist, and co-founder/co-director of Austin's BLiPSWiTCH, a project-based dance company focused on collaboration and site specific works as an avenue to community expansion. She is a current dancer with Allysen Hooks, Performa/Dance and Ty&Co, and has worked with multimedia dance company ARCOS (2015-2022), Jennifer Sherburn (2016-2021), Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, Collide Arts, Dance Carousel, L.O.L.A., SEAM Project, Ready/Set/Go! Dance, Blue Lapis Light, Sky Candy and more.
Taryn's training began at the Cache Valley School of Ballet in Utah and she went on to study at the University of Alabama on scholarship— while there, she performed and choreographed for Dance Alabama, was a member of the Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre, and before relocating to Austin in 2011, she danced and created work for Birmingham's Sanspointe Dance Company. She has had the opportunity to train additionally in programs at the University of Wyoming, Ballet West, American Ballet Theatre, and abroad with Maria Campos and La Macana at La Caldera in Barcelona, Spain.
In 2015, Taryn co-founded BLiPSWiTCH, where she serves as co-director with Alex Pruitt, working in and out of the dance studio to conceive and produce original site-specific works, platform and partner with artists in collaboration, and host community classes.
In 2023, she was nominated for Best Choreographer/Dancer in The Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin Awards Reader's Poll, and that same year, BLiPSWiTCH received the Critic's Award for the "Best Choreography of Human Kinesis". Taryn has a creative philosophy rooted in the belief that the way we gather and share in exposition is an extension of process, and she fuses her classical background with a desire to revitalize modern dance for broader audiences, extracting a new form of contemporary performance.
CLAY MOORE
photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete
Originally from Houston, Clay Moore grew up as a competitive dancer and trained with local studios. After graduating, he trained in Los Angeles and New York City with Edge Performing Arts and Mark Morris Dance before relocating to Austin, TX. Now as a local-based performer and instructor, he is a current company member with Blue Lapis Light, where he trains and performs in aerial apparatus. He has been featured in works with ARCOS Dance, BLiPSWiTCH, Jennifer Sherburn, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, as well as Danny Golden and Tomar and the FCs. Clay shares his passion for movement by teaching and choreographing within our community at local schools a part of the Austin ISD. He is currently a Community Outreach coordinator and a Co-director for a youth performance/ competitive dance company at Balance Dance Studios.
KANAMI NAKABAYASHI
Kanami Nakabayashi is a freelance dance artist and educator based in Austin, TX. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Kanami started dance at the age of three while her family lived in Portland, OR for two years. After returning to Japan, she continued her training at the Tokyo Ballet School. Her growing curiosity and passion for dance led her to study abroad at the Quinte Ballet School of Canada. As Kanami studied a variety of dance styles, she fell in love with contemporary dance, which inspired her to pursue a BFA in Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. During her time at UT, she had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Abby Zbikowski, Alex Ketley, Charles O. Anderson, and Kate Watson-Wallace.
Following graduation, Kanami returned to Japan, where she freelanced and performed in various dance projects. Kanami moved back to Austin in 2020 and has since performed with companies including Ventana Ballet, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, TY&CO, Sea Legs Dance, Early Era Collective, and other amazing local choreographers. She has also served as an adjunct ballet faculty member at UT Austin.
STEPHEN PRUITT
Stephen Pruitt has been working as a photographer, installation artist, designer, writer, director and performer for over thirty years. Based in Austin, he is a lighting and production designer for several dance and performance companies including Forklift Danceworks, Tapestry Dance, KDH Dance, Allysen Hooks Projects, Cirque Vida, Salvage Vanguard, and a company member with the Rude Mechs. When not working in theaters, he tends to be off in the desert or the woods with a camera. A lot of this various work can be seen at www.fluxiondesigns.com
TOR REYNOLDS
While Tor dabbles in an array of creative practices, they are typically found working in some type of theatre space. Usually building a set, stage managing, or sometimes bashfully in the spotlight. They are the production manager at the Museum of Human Achievement, which allows them to work with a conglomerate of absurd and beautiful art + artists. The sets they design and build have been shown at 'I wanna to a fucking princess' by Ground Floor Theater, 'The Eldert' Lofts at AT&T Dallas performing arts center, 'Former Children' at Back pocket Amphitheater, 'The Art of Forgetting' Short Film for Caroline Rose and most recently, 'Anthropocene' for Performa/Dance.
TIKIRI SHAPIRO
photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete
Tikiri Shapiro landed in Austin, TX, a few years ago and has loved this city's dance scene ever since. While she's not scheming up her next choreographic project with Sea Legs Dance, she runs Austin's dance resource Instagram @austindancehub and dances with other groups such as Red Nightfall Dance Theatre. She would write more, but she probably got distracted by a dog.