Alexandra Barbier

Alexandra Barbier is a multidimensional artist and storyteller whose works are often whimsical and humorous while also inspiring social/cultural commentary and inquiry. She blends practices from dance, theatre, visual art, and creative writing together to tell stories of Blackness, queerness, Southern-ness, and the millennial generation.

Alexandra is originally from Louisiana, where she was a member of the Baton Rouge-based contemporary dance company Of Moving Colors Productions for eight seasons, taught dance at various studios and Pre-K – 12 schools, and performed with Theatre Baton Rouge (formerly known as Baton Rouge Little Theatre) where she played “Liz/Pop” in their production of Chicago, among other musical theatre roles. For several years, she was heavily involved in the Salt Lake City arts community where she received her MFA from the University of Utah and afterwards held the Raymond C. Morales teaching fellowship in their School of Dance, served as an organizer for Queer Spectra Arts Festival, and briefly worked as the Salt Lake City Public Art Program assistant. Additionally, she spent one academic year in Nantes, France, as an English Language teacher through the Teaching Assistant Program In France (TAPIF) and has previously been on faculty for the Joffrey Ballet and Jazz + Contemporary Trainee Programs (NYC) and Joffrey South’s summer intensive (Athens, Ga).

Alexandra’s performance works have been presented in New York through Movement Research at the Judson Church; in Utah at the Marriott Center for Dance (University of Utah), Salt Lake Performance Art Festival, The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, West Main Studio(formerly Commonwealth Studios), Red Butte Garden, 12 Minutes Max at the City Library, and loveDANCEmore’s Sunday Series; in Louisiana at the Shaw Center for the Arts’ Manship Theatre and the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge’s Shell Gallery; in Ohio for University of Akron’s Rethinking Race Symposium; and in Illinois at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) and the Virginia Theatre. She has presented research, lecture-demonstrations, and papers at the International Association of Blacks in Dance conference, Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, and Popular Culture Association conference. Her visual art has been exhibited through the Champaign Urbana BIPOC Artist Collective’s exhibit for the 2024 Boneyard Arts Festival.

In 2022, Alexandra was selected as NCCAkron’s Community Commissioning Residency Artist, where she began developing her current project, Stations of Black Loss – an autoethnographic body of work that documents her journey of embracing Black identity. She has continued to develop this work as an Assistant Professor in Dance at Illinois.

Alfonso (Fonzy) Cervera

Alfonso Cervera is a first-generation queer Mexican American artist, educator, and choreographer whose work bridges Mexican Ballet Folklorico and Modern dance. Raised by his visually impaired mother, a Mexican immigrant, in San Bernardino, CA, Cervera’s artistic practice is rooted in advocating for Queer Mexican American representation and creating social change through radical dance performances.

Cervera’s work has received significant recognition and support, including funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the California Arts Council (CAC), and other prestigious grants that have propelled his innovative projects. His collective, Primera Generación Dance Collective, was honored as one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2025, cementing their place as a pioneering force in the dance world.

Alfonso has served as faculty at prominent institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Cornish College of the Arts, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, before joining The Ohio State University as a professor in the Department of Dance. Across these institutions, he has championed hybrid dance techniques and pedagogical methods that center Latine, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ voices.

A key pillar of his work is the development of Poc-Chuc, a hybrid choreographic and physical practice that fuses Mexican Ballet Folklorico with Modern dance. Poc-Chuc challenges the limited inclusion of Latine-specific approaches in dance education and reimagines folklorico’s futurism through queer, Afro-Latin, and contemporary lenses.

Currently, Cervera is collaborating with Café Con Pan on a groundbreaking project that archives the stories of Queer Mexican Ballet Folklorico maestros who immigrated to Los Angeles, CA, and Columbus, OH. This work confronts racism, homophobia, and machismo within the folklorico community, while exploring themes of tradition, queerness, and futurism. The project honors queer folklorico maestros, such as Jose Vences, Rayven Armijo, and Ignacio Delgado Hernandez, by imagining a world that nurtures Queer Folkloric Joy.

With a career spanning over a decade, Cervera’s contributions have been showcased nationally at major festivals and venues. His work continuously pushes the boundaries of tradition, creating a space where marginalized voices can thrive and where cultural hybridity becomes a tool for transformation.

Lindsey Jennings

Lindsey Jennings is a dance-artist, teacher, collage-maker, and performer based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). Rigorous movement tasks, labor, and material forms have been a constant in her body and life, now evidenced in her performance, image, and choreographic work. She is originally from the lands of the Kickapoo, Peoria, and Kaskaskia people, where she attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and received her BFA in Dance in 2020 and was awarded scholarships for outstanding performance and research. She currently works as a freelance dancer, designer, teacher, and producer for organizations such as Dancewave, Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theatre, and Artichoke Dance Company and teaches a weekly class offering called “Body as Conduit” at Gibney Dance Center. More at : www.lindseyjennings.com and @_lindseyjennings on Instagram.

Phoebe Ballard

Phoebe Ballard (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based mover, teacher, writer and administrator hustling between different artistic engagements in NYC and NJ. Hailed as having “good vibes” by beloved students aged 7-65, she is her best self when guiding folks of all ages and backgrounds in the studio, moving and learning right beside them. Phoebe’s making and teaching practice is rooted in improvisation and community building; it is deeply influenced by incredible teachers, mentors, and friends (Kendra Portier, Leah Wilks, Mauriah Kraker, Kaitlin Fox, Abby Zbikowski to name a few). At the center of her practice is a deep-seated desire to be together, to make things messy, to not take ourselves too seriously. 

Phoebe is lucky enough to call Dancewave in Gowanus, Brooklyn, home – directing the Youth Company Program and guiding young artists in their journey with movement, daring them to become the boldest versions of themselves. She carries this spirit into all aspects of her life: these creative and generous young people are her greatest influence and inspiration. 

Phoebe graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018 with an inspiringly unique cohort, a strong belief in the power of movement, and her BFA in dance.

Wynton Rice

Wynton Rice is a native Rochesterian who has been performing internationally with the Garth Fagan Dance Company for 14 years.  He has also worked with other Rochester-based contemporary dance companies including  BIODANCE and Frazeefeet dance company. 

Wynton has taught at the Garth Fagan Dance School, including dance fundamentals classes for teens and adults, and taught dance for grades K-8 at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Charter School in Rochester.  In addition to teaching and serving as an artist-in-residence for schools, he taught a jazz fusion class at the National Youth Dance Theater in New South Wales, Australia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in dance from Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. Wynton is currently teaching at the Aquinas Institute in Rochester N.Y and at the Hochstein school where he serves as  dance department chair.