Faculty
2025 Visiting Artists:
Keola Jones
Keola Jones born and raised in Richmond, VA, is a movement artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She began her dance journey at Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center and continued at Henrico High School’s Center for the Arts. She is a ‘22 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded Outstanding Performer, Emerging Leader, and the African American Studies’ Black History in the Making Award. Keola has worked with artists including Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, Johnnie Cruise Mercer (TheREDprojectNYC), Dr. E. Gaynell Sherrod, Trebien Pollard, among others. She has served as adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary. Additionally, Keola works with the Leah Glenn Dance Theatre based in Williamsburg, VA. Keola is currently a performing company member.
Photo by Hayim Heron
Love Muwwakkil
Love Muwwakkil is a freelance performer, teacher, choreographer, writer, and maker. She is the founder of Love Notes in Motion, offering movement workshops and embodied leadership through movement and play. Receiving an MFA in Dance and Social Justice from UT Austin, her work is at the intersection of experimental dance, improvisation and installation. Using the body as the main vehicle of expression, her work grapples with these questions: what does liberation feel like in my body? How do we navigate and dismantle the imposed colonial archive that lives in our bodies? What strategies can we use to reconnect or resource the inherent liberation in our bodies and instill deep trust of self? What happens when we stop performing liberation and make it a lived experience?
Photo by Hayim Heron
Mikaila Ware
Mikaila Ware (she/her) began taking dance classes at a recreational center on the military base of Fort Stewart, Georgia, when she was five. Upon her parents’ military retirement, Mikaila’s family settled in Ellenwood, Georgia, where she furthered her training at Price Performing Arts Center and Dekalb School of the Arts. Mikaila expanded her range at intensives such as Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Henny Jurriëns Studio. Mikaila graduated from Florida State University, where she obtained her B.F.A in Dance. As a NY-based movement artist, teacher, and facilitator, Mikaila has worked in the mediums of dance and film through collaboration with choreographers and directors such as Kayla Farrish (Decent Structures Arts), André Zachery (Renegade Performance Group), Johnnie Cruise Mercer (TheREDprojectNYC), and Max Rothman (Monticello Park Productions) with Dubois A’keen. Mikaila was an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance Program (Fall '20). Presentations of her work include Dixon Place, Purchase, STooPs, and as part of AUNTS Goes Public performance series. Featured performances of Mikaila’s appear in articles such as the NY Times, Dance Magazine, Dance Enthusiast, and Danspace Project. Additionally, Mikaila worked administratively and creatively through completing the Accessibility Partnerships and Programs Fellowship at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Furthermore, Mikaila is an alumna of the Diversity in Arts Leadership program with the Arts and Business Council of New York. She is currently a company member with Urban Bush Women.
Photo by Hayim Heron
teaching artists from the
Natalie Gotter
Natalie Gotter (she/her) is a dance performer, choreographer, filmmaker, educator, researcher, and Director of Training Programs at Bates Dance Festival. She received her MFA in Modern Dance with certification in Screendance and Gender Studies from the University of Utah and BA in Communication, Music, and Dance from Tulane University. Dance offers her a way of engaging with socialization of the physically gendered body and questioning human limits, whether inherent or self-imposed, with dance offering physical and somatic insight of possibilities. Her practice centers dance as a liberatory practice of community building and reclaiming of social identity. Natalie has taught at the University of Utah, Westminster College, Utah Valley University, Salt Lake Community College, Weber State University, and most recently was an Assistant Professor and co-Director of Dance at Muhlenberg College, where she designed and co-taught dance and science workshops for Youth-in-Probation, received her certification in the Inside-Out prison abolition teaching program and was awarded the 2023 Muhlenberg Center for Teaching and Learning Teaching Award for Community Engaged Coursework.
As a performing artist, she has been a featured and ensemble dancer in works by Florian Alberge, John Allen, Michaela Cannon, Juan Carlos Claudio, Ashley Creek, Michael Crotty, Katherine Desimine, Jeffrey Gunshol, Earl Mosley, Fiona Nelson, Dat Nguyen, Gabrielle Revlock, and Beverly Trask. She was also a featured dancer in the Alwin Nikolais Centennial Celebration in 2011. Her choreographic works have been presented in New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, including multiple evening-length self-produced and collaborative research based concerts; and collaborative commissions for Megan Flynn Dance Company, Flatlands Dance Theatre, Cat+Fish Dances, Tipping Point Dance Company, Tanner Dance Company and Performing Dance Center. Her screendance works have been featured at the Going Dutch Arts Festival (Chicago), PA Dance Educators Conference (Philadelphia), Red Rocks Dance Festival (St. George), Screendance in the Landscape (Oban, Scotland), and she received the Audience Favorite Award at the Utah Dance Film Festival (Salt Lake City) in 2018.
Emilia Bruno
Originally from Lake Zurich, IL, Emilia Bruno (they/them) is an Italian-American, queer movement artist and educator based in College Park, MD. They are a core collaborator with Tristan Koepke/Big Boy Dance, regularly creating, developing, and performing company work since 2023. Additional performance credits include Kendra Portier/BANDportier, Shapiro & Smith Dance, Zenon Dance Company, Slo Dance Company, Brit Falcon/Falcon Dance, and MK Ford. In addition to their performance work, Emilia holds the role of Associate Director of the Young Dancers Intensive at the Bates Dance Festival after serving as the Director of Mentorship for this program from 2023-2025. Education and mentorship for aspiring youth artists is a core value of their continued work and desired impact on the dance field at large. Emilia also works as an arts administrator for Mariclare Hulbert Consulting supporting the communication, marketing, and public relations efforts of renown dance artists and organizations. Emilia received their BFA in Dance and BS in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and is a current MFA candidate in Dance at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Other Faculty Artists
Melissa Brenner
Melissa Brenner serves as the Dance Area Coordinator at Santa Fe College, where she directs and choreographs for the performance ensemble, Dance Theatre of Santa Fe. She is a devoted educator with over 14 years of teaching experience and leads several collaborative events and guest artist residency activities to enhance the education of her students.
Melissa's professional training began at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, followed by the University of Florida's B.F.A. program, where she studied under Kelly Drummond-Cawthon and performed repertory by Shapiro and Smith Dance. She holds an M.F.A. from Arizona State University and a Pilates certification.
Melissa has performed in venues such as Dance New Amsterdam (NYC), Taliesin West (Scottsdale, AZ), Broadway Performance Hall (Seattle, WA), ODC Theatre (San Francisco, CA), American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), and the Bates Dance Festival (Portland, ME), and has danced the works of notable choreographers including Mary Fitzgerald, Michael Foley, Karen Schupp, Elizabeth Johnson, Ashleigh Leite, Shapiro and Smith Dance, and Elina Mooney. Since 2001, her choreography has been featured in various platforms across the U.S. and has earned special recognition in Gala performances for the American College Dance Festival.
Rachel Carrico
Rachel Carrico is an Assistant Professor of Dance Studies at the University of Florida’s School of Theatre + Dance. Her recently published book, Dancing the Politics of Pleasure at the New Orleans Second Line (University of Illinois Press), 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 several journals and edited volumes; awarded the Society of Dance History Scholars' Selma Jeanne Cohen Award for excellence in dance scholarship; and supported by numerous fellowships. 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. She parades in New Orleans annually with the Ice Divas Social & Pleasure Club.
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.
Isa García-Rose
Isa García-Rose was a principal dancer with Dance Alive National Ballet dancing variety of classical, contemporary, and character roles throughout the company’s repertoire including Balanchine works. Cuban born, Isa studied and performed with Ballet Concerto in Miami, Florida, received her BFA in Theatre and Dance Performance from the University of Florida, and her MFA in Dance from FSU. She has taught master classes and intensives throughout the Southeast, Florida State University, Orcas Island, and has been faculty with James Madison University’s London Dance intensive since 2008. She has performed as a member of Demetrius Klein Dance Company and a guest artist with a UF production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (choreography by Alberto Alonso) in US and international venues (Russia). Isa also performed regularly at Hippodrome State Theatre (Just So Stories, The Canta Danca Dancer, Dracula, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream). She also served as Associate Director of The Shadow Dance Theatre, an experimental company of actors and dancers at UF founded by her beloved Ric Rose. Isa is currently a Master Lecturer in Dance, teaching Ballet, Pointe, Pilates, and setting choreography at UF. She is a certified STOTT PILATES instructor.
Onye Ozuzu
Onye P. Ozuzu served as the dean of the UF College of the Arts from 2018-2024. Ozuzu earned her Master of Fine Arts in dance and choreography and Bachelor of Arts in English literature at Florida State University. A dance administrator, performing artist, choreographer, educator and researcher, Ozuzu has been presenting dance works since 1997. Her work has focused on the body as technology and explored the intersectionality between many movement forms. This hallmark of her practice has translated to her decade of work as an academic administrator where she has been known for pragmatic and transformational systems redesign in the integration of pluralistic cultural, viewpoint, and practice diversity in arts research, creative endeavor, and teaching. In her time at the University of Florida highlights of her work in and with the college have been the cultivation of collaborative and participatory mechanisms for defining and executing college-wide initiatives, mission focused strategic hiring of innovative and “change-making” faculty, growing research and philanthropic support for the college, launching the Center for Art, Migration and Entrepreneurship, and facilitating the college’s robust AI and Art initiatives.
Alex Springer
Alex Springer is a co-creator, performer, teacher, and video artist. His choreography with partner Xan Burley has been presented at the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Center for Performance Research, Danspace Project, and the 92Y, among others. He has taught at Gibney Dance, Bates Dance Festival, University of Maryland, Purchase College, Wesleyan University, Smith College and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. He was a member of Doug Varone and Dancers from 2007-17 and has also performed for Alexandra Beller, Jeanine Durning, Adriane Fang, Angie Hauser, Heidi Henderson, Donnell Oakley, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, among others. During his tenure with Varone, he acted as the rehearsal director, company manager, and still serves as the company's archivist and répétiteur. He received an MFA from Smith College and a BFA from the University of Michigan. www.xanandalex.com
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
Mohamed Dacosta
Mohamed 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.
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)
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.
Elan Robinson
Elan Robinson is a freelance dance artist, choreographer, and instructor. She holds a BFA in Dance and a BS in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida. As a Washington, DC area artist, she has worked with Shanice Mason and Jamison Curcio, Lionel Popkin, Jesús Benzal, Deviated Theatre, among others. Most recently, Elan and co-creator Sydney Goldston presented work at Dance Place and are currently in process as the 2025–2026 Dance Place New Releases Commissioned Artists.
Christa Sylla
Christa Sylla is a dedicated educator and visionary, specializing in African and Afro-Diasporic dance traditions. With a career spanning over two decades, she has contributed to the development of World Dance Studies curricula at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and contributes to the Afro-Diaspora Dance Practices curricula at the University of Florida. Acknowledged by the Department of State's Florida Folklife Society and featured in TEDx Jacksonville, Ms. Sylla has consistently earned recognition for artistic excellence and community impact. Guided by principles of justice, cultural integrity, and embodied knowledge, she is committed to nurturing cultural pluralism and advancing the role of dance as a medium for social transformation.
Anna Carpelloti
Anna Carapellotti is a dancer, educator, and scholar. She earned her PhD in 2022 from Queen’s University Belfast and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015. Her doctoral dissertation evaluated the multidimensional impact of dancing with Parkinson’s, and a portion of her PhD research was conducted as a 2019-20 Fulbright Scholar sponsored by the Netherland-America Foundation. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of Florida in the Center for Arts in Medicine, where she plans to develop her research in both dance in health and health in dance.
With a background in classical ballet, Anna has danced and staged many selections from the major classical repertoire, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and Paquita. She has also performed in contemporary and neoclassical works such as George Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie, Raymonda Variations, Serenade, and Who Cares? She has more than 15 years of dance teaching experience; she has worked in youth dance since 2009 and facilitated community-based dance classes for people living with Parkinson's since 2018. Both her Parkinson's dance group and her pre-professional students have won prizes at international art competitions.
Michael Davis
Born and raised in the Florida Keys, Michael began dancing at age 7 at Island Dance Connection under Kathie Jamieson Cote, later training in Miami with Dance Attack Performing Arts Company. As a young performer, he earned numerous regional and national titles, including “Mr. Showbiz,” Teen Mr. Starpower, and ADA Dancer of the Year.
In high school, Michael expanded his leadership as captain and choreographer of his Varsity Cheerleading team and co-founded the Marathon All-Star Cheerleading Team, leading them to multiple national titles. He was named an All-American Cheerleader by the National Cheerleaders Association in 2005.
After moving to Gainesville to study at Santa Fe College, Michael performed with Dance Theatre Santa Fe and began choreographing for local schools and teams, earning top awards at national competitions. He went on to direct Fusion Dance Company at O2B Kids for eight years, where his students won numerous national championships and he received choreography awards.
In 2017, Michael opened his own studio, Dance!nk by Davis, now celebrating eight years of offering both recreational and competitive training for Gainesville’s youth and adult dancers. With 18 years of teaching experience, Michael is dedicated to building confidence in his students and providing an outlet for creativity and self-expression.
Meredith Farnum
Meredith Farnum is a multifaceted performer, choreographer, and educator whose career spans over two decades of artistic expression and pedagogical innovation. She earned an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a BFA in Theatre and Dance from the University of Florida. Meredith has trained with renowned companies including Alvin Ailey, Pilobolus, Limón, and Cunningham. She has performed and choreographed nationally and internationally, including virtual global dance events and works toured in the Netherlands. As a longtime performer and choreographer with the Danscompany of Gainesville, Meredith has brought to life a wide range of roles in productions such as Cinderella, Cats, The Wiz, Spring Concert, and State of Wonder. Meredith’s choreography and research explore time, memory, and human connection through a synthesis of contemporary movement practices. As dedicated teacher, Meredith blends technique with creativity, guiding dancers of all levels to discover their unique voice. Her classes are rooted in exploration, body mechanics, and joy. She teaches at the University of Florida and Cameron Dancenter and holds teaching certificates in Progressing Ballet Technique and Limón technique.
Harley O’Neill
Harley O’Neill is a movement coach, artist, and producer with a demonstrated history of being on film and media sets. She has been a touring performer, instructor, and choreographer with artists and companies like Panic Attack Films, Madwoman Music, Conservation Florida, Nadya Riot, Liberate Artists, The Global H.E.R. Project, Turn It Up! Dance Challenge, Contest of Champions, Alowiza, and others. She runs the arts advocacy and wellbeing organization Spatially-Fed, using the power of the arts and her own artistic facilitation for research, arts advocacy, festival production, and project management to drive forward messaging and action on equitable community health initiatives.
Augusto Soledade
Augusto Soledade, a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, is the Founder Artistic Director and choreographer for Augusto Soledade Brazzdance, and serves as an Associate Professor in Dance and Dance Area Coordinator at the University of Florida.
In the fall of 2018, Mr. Soledade was nominated for the USArtist Fellowship. In 2016, he was awarded for the seventh time the Miami Dade Choreographer’s Fellowship from the Miami Dade Cultural Affairs. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Grant. Also in 2012, he was awarded for the second consecutive time the 2012 Individual Artist Fellowship from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.
He received his M.F.A in Dance from SUNY Brockport in 1998. Soledade, a native of Bahia, Brazil, started his dance training at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil in a program with strong modern dance emphasis and has trained with Garth Fagan, and Clyde Morgan. He also holds a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Bahia.
Whitney Wilson
Whitney received her MFA in Dance from Smith College, a BFA in Dance and a Certificate in Arts in Medicine (AIM) from the University of Florida. She joined AIM in 2018, where she facilitates dance classes for people with movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. She currently piloting an Antepartum Movement program where she will offer movement and dance sessions to mothers on bedrest. In 2022 she became an RN, and she currently works on a Labor and Deliver unit at UF Health Shands. Whitney’s artistic practice integrates dance performance, pedagogy, and creative collaboration to promote well-being, connection, and joy in her community. She is thrilled for the opportunity to share her love of dance with the Santa Fe College community this fall.