Choreographers

Bryan Arias

Bryan Arias

Bryan Arias is a highly acclaimed and visionary choreographer known for his evocative and emotionally charged works. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City, Bryan discovered his love for dance at a young age, drawn to the expressive and transformative nature of...

Nicole von Arx

Nicole von Arx

Nicole von Arx is a Swiss & British performer and choreographer. She is a 2023 NYSCA grant recipient, 2023 JCAL Major Commission artist recipient, GLUE 2023 artists in residence, 2022 Dance Initiative artist in residence, 2022 Leimay Incubator, 2020 Lauréate of a Gland Culture Grant...

Serge Bennathan

Serge Bennathan

Serge Bennathan began his career as a dancer, joining the National Ballet of Marseille when he was 18 years old. He served as artistic director of Toronto’s Dancemakers from 1990 to 2006, where twelve works he created received Dora Mavor Moore nominations, with both Sable/Sand...

Ethan Colangelo

Ethan Colangelo

Ethan Colangelo (he/him) was born and raised in Toronto where he began his initial training at Canada’s National Ballet School and Elite Danceworx. He is now an alumni of The Juilliard School where he received the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreographic Promise. Most recently, he has created new works for Ballet BC, BODYTRAFFIC, Orsolina28, Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance, Ballet Edmonton and the National Ballet of Canada...

Ingrid Ferdinand

Ingrid Ferdinand

Ingrid Ferdinand, a Chicago native, began dancing at the age of three at the Academy of Movement and Music. She later trained at The Chicago Academy for the Arts and Marymount Manhattan College, before joining Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s “HSPro” in 2018.

Nicole Hennington

Nicole Hennington

Nicole Hennington studied with Chuthis, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, New Dialect, and Ate9. She graduated from The University of Arizona with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Finance before joining GroundWorks DanceTheater in Cleveland.

Joseph Hernandez

Joseph Hernandez

Associate Choreographer

Pretty Creatives Award Winner 2019

Choreographer and performer Joseph Hernandez was based in Dresden, Germany before returning to the United States in 2023. Born in Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1988, he graduated from the School of American Ballet in 2007 and was awarded an apprenticeship with the New York City...

Carla Mann

Carla Mann

Choreographer, performer, and teacher Carla Mann creates dances for stage, alternative sites, installations, and film. Her work has been catalyzed by collaborative ventures with artists in other disciplines as well as in dance. Her choreography has been supported by grants from the Oregon Arts Commission...

Andrea Parson

Andrea Parson

PRINCESS GRACE AWARD WINNER 2010

From Hillsboro, Oregon, Andrea Parson began dancing to country music records in her living room and went on to become a leading dancer for NW Dance Project where she danced, choreographed, taught, and mentored for 11 years, earning a prestigious Princess Grace Award in the process. Andrea is currently on faculty at Pacific University, working on her own projects, and can be spotted in Sellwood walking her cat in its stroller.

Ihsan Rustem

Ihsan Rustem

Resident Choreographer

Ihsan Rustem was born in London, where he trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Ihsan began his professional career at the age of 17, joining Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, followed by engagements with BallettTheater Munich (Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz) and...

Gustavo Ramírez Sansano

Gustavo Ramírez Sansano

Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, born in 1978 in San Fulgencio, Spain, was Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater from 2009 until 2013, and now combines his work as a freelance choreographer with Proyecto Titoyaya, the Spanish dance company he founded in 2006 with Veronica Garcia...

Sarah Slipper

Sarah Slipper

Artistic Director

Sarah Slipper was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, and had a lauded career with the Royal Winnipeg before turning to choreography and founding NW Dance Project in 2004. A Fine Balance, her pas de deux created during the first year of NW Dance Project, was a finalist for the prestigious Benois de la Danse award in 2006 and was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as part of the award’s gala celebration.

Lucia Tozzi

Lucia Tozzi

Lucia Tozzi was born and raised in New York City and started her dance training with the National Dance Institute under the tutelage of Jacques d’Amboise. She continued her training at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, and at The Ailey School.