Kaylah Arielle is a native of Baltimore, MD, and started her dance training at a very young age in classical ballet and later began pointe at the Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland. She then attended Baltimore School for the Arts studying under Norma Pera, Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, and Anton Wilson. Kaylah received scholarships to train at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Ailey School. She graduated from Spelman College with her BA in Dance Performance and Choreography. While pursuing her degree, Kaylah was a company artist with the Atlanta Dance Connection under the direction of Allyne D Gartrell. Kaylah is also a former member of the United States Air Force Reserve, where she held the rank of Airman first class.
Janine N. Beckles started dancing at the age of six years old at Dance Theatre of Harlem for eight years on full scholarship. She then continued her training at LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts and the Ailey School on full scholarship. Janine received a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Sociology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She is a teacher for the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts teaching ballet. She was a 2018-2019 School of American Ballet Teaching Fellow. She conducts masterclasses for PHILADANCO! while on tour and assistant to choreographer Ray Mercer. She is a 2021 National Urban League Emerging Leader. Janine is an assistant at a law firm in Philadelphia, board member for the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers Association, and an MBA candidate for Southern New Hampshire University with a concentration in leadership. Janine is currently an adjunct professor at Rowan University and Assistant to the Artistic Director of PHILADANCO!
Leslie Bunkley, an Atlanta native, started her dance training at the age of three at Price Performing Arts Center where she was a part of the performance and competition team performing locally and nationally. She then furthered her dance education at Tri-Cities High School joining the Visual and Performing Arts Dance Magnet program. While in high school, she also trained at the Atlanta Ballet and Metropolitan Dance Theatre and trained with master teachers like Debbie Allen. In 2017, Leslie graduated from Tri-Cities and earned a scholarship to University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, where she performed works by Juel D. Lane, Sidra Bell, Tommie Waheed-Evans, Kyle and Dinita Clark, Shayla Vie-Jenkins, and Jesse Zaritt. She received her BFA in Dance Performance from University of the Arts.
William E. Burden started his formal dance training at the Creative & Performing Arts High School under the direction of Ms. LaDiva Davis. He attended the Rock School of Dance Education and was a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. William also has many years of training with Tap Team Two & Company co-directed by his father, Robert Burden. William has been a company member with Eleone Dance Connection, Eleone Dance Theater/Artistic Director Shawn Lamere Williams, and Spectrum Dance Theatre under the artistic direction of Mr. Donald Byrd. More than a few times William has been the recipient of the Marion Anderson Award in Philadelphia. Most recently William received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts.
Mikaela Fenton, native to Sicklerville, NJ, began her dance training at Chez Dance founded by Roseanne M. Gatto. She attended Paul VI high school led by Courtney Daniels where she received the excellence in dance award and scholarship. Mikaela was able to attend University of the Arts in Philadelphia, receiving the Artistic Scholarship to study and earn her BFA in dance under the direction of Donna Faye-Burchfield. Mikaela joined PHILADANCO! D/2 second company under the direction of Donald T. Lunsford. After graduating in 2017, Mikaela became a member of PHILADANCO! She participated in intensives such as Jacob Jonas the Company's first digital intensive and workshop and Kyle Abraham. Mikaela is an active dance educator with Core Academy of Dance, Philadelphia School of Dance Arts, Ms. Carols Center for Dance, and The School at The Philadelphia Ballet.
At eighteen Mikal Gilbert took his first creative movement class at Salem Visual and Performing Arts Academy in Virginia Beach, VA, where he also studied music performance in saxophone and piano. Upon graduation he attended The University of the Arts studying jazz performance. It was there his passion for dance grew upon encouragement from several faculty members. Mikal went on to continue his formal dance education at Norfolk Academy, under the tutelage of Elbert Watson and Patricia Sorrel. He has trained at Dance Theatre of Harlem and Complexions Contemporary Ballet Pre-Professional Program and on scholarship at The Ailey School. Mikal was a member of Koresh Dance Company from 2019 to 2021, Dance Iquail. This is Mikal’s first season with PHILADANCO!
Clarricia Golden began dancing at Miss Libby's School of Dance under the direction of Libby Singelton and Jennifer Alford-Reimer in Sumter, SC. She continued her training under Dr. Gaynell Sherrod at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Clarricia was a scholarship recipient at The Alvin Ailey summer program and has spent summers training at PHILADANCO! After receiving a BS in Health, Physical Education, and Fitness with a concentration in dance she decided to move to Philadelphia where she initially joined D/2 under the artistic direction of Mr. Donald Lunsford before becoming a member of PHILADANCO!
Christian D. Gonzalez aka “Diyah” began his training at The Osceola County School for the Arts. After graduating he received the 2019 National Dance Education Organization’s Artistic Merit Leadership and Academic Achievement Award. Receiving a Presidential Scholarship, Diyah was accepted to Boston Conservatory at Berklee for Contemporary Dance Performance. He studied and performed with Giordano Dance Chicago, The TL Collective, GagaLab NYC, and SpringboardX. He attended summer intensives at the Jacob's Pillow Contemporary Program and Alonzo King’s LINES Contemporary Ballet. A solo with the City Ballet of Boston earned him a mention in The Boston Globe for his “breathtaking” performance. Diyah has also performed with Dance Iquail. Continuing his studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, this is Diyah’s first season with PHILADANCO!
Jameel Malik Hendricks is a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for the Creative & Performing Arts (CAPA) where he received his early dance training and was presented with the Dance/Humanitarian/Congeniality award. Jameel attended Eleone Dance Unlimited as a scholarship student and was appointed dance captain for Eleone Connections. After graduating from CAPA, he continued his training in dance at Rutgers University at the Mason Gross School of The Arts, majoring in Dance Education. Jameel has also had the opportunity to attend the Rock School for Ballet on a full scholarship. He currently teaches at several dance schools and is working on furthering his artistic abilities as a member of PHILADANCO!
Originally from the greater area of Philadelphia Grace Kimble trained at The Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in Narberth, PA, and Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. Continuing her studies Grace also spent her summers training at the Bolshoi Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, West Chester Summer Stage, and the Rock School of Ballet. Grace soon expanded her training in contemporary/modern dance and was chosen to join D2, Philadanco’s Apprentice Company. Now a few years later Ms. Kimble is currently apprenticing with the first company PHILADANCO!
Victor Lewis Jr. first became involved with dance in Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 13 when he joined the dance ministry at Faithful Central Bible Church, under the direction of Ariyan Johnson. His other form of training derives from The Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Victor graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance. Victor has performed with Eleone Dance Theatre, Rebecca Davis Dance Company, Dance Del Bello, Dissonance Dance Theatre, Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre, and touring company Illstyles & Peace Productions in Philadelphia. He has also traveled internationally to teach dance and has worked with such artists as Keke Palmer, Jazmine Sullivan, Jill Scott, Laura Mvula, choreographer Chuck Maldonado, and more.
Floyd McLean Jr began his pre-professional dance training at the age of 13 at Sharron Miller’s Academy for The Performing Arts in Montclair, NJ. He has trained with residencies/intensives such as The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, NYU Future Dancers/Dance Makers, and Dallas Black Dance Theatre. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Point Park University in 2018, with a concentration in Modern Dance where he was awarded the Don Craig Scholarship. After graduation, he began his first season with Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s DBDT: Encore! Under the direction of Nycole Ray, he has performed works by choreographers including Rennie Harris, Kate Skarpetowska, Joshua Peugh, Christopher Huggins, and many more.
Brandi Pinnix began her ballet training at the American Repertory Princeton Ballet School under the direction of Douglas Martin. After graduating high school in 2013, she was accepted into the LINES Ballet Training program in San Francisco, CA. She finished the program in the winter of 2015 and moved back to the tri-state area to train at the Ailey School in their Independent Study Program and Scholarship Program. Brandi has also studied at some of the most prestigious intensive dance programs including The Juilliard School, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet X, and Point Park University. She has had the opportunity to work with amazing choreographers such as Eric Wagner, Sidra Bell, Uri Sands, Kara Davis, Dexandro Montalvo, Carmen Rozenstraten, Danielle Polanco, and Darshan Bhuller.
Lamar Rogers began his training at the age of 14 as a scholarship student at the Eleone Dance Unlimited School in Philadelphia, PA. He has also trained at Koresh School of Dance, while being a member of the Koresh Youth Ensemble and the Rock School for Dance Education. Lamar attended Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) where he graduated as co-captain of the CAPA dance company under the direction of LaDeva Davis. He was also a member of Eleone Dance Theater after performing with their second company Eleone Connection for five years. Lamar received his BFA in Dance from University of the Arts where he has studied with and performed works by Douglas Becker, Sidra Bell, Kyle and Dinita Clark, Gary Jeter, Helen Simoneau, and Jesse Zaritt.
Xavier Santafield is a native of Dallas, TX, and a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He pursued his studies in Modern Dance Performance at the University of Oklahoma. His repertoire as a performer includes works by choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, José Limón, Dwight Rhoden, Juel D. Lane, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Bridget L. Moore. Santafield has performed as a company member with Contemporary Dance Oklahoma, DBDT: Encore!, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Dance Iquail, and B. Moore Dance.
Brena Kashun Thomas started her dance training at the Sammy Dyer Dance Theatre and formal training at Chicago High School for the Arts (Chi-Arts) under the direction of Lisa Johnson Willingham. Upon graduation from Chi-Arts, Brena received a full scholarship to study at Alonzo King Lines Ballet and Ballet Austin. Brena continued her training at Dance Theatre of Harlem and was a recipient of the Joan Weill Scholarship at The Ailey School. In 2019, Brena joined Ailey Il under the leadership of Francesca Harper. Ms. Thomas performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater during their 2022 US tour and NY Lincoln Center season. Brena has performed works by Alvin Ailey, Gregory Dawson, William Forsythe, Robert Battle, Francesca Harper, and Keelan Whitmore to name a few. This is her first season with PHILADANCO!
Nicaya Wiley began her dance training with Carol Christy School of Dance in St. Louis, MO. In 2012, Nicaya made her first appearance on the reality television show Dance Moms until it concluded. Wiley began training with Anthony Barrell at Center of Creative Arts COCA. She performed leading roles in works choreographed by Alvin Ailey, Matthew Rushing, Judith Jamison, Gheremih Green, Ronald K. Brown, and many more. In 2019, Nicaya graduated from COCA and high school and was accepted into The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, currently in her 4th year. This is Nicaya’s first season apprenticing with PHILADANCO!
Brittany Wright began her training at age four at Olney Ballet Center under Ms. Jane Bittner. She went on to study with Ms Patricia Berrend in Olney, formerly of Washington Ballet. She also studied with Aaron Jackson, Demetri Malikov, and Tim Fox. She continued her training at Hope Garden Ballet under Ms Fran Ichijo and at City Dance in Rockville where she studied under Stanislavsky Issaey, Ludmika Morkovina, Caroline Rocher, and Rob Priore. She continued her training at Towson University, receiving her BFA in dance and performance under professors including Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Catherine Horta-Hayden, Alison Sidenstricker, Runqiou Du, and Vincent Thomas. She completed several summers intensives that included Hubbard Street and Ruth Page to name a few.