Lakey Evans Peña Photo by Nir Arieli

Lakey Evans-Peña is a performer, educator, movement director, community advocate, and artistic mentor. Presently she serves as the Rehearsal Director for Ailey II, the Ailey/Fordham Student Dancers, and as a master teacher of the Horton technique. Her teaching, rehearsing and coaching practice is centered in cultural relevance, artistic empowerment, and performance practice. Evans-Peña received her BFA from the University of the Arts and her MFA from Montclair State University. She was a scholarship recipient at The Ailey School and subsequently joined Ailey II where she performed principal roles in works by Alvin Ailey, Ronald K. Brown, and Eleo Pomare. She was a lead in Donald Byrd’s national tour of The Harlem Nutcracker and additionally performed Byrd’s choreography for the New York City Opera’s production of Carmina Burana. In 2009, she founded the Williamsburg Movement & Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY. As the Artistic and Executive Director, she developed school and community partnerships which enabled over three thousand students a year to explore dance through daytime residencies and afterschool programming. Evans-Peña has taught extensively throughout the U.S. and served as a visiting professor at Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University, AMDA, and as artist in residence at Hollins University.