2025 RESIDENT, FELLOW, & EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS

OUR 2025 RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS

photo by Sentientforms

  • Laja Field is an international dancer-theater creator, educator and performer known for her hyperphysical, non-linear storytelling through movement. Her work spans across the U.S, Canada, Central America and Europe with her most recent premiere on NYU | Tisch where she was also an adjunct professor. Laja has been a teaching artist for Springboard X since 2021. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Laja earned her BFA in Dance from the University of Utah and went on to join Johannes Wieland at the Staatstheater Kassel, Germany. After relocated to NYC in 2015 Laja brought her style of floorwork teaching at Peridance and Gibney. She was also a founding member, rehearsal director and co-creator with Vim Vigor and co-founded LajaMartin Physical Dance Theater with Martin Durov. Since then Laja has been commissioned in Calgary with Project InTandem, Montréal for Danse à la Carte’s Transformation, traveled to Spain for Deltebre Dansa and returns annually to the b12 festival in Berlin. As a performer, Laja collaborates with Jessie Lee Thorne, notably with “Topia” that won best dance film on indie short fest and is streaming on apple tv and amazon. Most recently Laja was in Switzerland performing for Victor Rottier | greywax dance company, in Paris teaching for Le Facteur and has been serving as a Performance Admissions Workshop Leader for the Place | London Contemporary Dance School. Laja continues traveling for projects across the globe; finding joy in connecting to communities to share her curiosity in how to weave physical ferocity and cinematic dreamscapes together. 

photo by slowdanger

  • taylor knight & anna thompson are co-founding artistic directors of slowdanger, a multidisciplinary performance organism based out of Pittsburgh, PA. slowdanger uses systematic approaches to movement, technology, sound, queer world building and ontological examination to produce performance work, utilizing process based practice to delve into circular life patterning including effort, transformation, and death. From directing music videos to scoring plays, they transform their shape to adapt to a variety of different containers. slowdanger has performed across the United States, Canada and Europe in venues ranging from proscenium theater and gallery to nightclub and dive bar. Their work has been shared at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Dance Place, The Warhol Museum, Kelly Strayhorn Theater and more. They have been featured in/by Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2018) and were 2022 awardees of the NPN Creation Fund and NEFA/National Dance Project to create their work, SUPERCELL which premiered in fall 2023 and presented by Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, The Flea, and Velocity Dance Center. Recently, they were Texas A&M’s New Work Development Artists in Residence in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Art.

OUR 2025 SPRINGBOARD FELLOW

  • Alexander Anderson (@zanderander) is a choreographer, stager, dancer, producer, and teacher based in New York City. A graduate of The Juilliard School (BFA, 2014), Alexander has built a distinguished career in both choreography and staging, alongside his performing work with leading dance companies.

    As a choreographer, Alexander has received commissions from prominent companies including Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Peridance Youth Ensemble, Ballet Austin II, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theater, SFDanceworks, Alvin Ailey BFA Fordham, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Create Summer Intensive), and Owen/Cox Dance Group. His early choreographic works earned him selections for Choreographic Honors at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater from 2010-2014. He was the recipient of the 2012 Dizzy Feet Foundation Scholarship Award and the 2013 Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship Award.

    In 2022, Alexander premiered a new work as the inaugural Choreographic Fellow at Gibney Company, where he had previously served as an Artistic Associate since 2020. He has also staged critically acclaimed works such as Edward Clug and Marco Goecke’s productions, including Goecke’s award-winning “Midnight Raga,” which won the 2017 Gouden Zwaan for Most Impressive Dance Production.

    Alexander’s performance career includes time with Nederlands Dans Theater 2, where he advanced to Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 2017. His performance in Crystal Pite’s “Solo Echo” earned him critical acclaim, and in 2019, he was named Dance Europe Magazine’s Critic’s Choice for Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer.

    In March 2024, Alexander self-produced his own performance, “Falling Elsewhere,” in New York City, showcasing his unique artistic vision. He is also featured in the Paramount feature film Smile 2.

    As a teacher and mentor, Alexander has taught at several prestigious institutions, including Ailey Fordham BFA (Professional Division), Peridance, Steps On Broadway, Gibney Dance, School of American Ballet (SAB), and ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.

photos by Mark Mann @Markmannphoto

OUR 2025 EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS

  • Aaron Choate (they/them) is a graduate of The Juilliard School class of 2022. After studying at Diana Evans School of Dance in Kentucky, they were named a 2018 Presidential Scholar in the Arts. They have performed the works of renowned choreographers, such as Aszure Barton, Ohad Naharin, Justin Peck, Jamar Roberts, Bobbi Jene Smith, Rennie Harris, Spencer Theberge, Lar Lubovitch, and Ted Shawn. They are also an avid choreographer and leader. In 2024, they were a choreographer and Artistic Lead for the Hubbard Street Teen CREATE Summer Intensive. Summer of 2023 they had a process at Gibney Dance called the Moving Towards Justice Fellowship created by Scott Autry, and in 2022, they presented a work at 92nd Street Y as a part of the Future Dance Festival. In 2021, they received the George J. Jakab Grant Award from Juilliard to create a dance film, and upon graduation they were awarded the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship.

  • Juan Carlos Franquiz II was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and is the founder and creator of the project based dance company “Arch Dansé Ensemble.” Carlos received his early training at the Joffrey Ballet Academy at Fort Hamilton High School, and is an alumni of MOVE |NYC|’s Young Professionals Program, where he later became part of the Inaugural Peer Mentor Cohort. Carlos has choreographed and performed at the BAM Kids Film Festival, York College Youth Dance Showcase and Earl Mosley’s Dancing Beyond; A benefit for Dance Against Cancer at which he was selected to co-choreograph for Hearts of Men. He was also selected to choreograph on MOVE |NYC|’s Pre-Young Professionals Program. Most recently, Carlos performed with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in “An Untitled Love” by Kyle Abraham, and “Someday Soon” by Keerati Jinakunwiphat. He recently completed a new commission entitled “The Seed of Embracement” on the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Company based in Seattle.

    Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

  • Akira Uchida is a choreographer, movement director, and creative director originally from Ottawa, Canada, and now based in NYC. His work has been featured in FACT MAG, Nowness and Dance Magazine, and he has worked with artists such as HAAi, Saint Levant, Indochine, Flyana Boss, Leon Vynehall and the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Akira has also worked with multiple fashion brands such as Reebok, Nike, Juicy Couture, Private Policy, Lu’u Dan & Priscavera. Additionally, Akira is a board member at Share The Movement, a non-profit dedicated to providing opportunity and guidance to young BIPOC dancers.

  • Jessi Stegall (she/her) is a dance-theatre artist based between Chicago, IL and Boston, MA. She has been an artist-in-residence at Boston Center for the Arts, Harvard ArtLab, Rhode Island Women’s Choreography Project, New Dances Chicago, National Parks Service, Hot Crowd Dance Company, Little Fire Dance Collective, and was recently featured as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2022). Her choreographic work has been featured at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Boston Center for the Arts, the Dance Complex, Ballet Rhode Island, Motion State Dance Film Festival, Tufts University, The Edge Theatre, Fulton Street Collective, and Cambridge Art Association.

  • Anya Allegra Saugstad is a dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver BC, on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh’, Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh, and xwməθkwəyə̓ m First Nations.

    Anya is the Artistic Director of Furious Grace Dance Theatre (originally Judith Garay’s company Dancers Dancing), and creates live collaborative performance works in theaters and outdoors. Often inspired by nature and animals, Anya builds vigorous and physical ensemble choreography to express stories that encompass strength, celebration, and yearning.

    Anya has created works for Ballet Edmonton, ArtsUmbrella, LamonDance, Simon Fraser University, Method Dance Company, and Coastal City Ballet. Anya’s work has been presented through The Scotiabank Dance Centre (Dance in Vancouver), Dance Deck (Belle Spirale), Dance West Network, Crimson Coast Dance, The Rotary Center for the Arts, and has had her work presented throughout BC, in Montreal, Edmonton, and Toronto.

  • Majella Bess is an Irish-born performer, choreographer, and director with a background in gymnastics, breakdance, circus arts, and contemporary dance. Her distinctive style is a fluid blend of athletic, acrobatic movement and dynamic partnering. She specializes in creating performances in unconventional spaces and on unique structures.

    Recently, Majella was a collaborative choreographer and original cast member for Life and Trust, an immersive, site-specific theatrical experience in NYC by Emursive (producers of Sleep No More.) Previously, she spent eight years as a co-choreographer, rehearsal director, and performer with DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion, where she created and cast five touring works.

    Photo by Cheryl Mann