Founder & Choreographer
Ashley Robicheaux is a dancer and choreographer from Gulfport, Mississippi. At the age of sixteen, she moved to New jersey to continue her dance training under Billy Larson. Ashley is currently studying dance at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she will earn her B.F.A. in May of 2014. Her recent performances include that of Shannon Gillen’s “EPIC” at Joe’s Pub DanceNow Festival as well as Gillen’s “Varosha” as well as he works of Kendra Portier and Crystal Pite. In 2014, Robi joined Chuck Wilt’s project-based group “UNA” as a dancer in his work “Tu Mira”. Robi has enjoyed choreographing many of her own works in school as well as for short films and music videos, and is excited to be co-producing an evening length work alongside Lauren Kravitz.
co-founder
Lauren Kravitz, a native of Dallas, Texas, received her early training from Next Step Dance Performing Arts Center, where she worked with Michelle Stafford and Katelyn Harris, and Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, where she worked with choreographers including Robert Battle, Larry Keigwin, Jessica Lang, and Takehiro Ueyama. She is currently enjoying her final year at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and will receive her BFA in dance in the spring. While there, she has performed works by Pamela Pietro and Deborah Jowitt, and had the pleasure of studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Recently, she had the opportunity to perform as a guest in Take Dance's season at Symphony Space. Lauren is a co-producer of SEVENTH PROJECT.
collaborating artists
Will Cotton is a lighting designer originally from Alabama, now residing in New York. He is currently working on his master's degree from NYU | Tisch School of the Arts, while developing outside projects. Over the years he has taken on a variety of roles in the performing arts and dives head first into each new challenge. Check out some of Will's work at http://www.cottonlighting.com
Kane Mathis is a composer and perfumer working across multiple composition platforms. He is a recipient of an Earshot Jazz ‘Album of the Year’ award and a recent recipient of a Chamber Music America grant. He is a specialist in music of sub-Saharan West Africa and the middle east and is the only non-African to be certified by the National Center for Arts and Culture in The Gambia. Kane is regularly commissioned to create work for media and modern dance. To learn more about Kane and his work, visit his website http://www.kanemathis.com
Jake Saner grew up in Chicago. He graduated from Tisch School of the arts majoring in film and television. Over the past few years he has been developing his career as a cinematographer shooting fashion film (Rochambeau, Jack and Jones), commercial work (Tinder, Free People), music videos (Oh Land, Figs Vision) as well as narrative shorts. He values film as an art form as much as an industry and is interested in experimenting with the medium in a meaningful and socially conscious way. He works frequently with dance and directed a short dance film called “From the Earlier” that was screened at Alvin Ailey along with an evening length performance by The YoMoCo. Check out some of Jake's work at www.jakesaner.com
Jesse Rosenberg is a director and cinematographer. He recently graduated with a BFA in film from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Documentary films that focus on social justice and human rights are of the greatest interest to Jesse. He works as a cinematographer for short films and commercials. He is also a certified Steadicam operator. His documentary Life Sentences about the effects of the California prison system on families of prison inmates won the Craft Award for Achievement in Documentary at the NYU 2014 First Run Festival and was a 2014 regional semifinalist for the Student Academy Awards.
Eric Stiefel is a writer from Columbia, South Carolina currently studying Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at NYU. He thoroughly enjoys cooking and is practically obsessed with rain. Eric is currently a poetry editor at West 10th St. Literary Magazine.
Dancers
Christian De Luna born in Mexico began his training at age 15 in Jazz, Contemporary, and Ballet. At age 17 Christian was accepted as a Summer Intern at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City as the youngest intern of the season. At the end of his internship, he was featured in a dance add for the BDC in ‘Dance Magazine’ and ‘Dance Spirit’ magazines. He has performed as a dancer in the TV show Extreme Make Over: Home Edition and has appeared in a commercial video for Step Up 3D the movie. During his time at NYU Christian has had the privilege of working with David Dorfman, Kate Weare, Nathan Trice, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, and repertoire from Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot. He is a current Gates Millennium Scholar as well as a Tisch Dean Scholar and will continue achieving his BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts.
Shantel Prado, a California native, began her dance training at the age of nine at The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana. She went on to attend the Orange County Highschool of the Arts where she concentrated in Classical and Contemporary Dance where she studied under Steven Hyde and Julie Shulman, among many others. Throughout her high school career she was able to work and perform for Steven Hyde, Julie Shulman, Thang Dao, Jessica Lang, Jayne Persch, Lawrence Pech, Brian Reeder, and Alicia Young, among others. Shantel will be graduating with a BFA in dance from NYU Tisch where she has had the most rewarding experiences of her life; having had the opportunity to perform for Pamela Pietro, Deborah Jowitt, Kendra Portier and was fortunate enough to study at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. Shantel looks forward to the journey that lies ahead of her and would like to thank all the family, friends, and teachers whom have supported her along the way; especially her parents and their unending love and support.
Holly Sass was born and raised in Moraga, California where she received her dance training at California Academy of Performing Arts. She is currently studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, working towards a BFA in dance while minoring in Anthropology. She has had additional studies at LINES ballet, the Movement Invention Project, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and the Tisch Dance Summer Residency. She has had the privilege of performing works by Ohad Naharin, Alex Ketley, James Martin, James Sutton, and Nicole Smith. While at Tisch, Holly has been able to perform in many student pieces, as well as having the opportunity to choreograph her own works. Holly hopes to continue dancing and growing in New York City while experimenting with collaborations between other emerging dancers, choreographers and artists of any kind.
Emma E. Whiteley, a native of Pennsylvania, received her BFA in dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Additionally, she studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Salzburg, Austria and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago intensives. In New York, Emma has performed works by Mark Morris, Alex Ketley, Shannon Gillen and Pamela Pietro among others. She also assisted and performed with the Michael Clark Company at the Whitney Biennial and PULP in concert at Radio City. Currently, Emma dances with Chihiro Shimizu and Artists, Una Projects and is excited to be working with Ashley Robicheaux.
A native of San Francisco, Chuck Wilt received his BFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to Tisch, he studied at the San Francisco School and the ODC School. Chuck has attended the American Dance Festival twice followed by a summer at the LINES Ballet Summer Program. He received a Homer Avila Scholarship to attend the LINES Program a second time. Additionally, Chuck studied abroad at the Salzburg Experimental Acadamey of Dance (SEAD) in Salzburg, Austria, and he attended the Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program. Chuck has had the pleasure of performing works by artists such as: Noa Zuk, Alex Ketley, Andrea Miller, Ohad Naharin, Shannon Gillen, Dana Katz, Chihiro Shimizu, Amy Raymond, Pamela Pietro and Mark Dendy. He has performed with dance companies Chihiro Shimizu and Artists, Danaka Dance as well as GroundWorks DanceTheater. Chuck has choreographed five works that were performed during his time at Tisch. His piece 4;5 was selected to be performed in the Second Avenue Dance Company's Retro performances. Chuck is excited to further his interest in choreography as well as movement research and improvisation. In the summer of 2013, Chuck created an ongoing series of projects named Una.