BDT Biographies
DANCERS
Core Members
Gabriela M. Amy-Moreno
Gabriela M. Amy-Moreno began her serious dance training at the Boston Arts Academy in Boston, MA. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2019, where she earned her BFA in Contemporary Dance. She has performed works by Dylan Crossman, Natalie Desch, Stephanie Batten-Bland, Paul Taylor, Martha Graham, Ming Lung-Yang, Aszure Barton, José Limón, Ohad Naharin, Juel D. Lane, Trish Casey, and more. After dancing as an Apprentice with BDT for one-and-a-half years, she was promoted to Core Member in 2020.
Isvel Bello Rodriguez
Isvel Bello Rodriguez is a freelance contemporary dancer and creator. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Contemporary Dance from University of Arts (ISA) and is a graduate from The National School of Modern and Afro Cuban Folklore (ENA), both located in Havana, Cuba. He was a dancer at Compañía Danza Espiral and MalPaso Dance Company from Cuba, among other independent and experimental projects. His solo performance Tokonoma has been awarded the Critic's Award in the National Competition of Solamente Solos and with the Ramiro Guerra Award, in Cuba. He has worked with choreographers such as Liliam Padrón, Osnel Delgado Relinde Moors, Trey McItyre, Ronald K. Brown, and Rosie Herrera and has performed at several dance festivals in the Netherlands, Mexico, Ecuador, France, Venezuela, Martinique, Canada, and the United States, as well as at The Joyce Theater (NYC) and Ted Shawn Theater at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts).
Olivia Coombs
Olivia Coombs began her training in ballet under the direction of Jessica Wilson at Ballet Workshop of New England. She then studied at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program for two years, where she performed in works by Alonzo King, Maurya Kerr, Sidra Bell, Iratxe Ansa, Gregory Dawson, Kara Davis, and Erik Wagner. She apprenticed with Dawson Wallace Dance Project in Denver for one season. She has also performed work by Ismael Ivo as part of a special research project at ImpulsTanz in Vienna, Austria, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Khris Henry
Khris Henry is a native of Boston and is a BFA graduate of the University of Hartford at the Hartt School. He began his training at the Origination Cultural Arts Center and Boston Arts Academy. While a student, he had experience with choreographers Nathan Trice, Catherine Young, Desmond Richardson, Dwight Rhoden, Norbert De La Cruz, Bryan Arias, and Yoshito Sakuraba. After guesting with BDT in 2019 and early 2020, Khris Henry joins BDT this season as a Core Member.
Henoch Spinola
Henoch Spinola, a native of Cabo Verde Islands, began his classical training with José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre in Cambridge, MA, graduating from the Young Dancers Program in 2006 to become a full company member in 2007. After leaving JMBT, Spinola began working with Prometheus Dance from 2011 to 2012, along with other dance companies local to Boston. He then moved to New York City to dance in a work by Itzik Galili at the Metropolitan Opera from 2013 to 2014. He recently completed the Master of Fine Arts program within the Creative Practice: Dance Professional Practice Pathway at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.
Jessie Jeanne Stinnett
See biography below under Choreographers and Artist Directors
Trainees
Carley Lund
Carley Lund, a native of Vermont, began her classical training at the Vermont Center for Dance Education under Stefania Nardi. She graduated from Adelphi University, where she received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Dance. She has performed in works by Manuel Vignoulle, Paul Taylor, Rasta Thomas, Winston Dynamite Brown, Christopher Fleming, Frank Augustyn, Adelheid B. Strelick, Orion Duckstein, and more. She is continuing her work with Boston Dance Theater this season to delve deeper into contemporary dance.
Sarah Takash
Sarah Takash is a New Jersey native currently dancing as a trainee with BDT. She attended the Ailey School and Fordham University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in dance and a double major in visual arts. As a student at the Ailey School, she had the honor of performing with the Ailey Company for three of their New York City Center seasons in Memoria by Alvin Ailey. She has worked with Francesca Harper, Ronni Favors, and Kanji Segawa, among others, on works by William Forsythe, Robert Battle, and Jessica Lang.
CHOREOGRAPHERS AND ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Christopher Annas-Lee, BDT Lighting Designer/Production Manager
Christopher Annas-Lee is a lighting designer. He also works as an associate/assistant lighting designer, projections and scenic designer, draftsperson, and ETC programmer. He is the recipient of two Helen Hayes awards (In the Heights and Yerma), two HH nominations (Don Juan Tenorio and Cervantes), two Broadway World Regional awards (En el Tiempo de las Mariposas and In the Heights), and a Rising Star award (Cinderella). He holds a BFA in Lighting Design from North Carolina School of the Arts. He was the 2014/15 Lighting Fellow at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the 2017 Princess Grace Design Fellow, Fabergé Theater Award.
Rena Butler, Choreographer
Rena Butler trained at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, studied overseas at Taipei National University of the Arts, and received her BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. She currently dances for Gibney Dance Company and previously danced for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Manuel Vignoulle, and The Merce Cunningham Trust Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event in Los Angeles, CA. Her choreographic work includes a collaboration with Academy Award—winning composer Terrence Blanchard, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and more.
Itzik Galili, BDT Co-Artistic Director
Itzik Galili is an Israeli choreographer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up, Israel's “most prestigious and sought-after platform for independent Israeli choreographers,” founded and supported by the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport (The Jerusalem Post). Galili is the only choreographer in the world to have worked with all of the major contemporary dance companies based in Israel as a dancer, choreographer, and mentor. After having been a member of the Batsheva Dance Company and Bat-Dor Dance Company, his credits include Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Vertigo Dance Company, Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollack, and Yasmeen Godder Dance. Galili also holds a knighthood for his contributions to Dutch arts and culture. During his time in the Netherlands, Galili initiated five very successful organizations, each with a unique approach to dance making, education, and performance, including Project Sally, Club Guy & Roni, NND/Galili Dance, and Dansgroep Amsterdam with Hungarian choreographer Kristina de Chatel. He was awarded the originality prize at the Gvanim Choreographic Competition in 1991 for Old Cartoon. In 1992, he won the Public Prize at the International Competition for Choreographers in Groningen with his creation The Butterfly Effect and was honored in 1994 with the final Selection Culture Award (Phillip Morris) for exceptional talent. He has built an oeuvre of more than sixty works and has created for and worked with international companies such as Bale da Cidade de São Paulo, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Batsheva Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Cisne Negro, Diversions Dance Company, Dutch National Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nederlands Dans Theater II, Norrdans, Royal Finnish Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Scapino Ballet, and the Stuttgart Ballet.
Marco Goecke, Choreographer
Marco Goecke, since graduating from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, is one of the world's most sought after choreographers, due to his particular movement language. Goecke's work is performed by dance companies worldwide. Since 2005 Goecke has been resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet, and between 2006 and 2011 with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Since 2013 he has also been associate choreographer with Nederlands Dans Theater. In the past decade, he has created over forty choreographies, including two full-length performances: The Nutcracker and Orlando for the Stuttgart Ballet. Goecke has further created for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Hamburg Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and 2, the Norwegian National Ballet, the Leipzig Ballet, and Zurich Ballet. In addition, many of his works are performed by other companies around the world, among them the Scapino Ballet, Croatian National Ballet, Gärtnerplatztheater Munich Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, the São Paulo Compañia de Dança, National Ballet of Toronto, Maggio Danza Florence, and the Stuttgart Ballet.
Rosie Herrera, Choreographer
Rosie Herrera is a Cuban-American dancer and choreographer and is artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater (RHDT). She is a graduate of New World School with a BFA in Dance Performance. She has been commissioned by The Miami Light Project, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, José Limón Dance Company, Moving Ground Dance Theater, Houston Met Dance, New World Symphony, and the American Dance Festival (ADF) in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018. RHDT has been presented at venues throughout the United States, such as The Yard, ADF, and Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, among others.
Zane Kealey, BDT Costume Designer
Zane Kealey is a Boston-based costume designer currently pursuing an MFA at Boston University. Her thesis work involves structuring the vocabulary used to describe fabric in motion. She has interned with Jacob’s Pillow and has upcoming work at Wheelock Family Theater in Boston and at The Theater Lab in DC.
Thomas Lempertz, Goecke Costume Designer
Thomas Lempertz is a German designer and former dancer for the Stuttgart Ballet. In 2011 he was nominated for the New Faces Award Fashion. He works with choreographers like Marco Goecke, Demis Volpi, Bridget Breiner, and Katarzyna Kozielska. As a former dancer, he knows how to highlight the silhouette of the body, working with subtle colouring or material mixtures for his leotards. He is also a guest lecturer at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in a laboratory for Dance, Choreography and Movement.
Jessie Jeanne Stinnett, BDT Founder, Co-Artistic Director
Jessie Jeanne Stinnett is a dance teacher, choreographer, and Co-Artistic Director of Boston Dance Theater with veteran Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili. She received a BFA in Dance Performance from The Boston Conservatory and an MFA in Creative Practice: Dance Professional Pathway from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, in conjunction with Independent Dance/Siobhan Davies Dance. Most notably Stinnett has performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Tate Britain (UK), Prometheus Dance, Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna), The Boston Baroque Opera, and Bard College’s SummerScape Festival. Her choreographic work has been described by Hannah Chanatry of WBUR as “conceptually driven performance that unpacks the complexities of being female, and pushes the academic boundaries of choreography” and has been sustained in part by grants from The Boston Foundation with support from The Barr Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Assets4Artists at MASS MoCA, and Fidelity Charitable. Some of her recent teaching and choreography credits include Boston Ballet School, Dean College, Keene State University, Providence College, Endicott College, Goethe-Institut Boston, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and Emmanuel Music. She is the recipient of the 2020 Boston Dancemakers Residency grant award and will be the 2020 Choreographer in Residence at Boston Center for the Arts and Boston Dance Alliance.
Micaela Taylor, Choreographer
Micaela Taylor is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer from Los Angeles, CA, where she trained at Marat Daukayev School of Ballet and Los Angeles County High School of the Arts. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance, 2014. She has worked and performed with Ate9 Dance Company, Zoe Scofield, Camille A. Brown, Kate Wallich, and BODYTRAFFIC. Her choreographic passion led her to found Los Angeles—based contemporary dance company The TL Collective in 2016. Her individual movement style of Hip Hop combined with contemporary technique has led her to find a new way for people to move that is best described as Contemporary/Pop. She is the recipient of the Inaugural EMERGE Choreographic Award and choreographed for Gibney Dance Company and BODYTRAFFIC in the 2018/2019 season.
