2025-2026 Choreographers

Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie is a NYC based b-girl, performer and director/choreographer and a 2016 Bessie Award Winner for Innovative Achievement in Dance. Asherie has received numerous awards to support her work including Dance Magazine’s Inaugural Harkness Promise Award, a Jacob’s Pillow Fellowship at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, and two National Dance Project Awards. In 2019 she was the recipient of a NYFA Fellowship and a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. Asherie is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. As Artistic Director of Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD), Asherie’s work has been presented at the Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, New York City Center, the Modlin Center, Vail Dance Festival, Art Power! at UC San Diego, Spoleto Festival USA, among others. Asherie earned a B.A. from Barnard College in Italian and an M.F.A from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee where she researched the vernacular jazz dance roots of street and club dances. Asherie is honored to have been mentored by Richard Santiago (aka Break Easy) and to have worked and collaborated with Buddha Stretch, Bill Irwin, Michelle Dorrance, Doug Elkins, Gus Solomons Jr and Rennie Harris. Asherie is a co-founding member of the all-female house dance collective MAWU and is forever grateful to NYC’s underground dance community for inspiring her to pursue a life as an artist. Please visit www.ephratasheriedance.com or IG: @ephratasheriedance for more info.

Photo credit: Claudia Celestino

Angelica Burgos is of Dominican-Armenian heritage. She has received an M.F.A. in choreography from Jacksonville University in Florida, she also has a Bachelor of Arts degree from LEAP Program with Saint Mary’s College of California, and is an ABT Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed all of ABT Teachers National Training Curriculum. Over the 16 years of her performing career, she danced with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago under Gerald Arpino, Sacramento Ballet under artistic directors Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda, Ballet Hispanico under founder Tina Ramirez and in the West Side Story on Broadway revival in 2010. She has worked with artists such as Pedro Ruiz, Margo Sappington, Ramon Oller, John Clifford, Annabelle Ochoa Lopes, Val Caniparoli, Trey McIntyre, Septime Webre, Dwight Rhoden, Graciela Daniel, Sergio Trujillo and Ron Cunningham.
Additionally, she has taught for Western Kentucky University for three years and University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. Burgos’ choreography has been commissioned by the Western Kentucky University spring performance and Virginia Commonwealth University Freshman Repertory course show, University of Richmond, Fullerton University, and Duke University Dance Program. Her choreography has competed at the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Youth America Grand Prix and Universal Ballet Competition. Burgos’ television credits include PBS’ Setting the Stage, 2007; NBC’s 20th Hispanic Heritage Awards; and PBS’ documentary Pedro Ruiz Coming Home, 2011. She is also fluent in Spanish, Russian, Armenian, and English languages.

Photo credit: Megan Garrison

Deandra Clarke, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been dancing professionally for over 23 years and working in dance education for more than 16. Her performance credits include work with artists such as Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys, and Hilary Duff, as well as appearances on the Disney Channel. She currently serves as an adjunct instructor of dance at the University of Richmond, where she teaches Hip-Hop dance. Deandra is also the owner of Studio 4 Dance Agency and the founder of the Virginia Dance Awards. In addition to her teaching and entrepreneurial work, she is an active freelance choreographer, coach, dance agent, and advocate. She continues to champion the growth of the local dance community through volunteer work across Virginia, including serving as vice president of the board of directors for Dogtown Dance and as a member of the advisory board for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Choreographer Nicolo Fonte is known for his unique movement language as well as the highly developed fusion of ideas, dance and design that is a hallmark of his work. A first generation American, Fonte - whose parents emigrated to the US from Argentina, started dancing at the age of 14. He studied at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, San Francisco Ballet, School of American Ballet and also completed a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase. Mr. Fonte received a Choo San Goh award for Almost Tango, his 2002 choreography for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Almost Tango was also voted as one of Dance Europe’s "Best Premiere’s" when it was re-staged for The Australian Ballet in 2004. His very first full-length work Re: Tchaikovsky, created for The Gothenburg Ballet in 2005, appeared on the "Best of 2005" lists of both Ballett-Tanz and Dance Europe. Since that time, Fonte has created an additional three full-evening works for BalletX: Beautiful Decay (2013), Beasts (2015) and Sidd: A Hero’s Journey (2023) based on the classic novel Siddhartha. Fonte’s choreography has been performed by companies large and small all over the globe – from Het National Ballet in Amsterdam to the National Dance Company of El Salvador. In addition to his four original full-length ballets, re-invigorated versions of classic scores and extraordinary collaborations with artists across many disciplines are all well represented in Mr. Fonte’s work. From 2002 to 2006 Nicolo enjoyed an ongoing creative partnership with The Gothenburg Ballet in Sweden. From 2013-2023 he was the resident choreographer for Ballet West in SLC and from 2016-2021 he was also the resident choreographer for Oregon Ballet Theatre creating numerous successful works to the repertories of both those acclaimed, as well as many other ensembles. http://www.nicolofonte.com/  

A native of Puerto Rico, Eric Rivera earned an M.F.A. in choreography from SUNY Purchase College. During his performing career, he danced with Ballet Hispanico of New York for 13 seasons, where he helped create over 20 original works. He performed with Minnesota Ballet as a principal dancer, Ballet Theater of Pennsylvania, Ballet Teatro Municipal de San Juan P.R., Danza Jazz de San Juan, and West Side Story’s European tour. He has appeared as a guest artist in companies such as Connecticut Ballet, Thomas Ortiz Dance, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, Bradley Shelver Contemporary Dance Theater, Westchester Ballet, and Brooklyn Ballet. Eric had the pleasure of performing choreographies of Ann Reinking, Mark Morris, José Limon, Kenneth McMillan, Margot Sappington, Graciela Daniel, Kevin Wynn, Vicente Nebrada, Talley Beatty, and George Balanchine.

His works have been presented by Ballet Contemporáneo de Camagüey in Cuba, EDANCO Dance Festival in the Dominican Republic, Ciudad Interior in Mexico, Dance Iquail, Ashani Dance, Convergence Ballet, Owensboro Dance Company, CSU Fullerton, University of Mississippi, Western Kentucky University, University of Richmond, Orange County College, Purchase College, Goucher College, W&L University, Jacksonville University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, L2 Dance Theater, New England Dance Theater, ACDA South, ACDA Baja Region, ACDFA Gala at Little Rock, AR, NY Summer Stage, and the show They Called it Rock. His television appearances include PBS’ Setting the Stage, NBC’s 20th Hispanic Heritage Awards, Hispanic Day Parade with Brenda Blackmon, Puerto Rican Day Parade with Ernie Anastos, and the documentary Pedro Ruiz Home Coming, among others.

Mr. Rivera is the recipient of Best Ballet choreography 2019 and Best choreographer of the year 2021 by RVA Dance Awards. In his creative work, as well as in his teaching, he is continuously exploring ways in which to share his Hispanic heritage. Mr. Rivera is an ABT Certified Teacher who has completed the ABT Teachers Training Intensive in Primary through level seven of the ABT National Training Curriculum.

Photo credit: Katelyn Hundley

Anne Norman Van Gelder, faculty, Department of Theatre & Dance, director of dance, and artistic director of University Dancers holds a B.A. from Virginia Intermont College and an M.F.A. from the University of Utah, in performance, choreography, and pedagogy. Ms. Van Gelder performed with and served as ballet master in companies in Virginia and Utah. As a dancer, Ms. Van Gelder worked with a variety of educators and choreographers including Li-Chou Cheng, Alun Jones, Conrad Ludlow, Richard Munro, Tom Pazik, and Stanley Zompakos. At the University of Richmond, Ms. Van Gelder has worked with artist-scholars Francesca Harper, Stefanie Batten Bland, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Alexandra Damiani, Kanji Segawa, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Stephanie Martinez, among others. Her choreography has been performed in collaboration with the Grammy-award winning sextet, Eighth Blackbird. She has taught all levels of classical ballet technique at the University of Richmond, the University of Utah, Virginia Intermont College, and the Willam F. Christensen Center for Dance. Ms. Van Gelder has been invited to create or re-stage choreographies for various institutions including the Saratov Academic Youth Theatre, W&L Repertory Dance Company, Theatre Bristol, Park City Shakespeare Festival, and the Ogden Symphony. Ms. Van Gelder has created works for Department of Theatre & Dance productions including the department’s dance concerts, The Tempest, Wings, Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, and The Chairs and The Bald Soprano directed by Italian director and filmmaker, Paolo Landi. In Utah, she served as Dance Instructor and Choreographer for gymnasts who were members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team. She has been invited to lecture on dance history at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and regularly teaches master classes at the American College Dance Association annual conference. Her study of dance is ongoing, including professional conferences in Italy, Boston, and New York City, where she enjoys studying historic dance. At UR, Ms. Van Gelder teaches Text & Performance, Dance History-Theory I and II, and all levels of ballet and pointe technique. Ms. Van Gelder serves on the Board of Directors of CORPS de Ballet International and is a member of the Membership and Outreach committee. She serves on the Advisory Board of Conflux Dance Theater. She is a member of Golden Key International Honour Society and Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic Honorary Society.

Photo credit: Dixon Christian

Agua Dulce Dance Theater

Ephrat Asherie

Robert Battle

Stephanie Batten Bland

Charlotte Boye-Christensen

Jacqulyn Buglisi

Chris Burnside

Deandra Clarke

Sean Aaron Carmon

Frank Chaves

Diane Coburn Bruning

Patrick Coker

Jean Paul Commelin

Myra Daleng

Alexandra Damiani

Robert Dekkers

Andrea Del Conte

Norbert De La Cruz III

Alicia Diaz

Barbara Duffy

Pamela England

Starr Foster

James Frazier

Tiffani Harris

Bill Hastings

Willie Hinton

Rebecca Hodal

Gerri Houlihan

Steven Iannacone

Larry Keigwin

Juel D. Lane

Abdul Latif-Dulie Dules

Jason Luks

Stephanie Martinez

Jenna McClintock

Christopher K. Morgan

Miguel Pérez

Peter Pucci

Scott Putman

Kanji Segawa

Susan Shields

Billy Siegenfeld

Gusti Sudarta

Matthew Thornton

Nathan Trice

Takehiro “Take” Ueyama

Kim Urba

Anne Van Gelder

Doug Varone

Christian von Howard

Jill Brammer Ware