DancEast Company
In 2022 DancEast Collective launched a resident professional company in order to further our mission by creating original works and supporting professional artists. Led by Artistic Director Elizabeth Wilkinson, DC encourages multi-disciplinary collaborations inspired by the creative spirit of the Nashville community.
Company Members
Marcela De La Vega Luna, originally from Mexico City, began her career as a professional dancer in 1996, dancing with Danza Conteporanea XXI and Púrpura Danza-Teatro. By 1999, Marcela became a member of “Escueadron Jitomate Bola” theatrical, comedic, circus troupe under the direction of Anatoli Lokachtchouk, in Mexico. She went on to perform the role of “Future” as a dancer in “Zumanity” by Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas. She added to her experience by becoming a Pilates instructor in 2007 and a Reiki Master in 2014.
Delaine Dobbs is a dancer and choreographer whose work spans across live performance and film. Her style fuses the elegance and grace of classical techniques with the innovation and storytelling of contemporary forms. She began dancing at a young age in Nashville, TN before moving to NYC as a teen to study at The Joffrey Ballet School. She later went on to graduate from the Ailey School and spent the next few years dancing professionally between NYC and LA. She is now back in Nashville, dancing with DancEast Company and teaching for DancEast School.
Arelys Hernández Estévez was born in the City of Havana on June 14, 1993. She began her artistic career at the Alejo Carpentier Elementary Ballet School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern, Folkloric, Ballet and Contemporary from the National School of Art in Havana, Cuba. She was a Principal Dancer for Danza Contemporanea De Cuba and Acosta Danza company. She has worked with renowned choreographers and performed on stages in 15 countries.
Kaylee Lane is a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She has been dancing for 23 years — training in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, modern, hip hop, and more— and she is in her second year of teaching. Kaylee received her B.A. in Dance from Western Kentucky University and now is a member of DancEast Company. She also frequently dances with Found Movement Group. Kaylee’s choreography has been showcased in Nashville’s Kindling Arts Festival, for the TN Arts Commission, and by DancEast Company.
Sandy Perez started out dancing in an afterschool program and has since explored any form of movement available to her, from studio training in Hip Hop, Salsa, and Bachata to cultural dances like Huapango, Zapateado, Hula, Bhangra, Malaysian folk dance, Tinikling, Stepping and Chinese traditional dance. Blending all of these relationships in her body, she turned to contemporary dance just two years ago to utilize its freedom and abstraction to tell underrepresented stories through her work.
Lily Sekeres began her dance training with DancEast at age 4. Her expertise spans genres - from Ballet to Jazz, Contemporary to Tap, Modern to Acrobatics. As a teen, she participated in multiple intensives, including Perry-Mansfield, New Dialect, and Nashville’s Metro Parks Dance Division. She took advantage of opportunities to expand her learning by taking open classes at Middle Tennessee State University and Western Kentucky University, and she co-choreographed and performed an original work at the Going Dutch Festival in Elgin, IL. She has been a member of DancEast Company since its founding in 2022.
DancEast Company is supported by:
With the Tennessee Specialty License Plate program, you can buy car tags that will provide funding for many arts organizations like the Tennessee Arts Commission, which supports danceast collective. Click for more details.