The DancEast Team
Curtis Thomas is a performer, educator, and creative consultant originally from New Orleans with deep heart strings in Nashville. With a performing career that has spanned both concert dance and theater, he has worked with artists such as Camille A. Brown, Banning Bouldin, David Dorfman, Kayla Farrish, and Margot Gelber as well as in the cast and creative team of the hit musical Waitress. Most recently Curtis has danced in the Metropolitan Opera’s productions of Carmen and Fire Shut Up In My Bones co-directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown. Curtis is also a creative and curricular consultant working with data scientists, choreographers, and young learners to merge the worlds of computer programming, education, and dance.
Megan Barbee earned a BA in Dance Performance and Choreography and minors in Education and Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Upon moving to Nashville, she earned a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lipscomb University. Now, in her roles as both therapist and dance teacher, she thrives in ambiguity, embodiment, freedom of expression, and space for exploration. She enjoys combining her passions as an instructor at DancEast.
Holly Cannon-Hesse began her studies at Middle Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech and Theatre with an Education emphasis (dance minor). She studied under Anne Holland, Nancy Turpin, and Rossi Turner in a variety of disciplines, including Modern, Ballet, and Choreographic Technique. She has been a member of Blue Moves Modern Dance Company since 1993, and she has been teaching dance to children for more than 20 years. In addition to teaching at DancEast, she is a Teaching Artist for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s many outreach programs.
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.
Quincy Ellison (aka QKong) started breaking in 2001 and was traveling the South, East Coast, and Midwest extensively by 2002. He won a number of jams, including Loose Screws, NBL, Get Rooted, and Atlanta Street Jam. He is a founding member of Illville Crew (established 2003) and co-started Bashville - now one of the largest jams in the South - in 2004. QKong started dabbling in house dancing around 2005, devoting himself more seriously in 2011. He’s been a member of Digital Nativez since 2013. He founded 615 House of Dance in 2013 as a community resource for all levels of dancers.
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.
Emily Masters studied ballet, tap and jazz under such esteemed teachers as Charles Ryburn, Terrell Paulk, and Gus Giordano. She was a member of the Appalachian Modern Dance Ensemble while attending Appalachian State University, where she earned a BA in English (dance minor). As a professional ballroom dancer she earned recognition as a "Rising Star" in American 9-dance, American Smooth and Theatrical Ballroom. She earned an MA in English before moving to Nashville in 2000, where she began a career in non-profit fundraising and programming. She founded DancEast in 2008.
Lauren Magnifico Melancon has a BA in art history (dance minor) from Saint Mary’s College. She trained at Grand Valley State University under the direction of Jefferson Baum, and she is a certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor and a member of the National Dance Education Organization. In 2010, she stepped into the role of co-owner of DancEast, in 2011 founding DancEast Workshop for young dancers. She left Nashville in 2014 and served as a faculty member at Southold Dance Theatre in South Bend, Indiana. Back in Nashville since 2017, Lauren now serves as Education Director for DancEast Collective.
Claudia Monja was born in Havana, Cuba. At age 3, she began practicing rhythmic gymnastics, which she did until beginning her ballet studies at age 9. After studying at the Elemental Ballet School and the Cuban National Ballet School, she began her professional career with the Cuban National Ballet. Shortly after, she joined the Ballet de Camagüey, where she performed as a soloist for six years. In 2012, she became a Principal Dancer with Joburg Ballet in South Africa, where she performed works like Giselle, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, La Traviata, Spring Waters, Flames of Paris, and Gamzatti. She has worked with choreographers such as Redha Benteifour and Corey Baker and has danced in internal tours to Italy, Ecuador, Colombia, and China and credit these experiences to her growth as an artist. Monja is passionate about empowering youth and exposing them to the beauty of ballet. In addition to dancing on stage, she has worked as a ballet instructor, composed her own productions, and both prepared and judged students in competitive competitions.
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.
Tony Perrin, a Los Angeles native, started his dance training at age seven. After working in the television industry during his formative years, Tony headed East to New York where he earned a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. After graduation, Tony worked with Michael Mao Dance Company, North Eastern Ballet Company and as an Artist-In-Residence at The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard. Tony enjoys opportunities to bring his energy, creativity and insights to dancers of all ages!
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.
Lindsay Fine Smith has been choreographing and teaching dance for 20 years. She has a BFA in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Dance from the University of Mississippi. She lived in Los Angeles for several years, where she furthered her dance training and teaching skills. She later returned to Oxford, MS where she taught at the University of Mississippi and co-founded Hinge Dance Company. After years of dedication to the dance community in North Mississippi, Lindsay moved to Nashville in 2015, where she is an instructor for DancEast School and choreographer for DancEast Company.
Joi Ware is an interdisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and educator. A native of Dallas, TX, Joi began her formal dance training at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Joi is a graduate of Point Park University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and a Bachelor of Science in Sports, Arts, and Entertainment Management. She has performed repertoire from creators Benoit Swan-Pouffer, Dwight Rhoden, Robert Battle, Lar Lubovitch, Sidra Bell, Joshua L. Peugh, and Christopher Huggins. Her movement, choreography and direction has been commissioned by Oz Arts, Apple, CMT, and multiple local musical artists. Joi has also been a collaborator on productions with Bombshell Dance Project, David Flores Productions, Visionary Vocal Collaborative, and PYDANCE.
Elizabeth Wilkinson grew up in Nashville, dancing at Nashville Ballet, Metro Parks, and Tennessee Dance Theater. She graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio with a BA in dance, and she studied abroad at the Laban Centre in London. She danced professionally in Boulder, New York, and LA. She was a member of Noemie Lafrance/Sensproduction, based in Brooklyn, for 10 years. Upon moving back to Nashville, she opened Well Body Pilates. As Artistic Director of DancEast Company, she is able to merge her passion for both contemporary dance and Pilates as a means for mindful movement and healing.
Alex Winer