ACPW COMPANY MEMBERS 2020

JAMES SAMSON is a native of Jefferson City, Missouri where he began his dance training at age eight, and later became a competitive gymnast. He decided to continue his studies in dance at Missouri State University where he earned a B.F.A. along with a minor in business. He went on to study as a scholarship student with the David Parsons New Arts Festival, the Pilobolus Intensive Workshop, and the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive. Mr. Samson’s professional career has included Charleston Ballet Theatre, New England Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Take Dance and the Amy Marshall Dance Company. He has also set his own choreography on regional dance companies; being performed at the American College Dance Festival and Regional Dance America. Mr. Samson recently retired from the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City after 17 years. 

A native of Italy, MARIA VITTORIA VILLA began her studies with Ballet and modern dance at “Centro Studi Coreografici Teatro Carcano”, Milano, where she graduated in 2013. She then was awarded with a scholarship at The Ailey School, where she performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in a work by Matthew Rushing. In 2014 she became a scholarship student at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance where she graduated in June 2016 after joining Graham 2, the junior company. In August 2016 she became a company member of Vanessa Long Dance Company and Smashwork.

MELISSA ANDERSON, a Dallas, TX native, began dancing at the age of five at The Ballet Academy of Texas under the direction of Lisa Slagle. She has proudly received The Cochran and Jerry Calloway Scholarship (2014), The Buster Cooper Jazz Scholarship (2013), and The Texie Waterman Memorial Scholarship (2012) from the Dance Council of North Texas. She continued her dance studies at The Juilliard School under Artistic Director Lawrence Rhodes in New York City. Throughout her Juilliard career, Melissa has had the honor of performing world premiers and repertoire of Sharon Eyal, Aszure Barton, Jiří Kylián, Crystal Pite, Pam Tanowitz, Gustavo Sansano, Alexandra Damiani and Richard Alston. After graduating in May 2018 with a BFA in Dance, Melissa continued her career in The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Samson et Dalila”. She has also recently danced in Austin McCormick’s Company XIV in their production of “Nutcracker Rouge”.

JAMES JOHNSON attended The Juilliard School and graduated with his BFA in dance in 2012. James has enjoyed the process and time with ACPW on “The Impossible Love” and “Just Joy.” He is also working with Young Soon Kim’s White Wave Dance Company, and prior to that he has worked with Alessandro Pellicani on a pre-production of “7 Doors, The Journey Within.” James has also worked in NYC with The Breton Follies, a show choreographed by Breton Tyner-Bryan and in a Nightmare: Horror Show production entitled “Broken” choreographed by Anthony Giorgio. Earlier engagements include performing in Boston for Touch Performance Art in a show called “AcousticaElectronica.” James has also worked with Attack Theatre Dance Company where he performed multiple productions and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company where he was able to perform multiple productions on tour in the USA and Canada.

BRIAN CASTILLO grew up in Northern Jersey and now lives in NYC where he has been performing for the last seven years. He has recently concluded his performances with Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More. Brian began dancing after graduating from Penn State, where he studied film. He has been a principal member of Touch Performance Art’s Acoustica Electronica since 2012. Some of Brian's greatest moments have been dancing in works by his mentors Brice Mousset and Mike Esperanza. He has also had the pleasure of performing with Mary John Frank, The People Movers, Schoen Movement Company, Rox Republic, E|N|Z|A, and director Derrick Belcham. Brian has trained at Springboard Danse Montreal and taken to the stage in works by Johannes Wieland, Spenser Theberge, and Elia Mrak. He greatly enjoys working in print and film and has been seen on ABC's The View and in the pages of Schön Magazine. He is overjoyed to be on this journey doing what he loves.

LIL ARONOFF graduated with a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in May of 2018. While at Tisch, Lil had the privilege of performing works by Paul Taylor (restaged by Richard Chen See), Sonyah Tayeh, and Seán Curran. Lil has had the opportunity to spend summers training at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria, and in Israel, with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. More recently, as a company member of I KADA Contemporary Dance, Lil has traveled to South Korea after being invited to perform at the “Incheon International Contemporary Dance Festival” and has performed original work set by Manuel Vignoulle. She currently is represented by McDonald/Selznick Associates. Lil is eager to continue growing and developing her artistry with ACPW.

ELIJAH LAURANT was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles.  He has received scholarships to train at South Bay Ballet and the Ailey School in NYC.  Elijah studied dance with Jamie Carbetta at El Camino College and is one of the founding members of Pony Box Dance Theatre.  He has also performed in works by Matthew Rushing, Wendy Baity, Christopher Rudd, Jennifer Mueller, Roberto Villanueva and Joshua Beamish.  Most recently, Elijah performed Akram Khan’s choreography at The Shed and was a former company member with Stephen Petronio  before joining Gallim Dance.

Emily Paige Anderson is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. dance program. Some of her live credits include 
performing with the TL Collective at Jacob's Pillow, the soloist role ‘Terpsichore’ in the original production of the ballet ISADORA (starring Natalia Osipova) at the Stanislavsky Theatre, and performing in 2017 with MOMIX. Emily has performed works by acclaimed choreographers including Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Peter Chu, Jessica Lang, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Rich + Tone Talauega, Jermaine Browne, Rena Butler, and John Carrafa. She has trained under dance institutions including Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Texas Ballet Theater, Cedar Lake, and Springboard Danse Montreal.

Minga Prather, a Dallas Texas native,
is a graduate of Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She continued her studies in New York City at The Ailey School anD Fordham University, graduating Cum Laude with Departmental Honors in Dance while finishing her final year as a company member with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has done guest work with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and is a previous company member of MarK Morris Dance Group and The Metropolitan Opera. She was recognized as a Modern Dance Finalist and Presidential Scholar of the Arts nominee by The National YoungArts Foundation in 2014.
Minga is thrilled to continue developing her artistry witH ACPW.

NICHOLAS SARTORI was born in Long Island, NY, and raised in a small town called Seaford.  He began his dance training as a competition dancer during his middle and high school years.  After graduating high school Nick got a job teaching at a local dance studio while attending Molloy College as an education major. Nick resumed his training at Broadway Dance Center, and during this time he assisted Tom Richardson at a few master classes over the summer of 2019. Nick booked his first professional job two months after leaving college with Visions Contemporary Ballet, directed by Ranardo-Domeico Grays and performed in their Fall 2019 Season.

TAYLOR HENNINGS is a dancer from Dallas, Texas. In 2018, Taylor graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Taylor spent a year at The Boston Conservatory as a contemporary dance major and is currently attending Marymount Manhattan College in New York City on scholarship. From 2014-2018 she attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance where she worked with Summer Lee Rhatigan, Alex Ketley, and Batsheva Dance Company members Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber, Tom Weinberger, and Bret Easterling. Taylor has had the pleasure of performing works by Doug Varone, Ohad Naharin, Robert Battle, Peter Chu, Jennifer Archibald, Maleek Washington, and many other admirable choreographers.

Performers who collaborated in the past with ACPW