ABOUT THE ARTISTS

NICOLE VON ARX
Artistic Director + Choreographer

Nicole von Arx is a Swiss & British performer and choreographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She is actively working in Canada, the USA and Switzerland. She is a 2023 NYSCA grant recipient, 2022 Dance Initiative artist in residence, 2022 Leimay Incubator, 2020 Lauréate of a Gland Culture Grant, a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow, and 2018 STUFFED artists in residence at Judson Memorial Church.

Nicole most recently choreographed the opera Orphée+ at the Edmonton Opera. She’s been commissioned to create original works for Der Freischütz at Wolf Trap Opera, Stanford Live, Whim W’Him, LINK Choreography Festival, and the Luminato Festival. She creates under the name NVA & Guests.

Her performance career led her to becoming a soloist at the Royal Opera House and Chicago Lyric Opera while dancing for Jasmin Vardimon. She’s worked for Carte Blanche - The Norwegian National Company for Contemporary Dance, Bryan Arias, The Metropolitan Opera, Company XIV, Loni Landon, and Romeo Castellucci.

CAITLIN TAYLOR
Performer

Caitlin Taylor earned her B.F.A. in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and has worked for the past eleven years as a freelance dance artist in NYC and abroad. She worked with Alexander Whitley Dance Company from 2017-2019, and has had the privilege to perform at The Royal Opera House, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Royal Danish Opera, The Joyce Theater, Scottish Opera, and many more. Since 2021, Caitlin has worked with NVA & Guests on their last four works, Stay With Me, TOMORROW, Mont Blanc, The Fear Project, and their film, SOI. Caitlin is also a costume designer.

CHRISTIAN A. WARNER
Performer

Christian A. Warner is an interdisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and director. His company credits include Boca Tuya, Sidra Bell Dance New York, TU Dance, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Ponybox Dance Theatre and Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre. He has performed select repertoire from creators Alvin Ailey, Bryan Arias, Raja Feather Kelly, Alan Lucien Øyen, Aszure Barton, Darius Barnes, Yoshito Sakuraba, Rena Butler, Stefanie Batten-Bland, Kayla Farrish, and Slowdanger. His choreography and direction has been commissioned by Triskelion Arts, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Trevor Jackson, McKoy Dance Project, Ballet Co-Laboratory, James Madison University, Full Out Creative, and the Blacklight Summit curated by Tariq O'Meally.

ANNIE MORGAN
Performer

Annie Morgan hails from Birmingham, Alabama and studied at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Dance. After graduating, Annie performed for GroundWorks DanceTheater for four seasons, and was named “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. Recent credits include Valerie Chiang's short film, "You Gotta Dance for It," Joelle Santiago's "another route demands,” Brian Golden’s “Smile and Wave,” WHITE WAVE Dance, backup dancing for comedian Hannibal Buress and Impractical Jokers, and performing as an immersive character in Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s “Casa Bonita.” Annie is currently a Community Actionist for Gibney Dance’s Hands Are for Holding community programming.

RACHEL HARRIS
Performer

Rachel Harris is a dancer and choreographer based in New York City. 2023 Bessie Award Nominee for “Outstanding Performer,” Rachel Harris (Charlotte, NC) graduated Cum Laude from the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance with BFA in 2020 where she performed the works of William Forsythe, Crystal Pite, d Sabela Grimes, Barak Marshall, and many others. Harris later joined Zeitgeist Dance Theatre under Francisco Gella and Yusha Marie Sorzano and Parsons Dance where she performed works by David Parsons, Robert Battle, Rena Butler, Chanel de Silva, and Matthew Neenan. Rachel has been named Howard University’s 2021 Emerging Choreographer to Watch, Gibney Dance Converge2Emerge 2021 Film Grant Recipient, and 2022 Finalist for New Century Dance Project. Rachel's work has been commissioned by Howard University, Traverse City Dance Project, amongst others, and she has produced an evening length show with Emmy Award winning singer songwriter Paul Brill. She has most recently performed at the Metropolitan Opera and Traverse City Dance Project and continues to freelance as a dancer and choreographer throughout the US.

RUSH CARSON
Performer

Rush Carson, a graduating senior from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance and a concentration in Composition, is an upcoming performing artist and choreographer. In 2020, he was selected as the YoungArts winner for choreography. Recently, he has worked with choreographers including Ethan Colangelo, Andrea Miller, Loni Landon, Gregory Dolbashian, Kimberly Bartosik, Hannah Garner, and Francisco Gella. Beyond his dance career, Rush has also composed and produced musical scores for choreographers such as Gregory Dolbashian, Michelle Thompson, Juan Carlos Franquiz, Elinor Kleber Diggs, and for his own choreographic projects.

GABE KATZ
Performer

Gabe Katz (he/him) is a dancer, choreographer, and educator with a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. He is also an alum of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, HSPro at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Gabe has performed repertoire by choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shechter, Peter Chu, Sonya Tayeh, Jonathan Campbell and Austin Diaz with MADBOOTS DANCE, Jenn Freeman, Akira Uchida, and Rena Butler. His commercial credits include Gap, Puma, Eartheater, Shygirl, Paul McCartney, and Ryan Heffington. He was featured in Akira Uchida’s film “Still” which premiered on NOWNESS. He has taught and choreographed at dance institutions around the country, creating numerous live works and dance films. Gabe was also a performer and swing in the final years of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More in NYC.

CHARLOTTE BYDWELL
Acting Coach

Charlotte is a performer, creator and teacher who works primarily at the intersection between text and movement. She has choreographed Off-Broadway, around NYC and for leading regional theaters such as the Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Virginia Stage Company and the Cape Playhouse. Additional credits include: season choreographer for Comedy Central’s, ALTERNATINO, and choreographer for the national tour of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Select performance credits include: The Michaels (Public Theater), HELP (The Shed), A Month in the Country (Williamstown), Much Ado About Nothing (The Old Globe) and Monica Bill Barnes & Co. (company member). Charlotte created ‘Moving into Language’, a movement-based approach to acting. She has taught at Juilliard, Limón Dance Company, Gibney, Barnard, Peridance and HB Studio among others. She is on faculty at Stella Adler and The New Group/LIU BFA Program. Training: Juilliard BFA in Dance, The Old Globe/USD MFA in Acting. www.charlottebydwell.com

MELISSA GOMIS
Creative Advisor

Melissa is a Swiss environmental scientist based in Paris with a strong interest in art and visual aesthetics. As a scientist, she moves from one environmental issue to another. She investigated chemical pollution and how humans and ecosystems are exposed to it. She is now working in the field of climate change, supporting the production of IPCC assessment reports. In parallel, she directed a short film on the impact of clouds on the fast-warming Arctic climate. Her work experiences brought her down to Ivory Coast up to Svalbard: along her way, she witnessed the fragility of the environment and human societies, and how both are intertwined. She strongly believes in the power of art and artists in raising awareness on environmental issues and ultimately in supporting scientists, who have been sounding the alarm for decades.