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.

Photo by Jim Laffery

Performer/Costume Designer

Based in New York City, Caitlin Taylor (She/Her) earned her B.F.A. in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and continued on to freelance with many dance ensembles including Loni Landon Dance Projects, NVA & Guests, and HEWMAN. She worked with Alexander Whitley Dance Company from 2017 to 2019, touring across the UK and Europe, and was a part of the creation of Noumena, which premiered at the Royal Opera House. Caitlin performed in Nixon in China by John Fulljames at The Royal Danish Opera and Scottish Opera and has most recently performed at Jacob’s Pillow with Loni Landon Dance Projects. She is excited to share NVA & Guests’ latest work, Stay With Me, with audiences across Europe. Caitlin is also a costume designer, wardrobe coordinator and assistant for several companies and dance schools in the New York City area.

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Performer

Christian A. Warner is a performing artist, choreographer, and director. Company credits include Boca Tuya, Sidra Bell Dance New York, TU Dance, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Ponybox Dance Theatre and Deeply Rooted. He has performed repertoire from creators Bryan Arias, Alvin Ailey, Aszure Barton, Darius Barnes, and Rena Butler. He was a founding dancer in Come Through, a collaboration between TU Dance and the grammy award winning band Bon Iver. His choreography and direction has been commissioned by Owen/Cox, McKoy Dance Project, Ballet Co.Laboratory, James Madison University, Full Out Creative, and New York Times Best-Selling Author Michael Levin.

Photo by Nir Arieli

Performer

Lavy is a gender queer, Queens based choreographic dance artist. Stage credits include works by Kyle Abraham, Jenn Freeman and Andrea Miller. In 2021, Lavy founded VERBAL ANIMAL, a collective of queer dance makers. Excavating areas of queer identity and belonging, the company curates interdisciplinary worlds of drag and dance theater. Lavy’s work has been presented at the 14th St Y, WAXworks, TADA! Theater, 3 Dollar Bill and Triskelion Arts. Additionally, having received mentorships from Christopher Morgan and Raja Feather Kelly, Lavy was one of seven residents to be selected for the 2022 international choreographic residency at Art Omi.

Photo by Alicia Steeves Photography

Performer

From Southern California, Liane received her BFA Degree in Dance at the University of California, Irvine. As a professional, Liane spent five seasons with Backhausdance, under the Artistic Direction of Jenny Backhaus. Later, six seasons with Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Company under the Artistic Direction of Olivier Wevers. With Whim, Liane performed original creations with Joseph Hernandez, Ihsan Rustem, Maurya Kerr, Yin Yue, Miceala Taylor, Mark Caserta, Danielle Agami and Sidra Bell to name a few. Currently a freelance artist, Liane has worked with Flockworks Dance, Yin Yue Dance Company, Alejandro Cerrudo, Seattle Dance Collective & PARA.MAR Dance Theatre.

Photo by Allina Yang

Performer/Understudy

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.

Photo by Jenna Maslechko

Performer/Understudy

Sasha West began her dance training in Atlanta, Georgia and was accepted as a conservatory student at Atlanta Ballet. Sasha continued her dance education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and performed in works by Sidra Bell and the Trisha Brown Dance Company. She also participated in summer intensives such as Gallim Dance Intensive and the Arts Umbrella ISDI. Since graduating, she has been a guest artist with David Dorfman Dance and is an assistant teaching artist at the Mark Morris Dance Center. Sasha is very excited to be working with NVA & Guests for the Fall/Winter 2023/24 season.

Photo by Kyle Hall

Composer

Benjamin Louis Brody is a composer and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for creating empathic compositions for TV, film and live concert settings. AnEarful describes his music as "...consistently gorgeous and full of invention and adventure."

Benjamin's eclectic background and sonically unique palette has led him to meaningful relationships with musicians, filmmakers and storytellers from around the world.

His music can be heard on media outlets such as Emmy Award-winning episodes of VICE News, HBO, SHOWTIME, BBC Radio3, and NPR.

About the Album - Floating Into Infinity

Originally composed as a ballet in 2017, Floating Into Infinity is a unique set of pieces that utilizes Sunhouse's, Sensory Percussion. The premiere featured Ian Chang and later, in 2021, it was released as a collaborative album on New Amsterdam Records.

Advisor

Hillary Kooistra (she/her) is a freelance NYC-based arts administrator specializing in project/tour management and strategic consulting for nonprofit dance companies and organizations. She currently works with Dance/USA, Fist and Heel Performance Group, and Nicole von Arx & Guests. Hillary served as Company and General Manager for contemporary dance company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham from 2015-2022, and has held previous administrative positions with Lucinda Childs Dance, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Eva Dean Dance, and University Musical Society. She is a 2019 Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training Mentee and a 2019-20 EmcArts Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators Fellow; and serves on the Board of Trustees for We Are Queens, a Gen-Z-led empowerment organization for young dancers.

Trained as a dance and theater performer, Hillary received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where she received the Suzanne H. Butch Scholarship and graduated with the Earl V. Moore Award for Achievement in Dance.

Photo by Michael Kushner