Artistic Director + Choreographer

Born outside of London and raised in Hong Kong and Switzerland, Nicole von Arx is an immigrant choreographer based in Brooklyn. Her works, spanning theatre, dance, opera, and film, are highly emotional and dramatic, inviting viewers to either sit back or actively participate. Nicole has presented her works at notable venues such as The Joyce Theatre, Stanford Live, The New Victory Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Wolf Trap, Judson Memorial Church, and Théâtre Nuithonie. She has received choreographic commissions from NW Dance Project, Edmonton Opera, Whim W’Him, SALT2, Sam Houston State University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, DAF International, Brooklyn Ballet, and the LINK Choreography Festival. She is a 2020 recipient of The Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow and a 2023 & 2025 NYSCA grant recipient, 2025 Danse Mirage Foundation grant recipient, a 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 CUNY Dance Initiative residency recipient, and a 2025 finalist of the Princess Grace Award for Choreography. Nicole has been an artist in residence at The Westside Theatre, Dance Initiative, Leimay Incubator, and a 2020 Lauréate of a Gland Culture Grant. As a performer, she has worked with Carte Blanche, Bryan Arias, The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Chicago Lyric Opera, Company XIV, Loni Landon, and Romeo Castellucci. Since 2014, she has been creating under the name NVA & Guests.

Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

Performer/Rehearsal Director/Costume Designer

Caitlin Taylor earned her B.F.A. in Dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and has worked for the past twelve 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. Caitlin performed in the New York Stage and Film incubator for the monologue Tulipa, written by Kate Douglas and directed by Kate Whoriskey. Since 2021, she has worked with NVA & Guests on their last five works, Stay With Me, TOMORROW, Mont Blanc, The Fear Project, and SOI, and their latest work-in-progress, Cry Wolf. Caitlin is also a costume designer.

Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

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, Nicole von Arx, 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.

Photo by Amy Gardner

Performer

Dallas native, Eleni Loving (she/her), graduated from The Juilliard School in 2022 and joined Gibney Company in April of that year. She’s worked with choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Twyla Tharp, and Johan Inger. She worked with Shamel Pitts for Calvin Klein’s “This is Love” Pride Campaign and with Francesca Harper for “Works & Process” at the Guggenheim. In 2024, she joined the cast of Punchdrunk’s immersive theater production, Sleep No More. Following a nomination from Juilliard, Eleni received a Princess Grace Foundation award and was featured in Dance Magazine's October 2024 “Career Spotlight”.

Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

Performer

A native of Hampton Roads, Dareon Blowe is a multidisciplinary dancer, creator, and educator, who is fascinated by investigative movement research and disrupting hierarchies in the body. He obtained his BFA from The George Mason School of Dance on a full scholarship under the leadership of Susan Shields & Karen Reedy. Additionally, He is an alum of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, SpringBoard Danse Montreal, and in 2021 he Joined MOTUS the company led by Diana Matos. Dareon has performed repertoire by Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Micaela Taylor, Camille Brown, Doug Varone, Wayne McGregor, Rafael Bonachela, Rena Butler, and more. Post grad, Dareon relocated to Montreal to join RUBBERBAND, where he worked from 2023 to 2025 under the artistic direction of Victor Quijada. He has created and taught at a multitude of programs around the country like BigKids Summer, Boston Arts Academy, Governors School of the Arts, and Colgan School of Performing arts.

Photo by Isabel Rancier

Performer

Michael Arellano is a dancer, performance artist, and choreographer hailing from Rochester, Michigan. He is an alumnus of Western Michigan University and has been a company artist and collaborator with Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance, BocaTuya, BLUESCREEN, GroundWorks DanceTheater, OpenSpace Dance, and KDV Performance Group. He has performed works by Rauf ‘Rubberlegz’ Yasit, Aszure Barton, Kyle Abraham, Bret Easterling, Joseph Hernandez, Ihsan Rustem, Emilie Leriche, Rena Butler, and many others. As a maker, Michael has presented work at Dock11 Eden in Berlin, Germany, XO Seattle, and CO-Seattle and is passionate about utilizing dance as a powerful, connective force in the world.

Photo by Allina Yang

Performer

Carlos Franquiz is a Brooklyn Native, who graduated from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory Of Dance with a BFA, and in earlier years was a MOVE |NYC| Young Professional and a graduate of Fort Hamilton Highschool’s Joffrey Academy. He is also the founder of New York City project based dance company Arch Dansé Ensemble. Carlos was seen dancing with The Dash Ensemble under the directorship of Gregory Dolbashian, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham and with NVA & Guests. Carlos was commissioned to create on Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance Company. He also was named an emerging choreographer at Springboard Danse Pittsburgh.

Photo by Joan Dwiartanto

Performer

Born and raised in Fresno, California, Miriam Gittens received a diverse dance education from The Dance Studio of Fresno. She earned a BFA from The Juilliard School in 2017. Following graduation, Miriam joined chuthis., and in 2018, she joined Ballet BC. She had the honor of performing works by Aszure Barton, Sharon Eyal, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Felix Landerer, Ohad Naharin, Out Innerspace, Crystal Pite, and Medhi Walerski, spanning over four seasons. In 2022, Miriam joined Gibney Company. Now as a freelance artist, she dances for chuthis. and Twyla Tharp Dance, in addition to sharing her passion for dance education. Miriam was awarded the Princess Grace Honoraria Award for Dance in 2024.

Photo by Amy Gardner

Performer

Michael Greenberg is a dancer and choreographer from New York City. He began his training at the Ailey School in 2004 and went on to study dance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Michael received his BFA from NYU Tisch in 2017. Since his graduation, Michael has performed with the Met Opera (Aida and Salome), Fiddler on the Roof (1st National Tour), NW Dance Project, NVA & Guests, Liz Gerring Dance Company, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, Obremski/Works, and Jody Oberfelder Projects. Michael received a 2024 Cuny Dance Initiative (CDI) residency and presented a work at City College of New York.

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Company Manager

Liz Hepp is a dance artist and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Recent performance credits include works by PeiJu Chien-Pott, Michelle Thompson Ulerich, Jessica Ray, Heidi Latsky, Erick Montes, Ben Wright and the dance theater show "Fact or Fiction" with Trainor Dance. A former company member with Dusan Tynek Dance Theater, Liz has performed at venues including The Whitney Museum and presented choreography at Art Cake. Liz is a co-producer with CreateART, production director at NOoSPHERE Arts, and a creative producer with Remote Daily. She holds a BFA from NYU Tisch.

Photo by Mallory Pettee

Lighting Designer

Matt Morris is a New York City based lighting designer with varied lighting design experience across theater and dance, music, comedy, and other live events. He particularly enjoys working on new work with emerging artists and has an affinity for dance and movement.

Through his work at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn he has collaborated on new pieces with several artists and companies, including the Jamal Jackson Dance Company, SHA Creative Outlet, and 2nd Best Dance Company.

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

Photo by Deb Lopez

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.

Advisor

Dan Gross is a seasoned advocate for artists who has worked around the entertainment industry for nearly 20 years. He has focused on matching brands with musicians, and is currently the Director, Sync at Warner Chappell music publishing. In the past, his work with the advertising industry has included brands like Microsoft, Mastercard, Verizon, L'Oréal, and has been awarded Clios, D&AD Pencils, Cannes Lions and more. Dan has been heard on panels at places like SXSW and Nashville's Who Knew, and in guest lectures at institutions like New York University and Berklee School of Music. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Economics and a Certificate in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing. He brings his love of dance and live performance to NVA & Guests.

Photo by Katie Henry