Dancers Making Moves

Kyla Kikkawa: Dancers Making Moves

Kyla Kikkawa (she/her) is a movement artist originally from Altadena, CA. A graduate from the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department at Washington University, Kyla is an interdisciplinary and lifelong learner. She lives for the healing power of movement, but her passions have also led her to play live music in hospitals in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Managua, Nicaragua. Kyla is an educator of neurodiverse and neurotypical youth, adults, and older adults and cares deeply about intergenerational and intercultural healing and exchange. Kyla is a fusion dancer who lives between the concert and street dance worlds. She directed her college team WUHHU to a first place win at Prelude New England in 2023, and she battles in the KRUMP and all-styles dance scenes in St. Louis where she’s often one of if not the only female on the floor. In STL, she goes by Princezz X/O and is so grateful to find depth and community in both improvisational and choreographic works and worlds. She strives to be an active uplifter of the city and a player in the explosion of a more interconnected and truly passionate St. Louis dance and arts community. Kyla is a proud member of the St. Louis KRUMP community, Arch Maddnezz, Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective, and Kode Redd Dance Company. Kyla enjoys pouring directly into or empowering those around her to be uniquely themselves, and to move in the way that they prefer while doing it. She also recently graduated from RAC’s Community Arts Training, and she looks forward to further incorporating somatic education into her work as a community builder. In due time, Kyla hopes to build bridges between art, science, and community, particularly regarding the accessibility and definitions of distinct forms of knowledge of the body, mind, and soul. Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/] and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com [https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com].

Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson: Dancers Making Moves

Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson holds his BA in Music and his MFA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from Sam Houston State University. He has performed works by Tommie-Waheed Evans, Bradley Shelver, Kirven Douthit- Boyd, Omar de Jesus, Jamar Roberts and Norbert de La Cruz III among others. He has also worked with directors Francesca Zambello, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Phelim McDermmot and Louisa Proske in performance and design roles. In 2023, Jorrell was appointed the first Young Artist Choreographer for The Glimmerglass Festival in its 37 year history. This year, he continued his collaborative partnership with Proske alongside Vision into Arts and MetLiveArts as the choreographers and associate director of Primero Sueño, a new processional opera that premiered in January at the Met Cloisters. In February, Jorrell traveled to Detroit to remount the critically acclaimed opera Rinaldo with Proske. In December of 2025, he will travel to Mexico City and Puebla to reset Primero Sueńo, acting as the remount director. Jorrell specializes in both linear narrative and non-narrative work, emphasizing connection through contemporary partnering and improvisatory technologies. He is currently a company member with Saint Louis Dance Theatre and regularly teaches, collaborates and creates in the St. Louis, MO area. Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/] and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com [https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com].

Gabriella Ray: Dancers Making Moves

Gabriella Ray, born and raised in St. Louis, started her dance training early on, under the instruction of Christine Kardell. Through out high school Gabriella became a student at COCA (Center of Creative Arts) where she joined pre-professional companies Ballet Eclectica and COCAdance. She had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Darrell Grande Moultrie, Camille A. Brown, Kirven and Antonio Douthit-Boyd, and Alicia Graf Mack. She has also had the pleasure of learning repertoire from companies like Pilobolus and LeherDance. Gabriella is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She has a love for teaching young aspiring dancers and is a teaching artist at COCA. Gabriella is currently an apprentice Gyrotonic instructor and is working on her Level 1 certification as another way to share movement with others. Gabriella is in her 7th season with MADCO where she has had the privilege to perform works by choreographers such as Carl Flink, Christian Denice, Roni Koresh, Jennifer Archibald, RAW Dance, and Arianna Russ. It is an honor for Gabriella to teach, perform, and give back to the community that has always been home! Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/] and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com [https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com].

Theron Steele: Dancers Making Moves

"Coming up in our culture is therapy, and why we not statistics. Whether you studio or street." Theron Steele is a St. Louis native and currently a leader in the dance community for funk, experimental, and all styles. "Theo" has a mixed background in dance, having been involved early on and benefited from wonderful mentors who allowed him to experience a lot in both work and creative opportunities. His journey began at age 7 in church, dancing and miming at churches and parties around the city. One year later, through his older cousin, he discovered hip-hop and learned his first wave and the robot. Thereafter, the city of St. Louis and neighboring states became his training ground for dance, where he immersed himself in parties, skating rinks, and workshops as a student of the culture, taking performance opportunities at every turn. Mr. Duane Foster, Theo's mentor since middle school, made great efforts to place him in front of better experiences, workshops and teachers. He studied Graham, Horton, and Ailey, learning while working to catch buses or trains to nearby states for workshops. If not there, he was at the library, researching through YouTube. He started his first studio teaching job at 16. After graduation, Theo began working within the school system and found several studio homes in STL, spanning over 15 years of working with all ages and abilities. He's since added festival and flow or circus arts, communities traveling across the country to teach hip-hop and popping/animating to dubstep, which is his preferred style. Theo's current goals are to reform the approach to the dance community in St. Louis and to establish a combined effort of studio and street dance to promote our city's scenes together and create long-lasting communities. Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/] and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com [https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com].

CiCi Kai: Dancers Making Moves

CiCi Kai (they/them), from St. Louis, MO, began their dance journey at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) and is a 2024 alum of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where they earned a B.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance. Through the Dancers Making Moves project, CiCi is reintroducing their artistry by sharing moments of their injury recovery journey through poetry. While injuries are common, they believe the most intriguing and unique part of the process is the in-between stage. The journey of transformation involves navigating the complexities of emotions, mindset, self-talk, and mental health while rebuilding the physical body. Their work aims to shed light on how injuries can shift a person’s perception of one’s self and the process of embracing a new version of self after the impact of an injury. CiCi has much to express about the profound impact of a torn ACL and meniscus tear, finding it fascinating that once healed, you don’t look like what you have been through, the internal journey. As a movement artist, they aspire to create space for open conversations about these experiences and expand their artistry across art mediums. Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/] and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com [https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com].