Dancers

Ellen Akashi began her training at Southland Ballet Academy under Salwa Rizkalla where she perfomed with the studio company Festival Ballet Theatre and guest artists Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Jennifer Ringer, and Carla Korbes.  She attended summer programs with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, LINES Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard Danse Montréal, and BODYTRAFFIC.  Ellen received her BFA in Dance Performance from Chapman University where she performed in original works by students and faculty, Jiří Kylián's and Merce Cunningham. After graduation Ellen attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance's year-round program.  She has performed with the San Diego Opera and has recently filmed a music video for Skylar Spence.  Ellen performs with Backhaus Dance and Clairobscur.  This is Ellen’s sixth season.

Camila Arana is Cuban-American dancer and choreographer born and raised in Miami, FL. Camila graduated with honors from New World School of the Arts/ University of Florida with a BFA in Dance Performance.  She has performed works by Robert Battle, Gerard Ebitz, Lara Murphy, and Ana Gonzalez. Camila has also, performed showings with Sidra Bell Dance New York, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and at the American Dance Festival in 2015. This is Camila’s third season with Clairobscur.

Ava Gordy is a Los Angeles based performer and choreographer. Originally from Chicago, Ava trained under the late Larry Long at The Ruth Page Center. She went on to spend several years training in Wellington at the New Zealand School of Dance. She has attended summer programs at Royal New Zealand Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Hubbard Street, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Ava performed alongside Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in works by Andre Provkovsky, Ben Stevenson, and Alan Obuzor. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Ava has been featured in music videos by Daren, Julia Nunes, Dom Fera, and La Troienne. She has also performed for a myriad of Los Angeles based companies including Clairobscur, C. Eule Dance, Jana Taylor + Dancers, Mixed eMotion Theatrix, Kelly Alvarez and Artists, and Brockus RED. 

Leah Hamel is originally from Los Angeles, California, she began dance studies at California Dance Theatre continuing on to The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes. She has studied with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and  had the privilege of performing works by Sharon Eyal, Alex Ketley, Spencer Gavin Hering, Ohad Naharin, Robert Moses, Camille A. Brown, and Malinda LaVelle. She has been a company member with Project 21 Dance, Brockus RED, Kelly Alvarez and Artists, Mixed eMotion Theatrix, C.Eule Dance, and thrilled to be dancing for Clairobscur Dance. This her second season.

Dominique McDougal is a native of Lakeland, Florida.  He began his training at Florida Dance Theatre in 2005 becoming a trainee with their professional company in 2008. He moved to Philadelphia and joined Smoke, Lilies and Jade under Zane Booker. After 2 seasons he received a full scholarship to study at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet training program. Throughout his dance experience Dominique has collaborated and danced for artists including Earl Mosley, Brigette Dunn-Korpela, Ferdinand DeJesus, Carol Krajacic-Erkes, Lennie Meek (re-staging Lar Lubovich Concerto 622), Norbert De La Cruz III, James Sewell, Amanda Miller, Gregory Dawson, Alonzo King, Sidra Bell, Renee Redding Jones, Kevin Wynn, and Yuri Zhukov.

Alejandro (Aleks) Perez is a first generation Mexican-American from Los Angeles. Alejandro received a full scholarship to be a part of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet two year round Training program (2016-2018). After his first year at Lines he was announced the full scholarship recipient for the Jacobs Pillow 2017 Ballet summer Program where he was under the direction Anna-Marie Holmes. During his time at Jacobs Pillow he got the opportunity to perform for their 85th Gala Anniversary inside the Ted Shawn theatre.  Alejandro has since studied and performed with various disciplines from Arturo Fernandez, Alonzo King, Carmen Rozenstraten, Tony Rizzi, Shannon Gillen, Alex Ketley, Greg Dawson,  Angelo Dello Lacono, Bruce Wells,  Andre Tyson, Desmond Richardson, Keelan Whitmore, Jermaine Spivey and more. Alejandro just graduated with the Alonzo King LINES Training program class of 2018 in San Francisco, and is now a freelance dancer/choreographer/creative in Los Angeles. 

Sadie Black is a freelance artist from and based in Los Angeles. She dances currently with Clairobscur Dance, Barak Ballet, Luminario Ballet and Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet.  She trained with Riverside Ballet Arts, Houston Ballet Academy, and the School of American Ballet. She has been a company dancer with Texas Ballet Theater, Columbia City Ballet and Los Angeles Ballet.  Sadie is also a choreographer and yoga/fitness teacher along with coaching ballet students competing at Youth America Grand Prix.