2024 NDF Guest Artist

Jake Tribus (he/him) is a 2020 graduate of USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance under the direction of Jodie Gates. He currently dances for Gibney Company, and joined in 2020. Tribus’ past training includes intensives with Netherlands Dance Theater, Batsheva Gaga Technique, The Juilliard School, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Additionally he has performed repertoire from choreographers William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Jîrí Kylián, Twyla Tharp, Johan Inger, Sharon Eyal, Paul Taylor, Victor Quijada, Aszure Barton, Sonya Tayeh, and Dwight Rhoden. Jake has performed on stages including The Joyce Theatre (with Gibney Company and the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance), The Shed (with A Quiet Evening of Dance by William Forsythe), the Kampnagel International Summer Festival (premiering Where There’s Form by Aszure Barton), and in 2022 the Fire Island Dance Festival (choreography by Akira Uchida and Micaela Taylor). He has also performed in music videos and on stage for artists including Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Lorde, Backstreet Boys, and Janet Jackson, among others. He most recently was a featured dancer in a fragrance campaign for fashion brand Carolina Herrera under the direction of Stephen Galloway. Jake is the recipient of a 2022 Princess Grace Award in Dance. Jake was a lead actor and dancer in “Daytripper,” a film directed and choreographed by James Whiteside in partnership with All Arts (a program of PBS). He is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he began his training at CC & Company Dance Complex. He also trained at Next Generation Ballet in Tampa, Florida, under the direction of Peter Stark. 

2024 NDF Guest Artist

Liz Riga received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Liz ventured to New York City in 2001, where she attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts and received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance. Liz worked extensively with Keigwin + Company, creating, performing, touring, and teaching as an original member of the company. Liz has had the honor of performing at the Joyce Theater, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Works in Process at the Guggenheim, the Opening Gala at Jacob’s Pillow, and the New York City Center, to name a few. She taught master classes at various schools across the United States, including the University of Michigan, New York University, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Liz moved to Michigan with her family and began teaching at Oakland University in the fall of 2017. She has since choreographed works for Oakland Dance Theater and Oakland University’s Repertory Dance Company.

2023 NDF Guest Artist

TAMISHA A. GUY, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, began her formal dance training at Ballet Tech, under the direction of Eliot Feld. Later she attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and SUNY Purchase College as a double major in dance and arts management. She has performed works by William Forsythe, Bebe Miller, Doug Varone, Merce Cunningham, Pam Tanowitz and Mark Morris. In 2013 Guy graduated with honors from SUNY Purchase College and joined the Martha Graham Dance Company shortly after. In 2016 Guy was selected as one of Dance Magazine' Top 25 to Watch and she also received the 2016 Princess Grace Award. She was featured in the segment “Spotlight on Success” in Dance Informa Magazine as well as the Caribbean Life newspaper, where she discussed her upbringing and the distinguished Princess Grace Award. In 2017, she was named one of the Best Dancer's of the Year by Dance Europe and in 2021, she received the 2022 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance. Guy has been fortunate to teach masterclasses in Hawaii, London, Berlin, Haiti, Colombia, Minneapolis, Arizona, Dallas etc. Tamisha currently dances with A.I.M, under Artistic Direction of Kyle Abraham, and she is a Lecturer in Dance at Barnard College.

2023 NDF Guest Artist

Currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Kelly Hirina enjoys teaching technique, choreography and improvisation. Kelly is certified to teach Countertechnique and Double Skin/Double Mind, both of which she encountered and trained in while living and dancing professionally in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In the twenty years overseas, she worked with ICKamsterdam (Emio Greco & Pieter C.Scholten), Dansgroep Amsterdam (Krisztina de Châtel), Jakop Ahlbom and freelance choreographers stemming from the Batsheva and Nederlands Dans Theater companies. Kelly received an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan and is a 500-hour fully certified Pilates & Vinyasa Yoga instructor.

2022 NDF Guest Artist

Born in Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines and raised in Los Angeles, CA Norbert De La Cruz III is recognized for his versatility in performance and choreography. He is a performing and collaborative artist with roots in classical and contemporary dance.  After moving to New York, he received a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School followed by an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. He is a New York and Los Angeles based freelance dance artist.

Professionally, Norbert has performed as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera's production of Aida, Aszure Barton & Artists in Germany & Austria (Blue Soup & Busk), Balletto Teatro di Torino (Italy), Joe Goode Performance Group, Sydney Skybetter & Associates, Santa Clarita Ballet, Lustig Dance Theatre, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Boca Tuya with Omar Román De Jesús. As a pre-professional, he was honored the Music Center's 17th annual Spotlight Award, the Emerging Young Artist Award, Youth America Grand Prix 2nd place in non-classical, and represented the Juilliard School at Kodak Theatre’s first annual Dizzy Feet Foundation Gala in Hollywood, CA.  Norbert recently been casted in Warner Brothers Pictures film adaptation of Tony-winning musical In The Heights.

Norbert's choreographic career was further mentored by esteemed Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) Directors, Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty. His early career was recognized through the support of the Jerome Robbins Foundation’s NEW Essential Works Grant (2012), commissioning his first large-scale ballet, “Square None” (2012) with ASFB. He was then a finalist of Hubbard Street’s National Choreographic Competition (2013), a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Award under the choreography fellowship (2012), Alvin Ailey New Directions Choreography Lab (2013), finalist for the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s 2014 Winning Works and a recipient for the 2015 National Choreographic Initiative in Irvine, CA. He was selected for the 2017 and 2018 Spring Sessions at the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet, where he created his “Lunar” and "Traces" ballet alongside Juilliard composer and esteemed collaborator, Nathan Prillaman. Additional honorable mentions include the Asian Arts Alliance Jadin Wong Award, McCallum Theatre Choreography Festival Award, and was featured in Dance Magazines Top 25 to watch.

He has since been commissioned to create and premier new works for companies such as Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, Joffrey Academy of Dance, James Sewell Ballet, Tulsa Ballet II, Barak Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Florida, Peridance, Golden State Ballet, Attack Theatre, Ballet X, Olympic Ballet Theatre, and Periapsis Music & Dance.

2022 NDF Guest Artist

A dance artist, choreographer, and educator currently based in New York City. He has worked professionally with choreographers such as Joanna Kotze, Tere O’Connor, Pavel Zustiak, Maria Bauman, Jonah Bokaer, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, and more. In late fall of 2021 he received the STUFFED Artist in Residence at Judson Memorial Church. He was also a Work Up 6.0 Artist at Gibney Dance in Spring 2020. Additionally, he has shown work at the University of the Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Center for Performance Research, Chez Bushwick, La Mama Galleria, Capezio ACE Awards, and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. He has set work on companies such as Michiyaya Dance, Pennsylvania Ballet II + Philadanco II, and Periapsis Music and Dance. Wendell is a BFA graduate of the University of the Arts (15’) under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield was raised in Atlanta, GA.