Dancers – LA Dance Project

Nayomi Van Brunt

Nayomi Van Brunt began her formal training at age 9 with Atlanta Festival Ballet under Nicolas Pacana and Gregory Aaron. In high school, Nayomi started training at Atlanta Ballet’s Centre for Dance Education under Sharon Story. After high school she began dancing with Atlanta Ballet under John McFall. Since her time with Atlanta Ballet, Nayomi has danced with New York Theatre Ballet and Wonderbound. She has had the pleasure of performing in works by Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Victor Quijada, Janie Taylor, Charm La Donna, Pam Tanowitz, Gemma Bond, Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schaiber, Dimitri Chamblas, Charm La Donna, Madeline Hollander, and Benjamin Millepied. Nayomi has had the opportunity to perform at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Vail International Dance festival. In addition to her 15-year classical concert dance career Nayomi has also worked in the commercial dance world. She has walked in Hermes women’s FW21 runway show, danced in Richard Mille’s WITHIN commercial, modeled for Rodarte’s FW21, danced for singer Remi Wolf on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” modeled for Everlane’s “Releather” campaign and has been featured in St. John’s “FOUNDATION” campaign. Most recently Nayomi had the opportunity to perform in Shanghai for Bulgari’s gala choreographed by Madeline Hollander. Nayomi would like to thank her friends and family for all their love and support. Nayomi joined L.A Dance Project in 2019.

Nayomi Van Brunt

Hope Spears

Hope Spears(she/her) was born in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam and raised in West Palm Beach, FL where she began her dance training at a young age. She graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in Dance in 2021. While there, she performed works by Micaela Taylor, Kyle Abraham, Christopher d’Amboise, and Hope Boykin as well as attended programs including Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program, NW Dance Project’s MOVE program, Bates Dance Festival, and Ate9. After graduation, Hope moved to LA and freelanced throughout California, working with choreographers such as Lillian Barbeito, Ihsan Rustem, Jennifer Archibald, James Gregg, Noelle Kayser, Danielle Agami, and Genna Moroni. She also started guesting with LA Dance Project in 2021 and joined as a full time company member in 2023.

Hope Spears

Audrey Sides

Audrey Sides was born in Oakland, CA and received her early dance training at the Oakland Ballet School and the Oakland School for the Arts. She went on to train at the San Francisco Ballet School and joined Ballet Austin as a trainee upon graduation. In 2019, she moved to Chicago to train with the Hubbard Street Professional Program and in 2020 was a founding member of Little Fire Artist Collective. In 2021, Audrey moved to Vancouver, BC where she worked with artists such as Daina Ashbee, Joshua Beamish, The Biting School (Aryo and Arash Khakpour), Alyssa Favero/VOLT24, and Eilish Shin-Culhane, while developing her own choreographic practice and training at Modus Operandi, a contemporary dance training program directed by Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond, and Kate Franklin. While in Modus, Audrey performed new works by Shay Kuebler, Nicolas Ventura, b. Solomon, Brandon Alley, Yin Yue, Spenser Theberge, and Zahra Shahab. Audrey joined LA Dance Project in 2023.

Audrey Sides

Shu Kinouchi

Dancer, Artist
Hailing from a suburban town near Yokohama, Japan, Shu Kinouchi is a ballet dancer and multifaceted artist. His journey into the world of movement commenced at the Mayumi Kinouchi Ballet Studio. Growing up immersed in ballet, Shu found himself unable to envision a world without dance.

Fascinated by the intersection of traditional ballet and the bone manipulations in martial arts, Shu embarked on a quest to blend these diverse styles into a unique expression of movement. Notably, Shu was invited by Janie Taylor of L.A. Dance Project, a former principal ballerina of New York City Ballet, to collaborate on choreographing an evening for Martha Becket’s Amargosa Opera House 56th anniversary. Additionally, Shu has created and performed his own solo work for Dancer Create at L.A. Dance Project. Continuing his creative journey, Shu is preparing an evening of solo dance theater in collaboration with designer Shin Okuda of Waka Waka and young queer writer and director Carolyn Braver.

In 2020, Shu was fortunate to join the esteemed L.A. Dance Project, where he infused his own distinctive style into collaborative efforts. Prior to this chapter, he had the pleasure of dancing with notable companies such as the Houston Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and the Studio Company of American Ballet Theatre. His journey has taken him to stages around the globe, from the grandeur of La Philharmonie in Paris to the enchanting Dubai Opera and the cultural hub of Melbourne’s State Theatre, Metropolitan Opera House to the Joyce in NYC. Along the way Shu has had the privilege of collaborating with renowned choreographers Benjamin Millepied, Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber, Aszure Barton, William Forsythe, Jessica Lang, Stanton Welch, Jill Johnson, Madeline Hollander, Nicolo Fonte, Christopher Wheeldon, Ben Stevenson, Kazuyuki Futami, Melody Walsh, Ma Cong, Matthew Neenan, Jodie Gates, Ronald Hynd, Susan Jaffe, Connor Walsh, Oliver Halkowich, and Marcello Angelini among others.

Shu Kinouchi

David Adrian Freeland, Jr.

David Adrian Freeland, Jr. received his early dance training at LaVilla School of the Arts in Jacksonville, FL and at the Jacksonville Centre of the Arts. He furthered his dance studies at several prestigious intensive programs affiliated with The Juilliard School, Nashville Ballet, Atlanta Festival Ballet, and the Bates Dance Festival. David attended the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College and began working toward his BFA in Dance before being invited to join Ailey II, the second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where he danced for three years. During this time, he performed seminal works by Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, Robert Battle, as well as new works by Troy Powell, Dwight Rhoden, Jennifer Archibald, Amy Hall-Garner, Malcolm Low, and Donald Byrd, among others. David’s professional experience also includes seasons performing with The Metropolitan Opera and Missouri Ballet Theatre. In 2016, David joined L.A. Dance Project where he has both created roles and danced in important stage and film works by Benjamin Millepied, Kyle Abraham, Justin Peck, Ohad Naharin, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Roy Assaf, Noé Soulier, and Shannon Gillen. David is the proud recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award in Dance.

David Adrian Freeland, Jr.

Daphne Fernberger

Daphne Fernberger, born and raised in NYC, began her professional career with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet before moving to Europe to join Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. As a freelance artist, she danced for the Merce Cunningham Trust in “Night Of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event,” Ersan Mondtag, Margie Gillis Legacy Project, among others, in both Europe and the United States. Daphne graduated from American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and received her BFA from The Juilliard School. During her time at Juilliard, Daphne had the honor of performing a lead role in Pina Bausch’s rarely seen work, “Wind von West,” also traveling to Germany to perform in celebration of Tanztheater Wuppertal’s 40th anniversary. Her own choreographies include “Hellerau is Female,” “WHOLE,” a short film for the fashion brand Rentrayage, the dance film “Environment as Self,” and “The River Within.” Daphne also movement directs for other projects, collaborating with visual artists, theater productions and more. Daphne Joined L.A. Dance Project in 2021.

Daphne Fernberger

Lorrin Brubaker

Lorrin Brubaker began dancing at age 10 in his hometown of Apopka, Florida, and graduated from the DPHS Dance Magnet in 2012. He was then accepted into The Juilliard School, where Lorrin performed works by Jose Limon, Lar Lubovitch, Jerome Robbins, Mark Morris, Camille A. Brown, Brian Brooks, Zvi Gotheiner, Matthew Neenan, and Peter Chu. After graduating from Juilliard in 2017, Lorrin danced full time with BODYTRAFFIC where he performed works by Matthew Neenan, Victor Quijada, Richard Siegal, Sidra Bell, James Gregg & Rauf ‘RubberLegz’ Yasit, and Micaela Taylor. Lorrin then danced for Jacob Jonas The Company where he performed works by Jacob Jonas, and Omar Roman De Jesus. Lorrin also had the honor of performing for the Merce Cunningham Trust in “Night Of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event.” Lorrin joined LADP as a full time company member in January, 2020. Since then, Lorrin has performed works by Benjamin Millepied, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, Bella Lewitzky, Pam Tanowitz, Jamar Roberts, Janie Taylor, Madeline Hollander, Salia Sanou, Dimitri Chamblas & Kim Gordon, Saburo Teshigawara & Rihoko Sato. Lorrin is currently in his 4th season with LA Dance Project.

Lorrin Brubaker

Jeremy Coachman

Jeremy Coachman, born and raised in Riviera Beach, Florida, began his professional career with Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from 2015-2022. Whilst there, he had the opportunity to work with, and perform works by Itzik Galili, Andonis Foniadakis, Ihsan Rustem, Anne Plamondon, Juliano Nunes, Barak Marshall and Wen Wei Wang. He also had the pleasure to perform in 13 countries and countless cities in that time.

Jeremy enjoys the gift of dance and expressing through other means besides speech. He continually wants to explore the possibilities and push the limits of what the body can hold in expressive communication.

Jeremy Coachman

Courtney Conovan

Courtney (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist from Austin, Texas. Once graduating high school Courtney went on to further her education at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance where she performed works by Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Doug Varone, Annie Rigney, Roderick George, and Rosalind Newman. During her time at Purchase she was selected to study abroad at the London Contemporary School of Dance for a semester. In 2022 Courtney graduated college while joining L.A. Dance Project. Here they have collaborated and performed the works of choreographers such as Benjamin Millepied, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, Pam Tanowitz, Dimitri Chamblas, Janie Taylor, Madeline Hollander, and Jamar Roberts. With interest in choreography Courtney has presented her own work at the Made By Women Festival in 2022. Letting curiosity drive her research, Courtney hopes to be able to create safe and open spaces within many art communities around the world for exploration and collaboration.