Mark Willis
MARK WILLIS, a freelance artist from NYC and member of WHITE WAVE Dance since 2014, received his B.F.A in Dance from Montclair State University. As a student, he was the recipient of Jeanne Wade Henningburg Scholarship and Spirit of Dance Award given by the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Mark has worked with companies such as The José Limón Dance Company, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, Christina Noel and the Creature, ARCOS Dance among others. He has performed principal roles in José Limón’s repertoire such as The Moor’s Pavane, Missa Brevis, and The Exiles. Mark has performed across North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been guest faculty at Montclair State University and has taught workshops at The University of Wyoming, Chung-Ang University, Seoul Tanz Station, Gibney Dance, among others. Mark is a 2019 Princess Grace Award nominee. His other interests include composing, singing and playing the trumpet.
Cacey LaVres
CACEY LaVres grew up in Daphne, Alabama, dancing competitively for the Centre for the Performing Arts and Broadway South Dance. While attending Troy University, Casey trained with Troy Dance Repertory Ensemble and Troy Dance Theatre, going on to graduate Summa Cum Laude in 2014 with a Bachelor of Communication and Fine Arts in Spanish and minors in Dance and Speech Communication. After moving to NYC, Casey danced in the Off-Broadway show ‘iLuminate Artist of Light’ until it’s close in January ‘15, and toured with iLuminate later that year. In spring ‘15, she joined iKada Contemporary Dance Company and WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company. She has performed in Young Choreographers Festival and Nachmo Dance with Maja Bakija, Waxworks with Vector Dance Company, RAW Artists D.C. with Caitlin Parish Dance, and Juddson Church with Dance into Deliverance. With WHITE WAVE, she performed in DUMBO Dance Festival ‘16-’19, premiered ‘iyouuswe’ at the LaMama Moves Dance Festival ‘17, Vancouver International Dance Festival ‘18, toured to South Korea to teach repertory ‘18, and summer ‘19 toured ‘EternalNow’ to South Korea and China. This is Casey’s fifth season with WHITE WAVE.
James Johnson
JAMES JOHNSON was born and raised in Minnesota, where he received his early training in dance from Larkin Dance Studio and the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. After high school he was accepted into The Juilliard School in New York City. Throughout his four years there he had the privilege of dancing several famous pieces of repertoire as well as working with some of today’s top European choreographers. Since graduating with his BFA in dance, in 2012, James has been lucky to dance for several companies in NYC and along the east coast. While he is currently based in NYC, he has toured through Canada and Europe as well as the USA. James has recently been getting into film and dance on film, and is excited with all that world is introducing. Since 2016, James join the WHITE WAVE Dance and performed 2017 La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival and 2018 Vancouver International Dance Festival.
Jesse Obremski
JESSE OBREMSKI, a native New Yorker, graduated from LaGuardia High School and The Juilliard School with additional development at The School at Jacob’s Pillow, The Ailey School, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, and Springboard Danse Montréal. Obremski, an Eagle Scout Rank recipient, Jadin Wong Dance Awardee (2016), Interview En Lair’s “Dancer to Watch” (2017), and Dance Magazine’s March 2019 Dancer “On The Rise” has performed with Diversity of Dance, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Kate Weare Company, as a company member with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (2014-2016), Buglisi Dance Theatre (2016-present), WHITE WAVE (2017-present), has performed ensemble, soloist, and principal roles with The Limón Dance Company (2016-2019), and is an Artistic Associate with Gibney Company (2018-present).
Katie Garcia
KATIE GARCIA (Dancer) was born and raised in Miami and trained in ballet, jazz, tap, modern, contemporary, hip-hop, Latin, ballroom and flamenco. After graduating from New World School of the Arts, she continued her training at The Juilliard School, where she performed works by Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Ohad Naharin, José Limón, Richard Alston, Johannes Wieland, Matthew Neenan, Zvi Gotheiner, and Loni Landon. Service and community outreach is an integral part of her life and artistic journey, and in 2016, she traveled to Botswana to teach dance and movement therapy classes to children.
A recipient of the Irene Diamond and Edith Rosenhouse-Baehr scholarship, Katie graduated from Juilliard in 2017. Since then, she has danced for WHITE WAVE, under the direction of Young Soon Kim, and has been employed as a flybarre instructor.
Andy Santana
Andy Santana is a LatinX artist from New Jersey currently based in New York. He obtained his BFA in Dance from Rutgers University, completing his studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel, both under artistic scholarship. As a freelance artist he has worked with Boston Dance Theatre, Pat Catterson, Alessandra Corona Works, The Merce Cunningham Trust, Michael Mao Dance, and Shen Wei Dance Arts, amongst others. He has performed in stages across Asia, Israel, and North America. Andy has had the privilege to undergo a Vinyasa/Hatha Yoga Teacher-training practice and subsequently teaches movement classes both local and international. Andy joined White Wave Dance in Fall 2017.
Joan Rodriguez
JOAN RODRIGUEZ (Dancer) was born in La Habana, Cuba. He graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Arte with the “Best Graduate of the Year” award. His professional career began with the dance company DanzAbierta, and he later joined Malpaso Dance Company. During this time, he worked with choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, Osnel Delgado and Ronald K. Brown.
He moved to Arizona in 2016 where he focused on creating, teaching and performing. Joan has worked with award winning dance artists Mary Fitzgerald and Liz Lerman. He has been Guest Artist in Residency for numerous universities and arts centers throughout the US and has received awards in several dance competitions.
Lacey Baroch
LACEY BAROCH is originally from Jacksonville, Florida where she received her primary education in arts and dance. She graduated from Point Park University in December 2016 with a BFA in Dance under the direction of Ruben Graciani. She has worked with artists such as Mark Morris, Larry Keigwin, Gregory Dolbashian, Nicole Von Arx, as well as many other artists. She is currently dancing and performing for WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company and Yin Yue Dance Company..
Frances Samson
FRANCES is a New York based artist originally from Toronto, Canada. In 2017, she joined the world-renowned Limón Dance Company, as the youngest and only international dancer. She is an artistic collaborator for White Wave Young Soon Kim Dance Company, Frog in Hand, as well as the multicultural project, The Gravity Between directed by Jacqueline Bulnes with original compositions by Niklas Emborg Gjersøe. Frances has also had the pleasure of performing for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Walt Disney World, TEDx, Miss Universe Canada, Rotary International and New York Fashion Week.
Sumire Ishige
SUMIRE (Sue) ISHIGE was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She graduated from the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2015 and graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in 2019. She has also attended the American Dance Festival and National Ballet School of Canada summer intensives, and has been a part of the Merce Cunningham Trust Workshop. Sumire has performed with BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, Boston Dance Theater, WHITE WAVE, and was an understudy with Parsons Dance since January 2018 before joining the company in June of 2019.
Eric Parra
Eric Parra began his dance training at Montclair State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. Eric has danced for Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Maxine Steinman & Dancers, and Doug Elkins Choreography, etc. among others. Eric has served as a teaching artist for NJPAC, Earl Mosley's Institute of the Arts, the José Limón Dance Foundation, and Sharron Miller's Academy for the Performing Arts. Mr. Parra is the recipient of the 2016 Martha Hill Dance Fund Young Professional Award, 2017 Linda Roberts Outstanding Senior Dance Award, and has been featured in The New York Times Arts Section (2019). Eric is currently a performing artist with the Limón Dance Company, and joined WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company in March 2021.
