Featuring five world premieres created for the Joffrey Academy Trainees and Studio Company, Joffrey Academy’s 14th Annual Winning Works program will take place from March 8-17, 2024.
Jainil Mehta, Martha Nichols, Manoela Gonçalves, Houston Thomas, and Xavier Núñez were the chosen choreographers after a national call by the Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, for ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) artists. They will each choreograph a new work to a commissioned score by a chosen composer collaborator.
“Our commitment to Winning Works celebrates emerging voices, which has been an initiative of monumental importance over the last fourteen years,” said The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE. “Suzanne has beautifully curated a program that allows these cutting-edge choreographers to push boundaries and explore uncharted territories in their art forms while working alongside Academy students on world premieres. Each choreographer’s impressive storytelling and vision will undoubtedly further the legacy of this program as a driving force for ingenuity in dance.”
Other notable Winning Works competition winners in the past include:
- Jeffrey Cirio (2016)
- Chanel DaSilva (2020)
- Amy Hall Garner (2011)
- Stephanie Martinez (2015)
- Claudia Schreier (2018)
Joffrey Academy’s 14th Annual Winning Works Choreographers
Manoela Gonçalves, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, is a multi-disciplinary artist passionate about collaboration, connecting people, and weaving their unique stories into her work.
After graduating from Maria Olenewa School from Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, a scholarship was her gateway to London. During her time with the Zurich Ballett as a dancer, she created her first piece with Esther Pérez, Frida, for Young Choreographers, performed at the Zurich Opera House, where she received the Tanzpreis der Freunde des Balletts Zürich (Friends of the Ballet Zurich Award) that same year.
Last year, Gonçalves created Benteveo for the soloist Alessandro Cavallo, which received international recognition after being performed in Italy.
Her work bridges the worlds of dance, film, and music through choreographing music videos for international artists, including Nightbell and Maria for Kerala Dust, in collaboration with artists from the Nederlands Dans Theater, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, Bayerisches Staatsballet, Ballett Zürich and many more.
As a director, Gonçalves’s film Lisa was featured at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the LA Dance Film Festival in 2021.
Gonçalves’ dance journey has taken her through European ballet companies, including the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, Leipziger Ballett, and Béjart Ballet in Lausanne, where she currently resides in Switzerland.
Jainil Mehta, originally from Mumbai, India, is a former company dancer with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. He trained at Shiamak Davar International in Mumbai, India, for thirteen years and graduated Summa Cum Laude with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance with a Discovery Scholars Distinction.
He has learned and performed works by esteemed choreographers like William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Jodie Gates, Barak Marshall, Alejandro Cerrudo, Dwight Rhoden, and Matthew Neenan
He has been featured in national press, including BBC News, Good Morning America, India Times, Brut India, Elle India, Hindustan Times, Official Humans of Bombay, and Quint, on his confidence and courage to break gender stereotypes within the Indian community.
Mehta has choreographed music videos for artists such as Big Wild’s “6’s to 9’s” and Falguni Pathak’s “Jode Rahejo Raaj,” in addition to teaching dance classes online and in person across India, Pakistan, China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and the United States.
He was recently selected as a choreographer at the Playdate Residency, funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, and has choreographed and designed four dance productions, Ctrl Alt Delete (2023), DECODED (2018), Alankar (2017), and Chimera (2015).
Martha Nichols, recipient of the 2021 Princess Grace, Brian, and Amy France Choreography Honor, is an award-winning choreographer, notable dancer, master teacher, dynamic speaker, and multifaceted artist who believes dance is an experience.
Her credits include Spirited (Apple TV+), In The Heights the movie, The Greatest Showman, La La Land, The Louis Armstrong House Museum, The Metropolitan Opera, Khalid, Madonna, Rihanna, Moses Sumney, GAP, XBOX, Fire Island Dance Festival, Cirque Du Soleil, MTV’s VMAs, The Oscars, The Grammys, Dancing with the Stars, MJ The Musical Broadway, and more.
In addition to her work in the commercial industry, Nichols has been commissioned by Point Park University, Boston Conservatory, and Pace University, as well as directing and choreographing her first full-length evening work, The Wider Sun, with her project-based company, Martha Nichols Dance.
She is the 2016 Capezio A.C.E. Award winner for choreographic excellence, one of Dance magazine’s Top 25 to Watch, and can be found in numerous dance publications.
Recently, Nichols wrapped as Associate Choreographer on Disney’s newest live-action film, Snow White, to be released in 2024.
Xavier Núñez (Recipient of the Zach Lazar Winning Works Fellowship), born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, embarked on his dance journey at age ten at The Hartt Community Dance Division in Hartford, Connecticut, becoming the first dancer in his family.
He continued training at the International Ballet Academy in Cary, NC, under Miguel Campaneria in 2010. In 2012, he earned the silver medal at the World Ballet Competition, propelling him to join the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company under the guidance of Kevin McKenzie and Franco De Vita.
He performed in international galas in Italy and France, performing George Balanchine’s Tarantella and Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval Des Animaux.
Xavier’s path led him to Tulsa Ballet in 2013, where he performed in productions including The Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Cinderella. In 2017, Núñez took part in the Concours de Opera National de Paris, earning him 6th place and a contract for the 2017-2018 season with the Paris Opera Ballet.
In 2018, Núñez became a member of the Joffrey Ballet, a momentous step in his career. Since then, he has graced the stage in lead roles, performing in acclaimed productions such as Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina, John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, and more.
Beyond his onstage achievements, Núñez’s entrepreneurial drive led him to co-found Action Lines, a video production company, with peers Dylan Gutierrez and Eric Grant.
Houston Thomas, born and raised in Chicago, began his dance training with the Joffrey Ballet’s Outreach Program under Pierre Locket’s direction. He later attended the Joffrey Ballet’s Academy of Dance while also studying at the Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) under the direction of Lisa Johnson-Willingham.
In 2011, Thomas enrolled as a full-time student at the School of American Ballet, and after completing his training at SAB in 2013, he joined the Dresden Semperoper Ballett
After ten years with the company, rising to the ranking of second soloist, Thomas decided to focus on choreography entirely, and in 2018, Thomas created his first work, Moonlit Variants, for the Semperoper Ballett’s Young Choreographers evening.
In his first work for the New York Choreographic Institute in 2020, Thomas collaborated with NYCB Dancers in the film An Afternoon of Angelic Voices. Thomas created his second work with NYCI, The Return Studies, for its 2021 Fall Session, featuring NYCB dancers and SAB students.
Thomas has since created works for Cincinnati Ballet, The Juilliard School, the School of American Ballet, ABT Studio Co., Hamptons Dance Project, Marcelo Gomes, and Ballet San Antonio.
In July of 2022, Thomas premiered Follow the White Rabbit at the Young Emergent Choreographers Contest in Biarritz, France, winning a commission to create his work, Skywatcher, for the Opera National de Bordeaux.
Featured Photo for Joffrey Academy’s 14th Annual Winning Works of dancers in Natasha Adorlee’s 2023 Momoda (Kiss Kiss). Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
