What does it mean to be a professional dancer? Discover the heart of dance with "Dancers Making Moves," where host Carly Vanderheyden engages in captivating conversations with professional dancers in St. Louis. Each episode explores an individual's unique journey to a professional career in dance, along with the experiences and insights gained along the way. Tune in for inspiring stories as we explore the multifaceted work of professional dancers.
Kyla Kikkawa (she/her) is a movement artist originally from Altadena, CA. A graduate from the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department at Washington University, Kyla is an interdisciplinary and lifelong learner. She lives for the healing power of movement, but her passions have also led her to play live music in hospitals in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Managua, Nicaragua. Kyla is an educator of neurodiverse and neurotypical youth, adults, and older adults and cares deeply about intergenerational and intercultural healing and exchange.
Kyla is a fusion dancer who lives between the concert and street dance worlds. She directed her college team WUHHU to a first place win at Prelude New England in 2023, and she battles in the KRUMP and all-styles dance scenes in St. Louis where she’s often one of if not the only female on the floor. In STL, she goes by Princezz X/O and is so grateful to find depth and community in both improvisational and choreographic works and worlds.
She strives to be an active uplifter of the city and a player in the explosion of a more interconnected and truly passionate St. Louis dance and arts community. Kyla is a proud member of the St. Louis KRUMP community, Arch Maddnezz, Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective, and Kode Redd Dance Company. Kyla enjoys pouring directly into or empowering those around her to be uniquely themselves, and to move in the way that they prefer while doing it. She also recently graduated from RAC’s Community Arts Training, and she looks forward to further incorporating somatic education into her work as a community builder. In due time, Kyla hopes to build bridges between art, science, and community, particularly regarding the accessibility and definitions of distinct forms of knowledge of the body, mind, and soul.
Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/) and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com (https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com).
14 May 2025
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson: Dancers Making Moves
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson holds his BA in Music and his MFA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from Sam Houston State University. He has performed works by Tommie-Waheed Evans, Bradley Shelver, Kirven Douthit- Boyd, Omar de Jesus, Jamar Roberts and Norbert de La Cruz III among others. He has also worked with directors Francesca Zambello, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Phelim McDermmot and Louisa Proske in performance and design roles. In 2023, Jorrell was appointed the first Young Artist Choreographer for The Glimmerglass Festival in its 37 year history. This year, he continued his collaborative partnership with Proske alongside Vision into Arts and MetLiveArts as the choreographers and associate director of Primero Sueño, a new processional opera that premiered in January at the Met Cloisters. In February, Jorrell traveled to Detroit to remount the critically acclaimed opera Rinaldo with Proske. In December of 2025, he will travel to Mexico City and Puebla to reset Primero Sueńo, acting as the remount director. Jorrell specializes in both linear narrative and non-narrative work, emphasizing connection through contemporary partnering and improvisatory technologies. He is currently a company member with Saint Louis Dance Theatre and regularly teaches, collaborates and creates in the St. Louis, MO area.
Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/) and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com (https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com).
12 May 2025
Gabriella Ray: Dancers Making Moves
Gabriella Ray, born and raised in St. Louis, started her dance training early on, under the instruction of Christine Kardell. Through out high school Gabriella became a student at COCA (Center of Creative Arts) where she joined pre-professional companies Ballet Eclectica and COCAdance. She had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Darrell Grande Moultrie, Camille A. Brown, Kirven and Antonio Douthit-Boyd, and Alicia Graf Mack. She has also had the pleasure of learning repertoire from companies like Pilobolus and LeherDance. Gabriella is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She has a love for teaching young aspiring dancers and is a teaching artist at COCA. Gabriella is currently an apprentice Gyrotonic instructor and is working on her Level 1 certification as another way to share movement with others. Gabriella is in her 7th season with MADCO where she has had the privilege to perform works by choreographers such as Carl Flink, Christian Denice, Roni Koresh, Jennifer Archibald, RAW Dance, and Arianna Russ. It is an honor for Gabriella to teach, perform, and give back to the community that has always been home!
Follow @dancers.making.moves on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dancers.making.moves/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Dancers-Making-Moves/61569188323319/) and learn more about the artists involved in this project at www.dancersmakingmoves.com (https://open.spotify.com/episode/www.dancersmakingmoves.com).
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Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100
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