rehearsal director.

Originally from Lakeland, Florida, Kirsten Standridge’s training began at the age of six at a local studio called Highlands School for Dance under the instruction of Hayley Amis Stewart. On top of taking classes at the studio, she had also been accepted to dance at a local arts High School named Harrison School for The Arts where she had the opportunity to learn from Susan Olsen, Gloria Haigler, and Shelley Bourgeois. After graduating from Harrison, she had been accepted to the dance program at The University of South Florida. While attending USF, she had been given the privilege to perform in the works of many professors and guest choreographers such as Bliss Kholmyer, Paula Nunez, Michael Foley, Yaniv Abraham with Batcheva dance company, and Alonzo King with Lines Ballet. She went on to begin her professional career with Collective Soles Dance Company in Tampa and is now a company member with projectALCHEMY working with founder/artistic director Alex Jones. Kirsten is excited to have the opportunity to continue working with Alex and looks forward to continuing her training with the company.

Originally from Ecuador, Fernando A. Chonqui is a choreographer, educator, and performer currently based in Central Florida. The explorations of internal sensations that result from physical actions and constrains are central to Fernando’s work as a performer and choreographer. He seeks to utilize these sensations as a guide for a “story-telling” experience unique to each viewer and authentic to the performer. Fernando has had the honor to serve as an Arts Administration Intern at the prestigious Bates Dance Festival from 2015-2017. He holds a 200hrs Yoga Teacher Training certification, a leadership certification from the Florida College System Student Government Association and a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Studies from the University of South Florida.

Pacific Northwest native and University of Washington alum Heidi Brewer has worked as a performer and collaborator in Seattle, New York and Los Angeles with Mark Haim, Rebecca Davis, Cori Marquis and The Nines [IX], Gretchen Weber, Josselyn Levinson & Michael Richman, Milka Djordjevich, Pennington Dance Group, Lionel Popkin, Myrrhia Rodriguez, Gracie Whyte, WHYTEBERG, Mollie Wolf, and Kevin Williamson. Her own work has been shown at Pieter and Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, where she also founded the LAYERS platform to produce 3 workshops in L.A. between 2017-2018. Currently based in Tampa Bay, Heidi is the Communications Director at Kinected Pilates Studio in NYC and honored to be working with Michael Foley, ProjectALCHEMY and Rogue Dance.

Esophia is a FL native and graduate of University of South Florida where she obtained her BFA. Following graduation, she became a member of Shoes at The Door and freelanced with various local and international artists/choreographers. She then moved to India, where she was an international guest artist dancing for a Bellwood company and teaching Western dance and modern techniques. Upon returning, she has continued to collaborate and perform freelance with artists in the Tampa Bay area and is a company member of a Bollywood company that performs throughout the nation. She is excited to embark upon her newest journey as a company member of Project Alchemy and looks forward to being a vessel for movement and creations that is to come.

Carissa Bishop is originally from Rome, NY, and trained competitively under Charlene and Cristina Topor, as well as her mother, Leah Bishop, at Empire Center of Dance. Graduating from The College at Brockport, SUNY, with a BFA in Dance, Carissa had the opportunity to perform works by prominent contemporary choreographers: James Hansen, Laura Peterson, Jordan Lloyd, Cameron Mckinney, and continuously performs works by Madeline Kurtz of MKRep. Throughout her collegiate career, she performed and represented her college at the Rochester Fringe Festival and the American College Dance Association. She continues to perform in New York City and Tampa Bay Area. Carissa is also noted for her national title winning choreography as a captain and choreographer of the Brockport Dance Team. Currently, she teaches and choreographs for numerous dance studios across the country, from New York to Florida.

apprentice.

Born and raised in Florida, Evan has been dancing his entire life. As a graduated member of Leonard’s Academy of Dance competition team, he was able to apply what he learned from the competition stage to being a studio and competition instructor. Graduating from Howard W. Blake, Evan went on to study at the University of South Florida as a Dance major. Apart from his school and LAD life, he is also proud to be an alumnus of The Chocolate Nutcracker, as well as a member of the United Nations of Dance Musical Performance Troupe.