EMANUEL BRACHO is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his dance training at age 11 at La Danse Art e Cia before continuing his studies at Escola Estadual de Danças Maria Olenewa. He further broadened his artistic experience through a residency with Focus Cia de Dança.
Emanuel has participated in renowned competitions including the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) and the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition (VKIBC), where he was awarded Third Place in 2025.
At age 19, Emanuel moved to New York City to train at Joffrey Ballet School. During his time there, he became a member of the Joffrey Concert Group, performing works by Bradley Shelver, Ken Ossola, Clifford Williams, and Durante Verzola. His performance credits include Ohad Naharin’s celebrated work Echad Mi Yodea, performed in the role of Chair Dancer, and Shahar Binyamini’s Bolero, both presented during the International Contemporary Ensemble European Tour and at the YAGP European Gala. He also performed with the Joffrey Concert Group at New York Live Arts (NYLA) in collaboration with Vildwerk.
Emanuel is thrilled to join Collage Dance Collective for the upcoming season.
SANTIAGO CASTAÑEDA was born in Medellin, Colombia and began his ballet studies at the age of 8 at Andrea Wolff Ballet. After completing high school, Santiago moved to Miami and continued his training at the Miami City Ballet School on scholarship. As a student at MCB, Santiago had the opportunity to perform several Balanchine ballets and classical ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and Ballabile. Santiago has had the pleasure of originating roles in works choreographed by Gerald Ebitz Durante Verzola, Ariel Rose and Pam Tanowiz. In 2014, Santiago participated in the Youth America Grand Prix finals where he won two scholarships to the Harid Conservatory and Houston Ballet School. In 2018, Santiago joined Miami City Ballet as an apprentice. As an apprentice, Santiago has performed George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Jewels “Diamonds”, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. He also performed works by Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp and Justin Peck. This is Santiago’s seventh season with Collage Dance Collective
JAKOBE GEDDES was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. He began his dance journey at Kirkwood Academy of Performing Arts. At the age of 13, he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, to continue his ballet training at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School (RWB). While attending the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Jakobe performed in productions such as Peter Pan, Twyla Tharp’s Princess and the Goblin, The Nutcracker, as well as excerpts from Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and La Fille Malgardé. After graduation, he joined RWB’s Aspirant Program. A year later, Jakobe joined The Ailey School Scholarship Program. He completed his training at Ailey, performing in Christopher Huggins’ work during the Spring Concert, as well as Alvin Ailey’s Memoria and Hope Boykin’s Chasing the Spirit at the Spirit Gala. Jakobe has attended summer programs at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Ailey School, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
This is Jakobe’s third season with Collage Dance Collective.
Diyah, born and raised in Kissimmee, Florida, began his training at The Osceola County School for the Arts at the age of 14. After graduating as the 2nd Place Winner of the 2019 ‘National Dance Education Organization’s; Artistic Merit, Leadership, and Academic Achievement Award’ for Florida Diyah was accepted to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and awarded the Class of 2023’s ‘Presidential Scholarship’. As a student, Diyah had the pleasure to learn with organizations such as Giordano Dance Chicago, The TL Collective, GagaLab NYC, and SpringboardX: Revolutionary Clash. These programs prepared him to attend Summer Intensives such as Ballet BC’ 44 Summer Dance Intensive, The Jacobs Pillow Summer Intensive Contemporary Program, and The Alonzo Kings LINES Contemporary Ballet Summer Intensive. Diyah began his professional career as a Guest Soloist with the City Ballet of Boston, performing numerous classical ballet projects. Including his performance as a Featured Soloist in The Urban Nutcracker, which earned him a mention in the Boston Globe for his “breathtaking” performance. In 2022, Diyah continued earning his degree as a company member with The Philadelphia Dance Company (aka. Philadanco!) where he performed until 2024. Now, Graduated ‘Summa Cum Laude’ with a B.F.A in Contemporary Dance Performance Diyah has performed works by inspiring choreographers that helped shape him into the Artist that he is today such as Milton Myers, Christopher Rudd, Eugene Hill Sagan, George W. Faison, Christopher Huggins, Bernard Gaddis, Tommie-Waheed Evans, Jennifer Archibald, and Nijawwon Mathew’s to name a few. Diyah has also performed at the American Dance Festival, the Crypto Arena, and The Joyce Theatre. This is Diyah’s third season with Collage Dance Collective.
MAYA HAWKINS began dancing at the age of three at the Ballet Memphis School. At 15, Maya joined the Collage Dance Corps where she had the opportunity to perform works by Sidra Bell and Kevin Iega Jeff. Following her high school graduation, she studied at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet under the direction of Arantxa Ochoa and in 2015 she joined The Washington Ballet as a trainee where she performed in Septime Webre’s Carmen, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, and George Balanchine’s Serenade. Maya was a trainee at Cincinnati Ballet from 2016-17 dancing in Kirk Peterson’s Coppelia, Victoria Morgan’s The Nutcracker, as well as excerpts from Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. She then danced with Charlottesville Ballet in Virginia for 3 seasons, where she performed various roles in the Nutcracker and in works by Keith Lee. Maya has attended summer intensives on scholarship at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Orlando Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Carolina Ballet and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. This is Maya’s sixth season with Collage Dance Collective.
LAUREN HUYNH, born and raised in Plano, Texas, began her training at the Hathaway Academy of Ballet. She was a recipient of the Nordan Fine Arts Scholarship at Texas Christian University (TCU) where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. During her time at TCU, she was selected to travel to Rwanda to continue TCU’s ongoing relationship with the SEVOTA Peace Institute; she was awarded the TCU Mission Statement Scholarship; and she received the Senior Legacy Award honoring her antiracist work and activism. As a student, Lauren received scholarships to train in programs with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, BalletX, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Joffrey Ballet. Lauren has performed works by notable choreographers such as George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Nacho Duato, Ulysses Dove, Amy Hall Garner, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jennifer Archibald, among many others who have shaped her into the artist she is today. Lauren’s professional career includes dancing with Bruce Wood Dance, Asian American Ballet Project, Regenerative Beings, and Chattanooga Dance Theatre. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow International Inside/Out Dance Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, and St. Louis’ Spring to Dance Festival. This is Lauren’s sixth season with Collage Dance Collective.
VICTORIA JAENSON, originally from Kampala, Uganda, began her formal dance training at the age of seven at the Brattleboro School of Dance in Vermont. She later studied at the Rock School for Dance Education (Philadelphia, PA) under directors Stephanie and Bo Spassoff. Victoria spent a year studying at The Hartt School at University of Hartford, under Stephen Pier in 2017. Victoria went on to join Charlotte Ballet II (Charlotte, NC) under artistic director Hope Muir for two seasons where she performed excerpts from Alonzo King’s Map, Medhi Walerski’s Petit Cérémonie, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Christian Spuck’s Leonce and Lena, as well as Matthew Hart’s Sleeping Beauty. In January 2020, Victoria earned 2nd Place in the Senior Classical Division at the Ballet Beyond Borders dance festival in Missoula, Montana. In the summer of 2021, she performed with Des Moines Metro Opera as a dancer for the operas Platée and Queen of Spades. Victoria then went on to dance with Ballet Theatre Company (West Hartford, CT) for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, under Stephanie Dattellas.
She has had the pleasure of performing roles like Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, the lead in the Sapphire scene in Aladdin, Princess Florine in Marius Petipa’s Bluebird pas, Swan Lake pas de trois, including as a soloist in Odyssey by Melanie Ramos, Serenade in A by Paul Mejia, Conspicuous Figures by Calvin Bittner, Melodies by Marguerite de Anguera, and Pieces of a Legacy by Derek Brockington. Victoria has also worked with Dimensional Dance (Hartford, CT), under Ruth Lewis, performing the lead in Whole-Souled Women: The Story of Prudence Crandall and Sarah Harris, sharing a powerful story about education for young Black girls in Connecticut in spring 2022, and as Ruth in The Story of Ruth in summer 2023. Other companies she has guested with include City Ballet of Boston (Boston, MA), AMA Dance Theatre (Mystic, CT), and with New England Ballet Theatre (Hartford, CT). This is Victoria’s fourth season with Collage Dance Collective.
EMMA JENNINGS was born in Silver Spring, MD and began her ballet training at The Washington School of Ballet when she was six years old. At age 13, she trained at Maryland Youth Ballet under the tutelage of Michelle Lees, Julie Miles, and Rhodie Jorgenson where she performed roles such as Snow Queen in The Nutcracker and as a studio company dancer in works created by Christopher Doyle.
Emma has attended summer intensives at American Ballet Theatre (NYC), Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Miami City Ballet on full scholarship. She has also taken part in programs including the Alonzo King LINES Summer Workshop and the Kennedy Center Master Class Series where she worked with masters Matthew Rushing and Suzanne Farrell and more.
Emma received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Towson University and graduated in Spring 2022 with honors. While on a talent-based scholarship, she gained her knowledge from professors such as Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Caroline Rocher Barnes, and Runqiao Du. She performed in many works including Pretty Is… by Ray Mercer and the lead role in Paquita in addition to choreographing many works. While in university, Emma served as the Treasurer for the National Honors Society of Dance Arts and earned several awards, such as the “Jim Snyder Award for Technical Excellence.”
Following graduation in Fall 2022, Emma attended the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Graduate Program under the direction of Marjorie Grundvig, where she performed in Terrence Orr’s The Nutcracker, the Sleeping Beauty Pas de Trois and Paquita. Emma has received her Zena-Rommett Floor-Barre Certification along with completing a pedagogy course from the Washington School of Ballet. This is Emma’s fourth season with Collage Dance Collective.
NIA LYONS, a Chicago native, has trained with The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, and Chicago High School for the Arts. Nia’s diverse training includes classical ballet, modern, African, Latin, jazz, and hip hop and has taken her around the world to numerous countries, including Barcelona, St. Thomas, and South Korea. This is Nia’s seventh season with Collage Dance. She looks forward to inspiring and mentoring young dancers while continuing to break barriers herself.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Fábio Mariano trained under renowned Brazilian and Russian teachers at the State School of Dance Maria Olenewa, where he graduated in 2014. In Brazil, he performed with Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Companhia Jovem de Ballet do Rio de Janeiro and Corpo de Baile Campos dos Goytacazes, where he also choreographed for the company. In 2016, he moved to the United States and danced with Atlantic City Ballet before joining Collage Dance in 2017.
Fábio has graced international stages in China, French Guiana, and has performed at iconic venues in the United States and Brazil, including The Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center, Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, Teatro Guaíra, and the world-renowned Carnival parade at Marquês de Sapucaí.
His repertoire consists of leading roles in many classical works including Prodigal Son and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux by George Balanchine, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Carmen, Dracula, Grand Pas Classique and more. His contemporary repertoire include works by Nacho Duato, Wayne McGregor, Camille A. Brown, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Amy Hall Garner, Kevin Iega Jeff, and more. He has also performed in Marguerite & Armand by Sir Frederick Ashton, The Rite or Spring by Millicent Hodson and Dougla by Geoffrey Holder. In addition to performing, he has choreographed works for both Collage Dance and its Conservatory.
With over a decade of experience in teaching ballet, Fábio is a National Visiting Fellow at the School of American Ballet and has worked with students of all ages in the U.S. and Brazil in many ballet schools including The Washington School of Ballet, Springfield Ballet, Ballet Pensacola and more. Currently an artist and faculty member at Collage Dance, he is a New Memphis alumni and serves on the board of directors of Carpenter Art Garden. Fábio is an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
SUMMER MCNEILL, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, began her training at Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre under the direction of Kathryn Macbeth. In 2016, she continued her training under Sharon Story at Atlanta Ballet’s Centre for Dance Education. She performed in Atlanta Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker and Snow White. As a graduate of Cobb County’s Center of Excellence in the Performing Arts Magnet Program at Pebblebrook High School, she received several awards and accolades, such as Most Outstanding Female and Most Promising Dancer. In 2018, Summer was awarded a scholarship to attend The Ailey School in New York City. Summer’s performances include “Memoria,” January Explosion, Global Harmony, and The 92nd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 2020, Summer worked on several projects around metro Atlanta with Dance Canvas, going on to dance as a protegé with Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre. This is Summer’s fourth fifth with Collage Dance Collective.
LAUREN PHILSON began her dance training at 3 studying jazz, tap and ballet. She spent her summers at American Ballet Theater in NYC, Boston Ballet, School of American Ballet, Colorado Ballet and Houston Ballet. At age 13, she was invited to join the Houston Ballet Academy’s full time year-round professional division program. When her family relocated to Colorado, Lauren continued her training at Colorado Ballet Academy and performed the role as Myrtha in the academy’s production of Giselle.
Lauren has performed on some of the world’s most celebrated stages, including the The Kennedy Center where she debuted the role Firebird in Kevin Thomas’s Firebird and the Wortham Theater in various roles in Ben Stevenson’s and Staton Welch’s debut of The Nutcracker with Houston Ballet. Lauren’s repertoire also includes George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux, Prodigal Son and Valse-Fantaisie, Durante Verzola’s Luminescent, Kevin Thomas’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Christopher L. Huggins’s Enemy Behind the Gates, Amy Hall Garner’s Saint Glory, Ulysses Dove’s Vespers, Geoffrey Holder’s Dougla, and Septime Webre’s The Wizard of Oz.
When not dancing, Lauren teaches dancers all over the world. She is an instructor of an adult class at Collage and has guest taught at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy (Denver) and at Academia Andrea Wolff Ballet (Colombia).
Lauren is returning for her seventh season with Collage Dance Collective.
