Artist in RESIDENCE

Cellise Brown

Cellise Brown is a dancer and educator from Houston, Texas. She earned her BFA in Dance and Education from the University of Texas at Austin. Cellise is a versatile professional dancer in the Austin dance community, performing with multiple companies and choreographers, including Allysen Hooks, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, Performa/Dance, TY&CO Early Era Collective, and Alexa Capareda. She also performs with TC Superstar and at the Concourse project with the GoGo Gadgetts.She is a passionate dancer and teacher, eager to inspire and share her love for dance with everyone.

Elaine Fields

Elaine Fields is a dance artist, yoga, and barre instructor in Austin, TX. After graduating from Arizona State University, she started her professional career in Phoenix, with the Graham-based company, Center Dance Ensemble, for the late Frances Cohen and resident choreographer, Diane McNeal Hunt. She moved to Houston as a freelance artist in 2016 and had the pleasure of working on several groundbreaking pieces for Jenifer Mabus and Heather VonReichbauer, among others.

Since relocating to Austin and having her son, James, she has worked with several companies, including TY&CO, konverjdans, Ventana Ballet, and Sea Legs Dance. She was thrilled to get the call to join Red Nightfall Dance Theatre and work with Dorothy O’Shea Overbey!

Kanami Nakabayashi

Kanami Nakabayashi is a freelance dance artist and educator based in Austin, TX. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Kanami started dance at the age of three while her family lived in Portland, OR for two years. After returning to Japan, she continued her training at the Tokyo Ballet School. Her growing curiosity and passion for dance led her to study abroad at the Quinte Ballet School of Canada. As Kanami studied a variety of dance styles, she fell in love with contemporary dance, which inspired her to pursue a BFA in Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. During her time at UT, she had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers such as Sidra Bell, Abby Zbikowski, Alex Ketley, Charles O. Anderson, and Kate Watson-Wallace.

Following graduation, Kanami returned to Japan, where she freelanced and performed in various dance projects. Kanami moved back to Austin in 2020 and has since performed with companies including Ventana Ballet, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, TY&CO, Sea Legs Dance, Early Era Collective, and other amazing local choreographers. She has also served as an adjunct ballet faculty member at UT Austin.

Rachel Culver

Rachel Cox Culver is a dance artist based in Austin, TX. Culver performs with TY&CO, Ventana Ballet, NobleMotion Dance, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, and Sea Legs Dance, along with various freelance projects throughout Texas. Formerly, she danced with Nicolay Dance Works and as an apprentice with Bruce Wood Dance. Culver holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Sam Houston State University. While studying at SHSU, Rachel had the pleasure of working with many guest choreographers including Maurice Causey, Gerard Theoret, and and Gregory Nuber. She hails from Elida, NM where she studied classical and contemporary ballet and spent her summers studying with the Kirov Academy of Ballet, among others.

Ty Graynor

Ty Graynor is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist originally from Huntington, New York. He holds a BFA in Dance from The Hartt School, where he performed works by Martha Graham, José Limón, and Doris Humphrey. Ty trained at the Martha Graham School and danced with Graham 2 before joining the Limón Dance Company as a performer and teaching artist, contributing to several contemporary creations and educational initiatives nationwide. In 2021, he founded Making Space Workshop, an online platform connecting students worldwide with leading dance artists. Now based in Austin, Texas, Ty teaches Limón technique and contemporary dance, directs and performs with TY&CO, collaborates with multiple companies, commissions new works for Ventana Ballet, and serves as Development Lead at First Street Studio, supporting dance creation and community engagement.

Tikiri Shapiro

Tikiri Shapiro hails from Knoxville, TN, and earned a BFA in dance from George Mason University. After graduating, she performed in Seattle with projects at Velocity Dance Center. Next, she headed to the East Coast to pursue her love for teaching as she opened Lighthouse Dance & Yoga, a studio in Selbyville, DE. During that time, choreography took flight and she founded Sea Legs Dance, a contemporary dance ensemble. She led the group on an international tour to Sri Lanka as well as performed closer to home in Delaware, Maryland, and NYC. She then landed in Austin, TX finding a home in the vibrant and welcoming dance community. Today, Tikiri contributes to Austin's dance scene by teaching and choreographing through Sea Legs Dance, managing the dance resource instagram @austindancehub and performing with Ventana Ballet and Red Nightfall Dance Theatre.

Megan Davidson

Megan Davidson (she/her) is a dynamic dancer, teacher and choreographer based in Austin, Texas. She is a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a BFA in Dance and a Minor in African and African Diaspora Studies. With a strong foundation in contemporary, ballet, and commercial jazz, Megan also brings valuable experience in performance theatre.

Passionate about creating and performing in spaces that foster freedom of expression and meaningful storytelling, Megan is drawn to work that engages and uplifts diverse voices. Her recent performance credits include Where to Go From Here—her original work featured in Cyphers (2024) presented by Dance Repertory Theatre at The University of Texas at Austin, and Fractured Dawn (2025) by RednightFall Dance Theatre. 

Clay Moore

Clay Moore, originally from Houston,grew up as a competitive dancer and trained with local studios. After graduating, he trained in Los Angeles and New York City with Edge Performing Arts and Mark Morris Dance before relocating to Austin, TX. Now as a local-based performer and instructor, he is a current company member with Blue Lapis Light, where he trains and performs in aerial apparatus. He has been featured in works with ARCOS Dance, BLiPSWiTCH, Jennifer Sherburn, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, as well as Danny Golden and Tomar and the FCs.  Clay shares his passion for movement by teaching and choreographing within our community at local schools a part of the Austin ISD. He is currently a Community Outreach coordinator and a Co-director for a youth performance/ competitive dance company at Balance Dance Studios.

Jessica Siclari

Jessica Siclari is a dancer, choreographer, and educator. Beginning her dance training in her hometown of Ocala, Florida, Jessica trained with pre-professional ballet company, Marion Ballet Theatre, under the direction of Nicole Benson. Attaining a BFA in Dance Performance and Psychology in 2015 from The University of South Florida, Jessica had the honor of performing faculty and guest works including, Ohad Nahrin, Alonzo King, Maurice Causey, Jennifer Archibald, Robert Moses, Sarah Gamblin, Paula Nunez, Bliss Kohlmyer, & Andrew Carroll. In school, Jessica received numerous awards for her performance and choreography such as, the Victoria Catherine Seldon Dance Scholarship, BRAVO! Scholarship in Dance, and 1st place at USF’s campus-wide Creative Works Showcase. Jessica also trained under summer scholarships with BODYTRAFFIC (Los Angeles), Repertory Dance Theatre (Salt Lake City), Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet (San Francisco), and USF’s Dance in Paris Program (Paris, France). Jessica has choreographed and performed her own works at Gibney Dance Center (NYC), The Tank (NYC), won Spoke the Hub’s 2018 Winter Follies (Brooklyn, NYC), and performed in venues in North Carolina, Florida, and Paris, France. In NYC, Jessica has worked with Colleen Thomas Dance, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, Bryce Dance Company, The Nash Conspiracy, Dugal Dance Projects, and Alexeya EM.

In 2018, she moved to Austin, TX to start a dance theater company, Alt Project, with co-Director Laura Mobley. They’ve had the honor of performing in Austin & Waco, TX; performed their full-length show “Message Received?” in NYC; and were invited to teach and perform in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Jessica has also worked with many local Austin companies including RedNightfall Dance Theater, Ventana Ballet, Blipswitch, and Sealegs Dance. Today, Jessica is the Artistic Assistant of RedNightfall Dance Theater, performs with RNDT, is a personal trainer, and has the profound joy of being married to her sweet husband and mama to her precious boy!