|
Leonardo Sandoval
(choreographer, dancer, artistic director) Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval is renowned for blending America’s great tap tradition with Brazil’s rich rhythmic and musical heritage. He founded Music From The Sole with composer Gregory Richardson in 2015, and he has been a core member of Dorrance Dance since 2014. As a solo dancer and choreographer, he has appeared at the National Folk Festival, Caramoor Jazz Festival, and he recently created a work as part of composer Philip Glass’ 85th birthday celebrations. A true dancer-musician, he was one of Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch”, and is the recipient of a 2022 Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise, and a 2022 NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography. |
|
Gregory Richardson
(musical director, artistic director) Gregory Richardson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist focusing on upright and electric bass, and guitar. He is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Music From The Sole, and the musical director of Dorrance Dance. As a composer for dance, he’s created work at Lincoln Center Education, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, National Dance Institute, Works & Process, BAM, The Joyce, and New York City Center, most recently in collaboration with actor Bill Irwin. Recent credits include performing with Toshi Reagon in her opera Parable of the Sower, touring with indie band Darwin Deez, and playing with Grammy-winning artists Keyon Harrold and Marcus Gilmore. |
|
José Carlos Cruzata Revé | band
José Carlos Cruzata Revé is a Cuban saxophonist from the city of Holguín, and studied at the National School of Art in Havana. He began his career as a member of several prominent Cuban jazz and salsa bands that played around the world, including with members of the famous orchestra of Juan Formel y Los Van Van, and with flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortez. José is currently teaching for the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance in New York City, where he is also working on his upcoming album, and collaborates frequently with Leonardo Sandoval and Gregory Richardson, including for their shows Music from the Sole and Partido, for which he also composed music. |
|
Josh Davis | band
Josh Davis is an NYC-based multifaceted drummer, arranger and composer. Originally from Detroit, Josh has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Brazil and Japan, playing a wide variety of genres at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Symphony Space, Sziget Music Festival, and Detroit Orchestra Hall. He currently leads his own NYC-based jazz trio, mixing original compositions with arrangements of jazz standards and classic Brazilian choros and sambas. |
|
Naomi Funaki | dancer
Naomi Funaki is a tap dancer from Tokyo, Japan, currently living in NYC. In addition to Music From The Sole, she has performed with Ayodele Casel, Dorrance Dance, and Caleb Teicher & Company. She is an alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow 2017 tap program. Other recent credits include Tap Family Reunion, Vail Dance Festival, Dance Against Cancer (Lincoln Center), Ayodele Casel & Arturo O’Farrill and “Chasing Magic“ (Joyce Theater), and “Infinity” in Tokyo. |
|
Orlando Hernández | dancer
Orlando Hernández is a tap dancer from Hoboken, New Jersey. He has presented his work at venues including On the Boards, La Casa Ruth, SPACE Gallery, the Provincetown Dance Festival, Brown University, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Dance Now at Joe’s Pub. He has performed with Subject:Matter, Cats Paying Dues, Michela Marino Lerman’s Love Movement, and the 2021 Tap Family Reunion, created by Dormeshia, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith. Orlando is the recipient of a Fellowship in Choreography from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the Rebecca Blunk Fund Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. |
|
Kathy Kaufmann | lighting designer
Kathy Kaufmann is a New York City native, resident designer at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church and a two-time Bessie recipient. She has worked with many esteemed artists including Meredith Monk, Eiko and Koma, Jacques D’Amboise, Vicky Shick, Reggie Wilson, Kota Yamazaki and Sally Silvers. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, National Dance Institute, Joanna Kotze, The Bang Group, Mariana Valencia, Rebecca Stenn, Rebecca Davis and Ephrat Asherie Dance. She was honored to be included in Curtain Call: Celebrating 100 Years of Women in Design at the New York Performing Arts Library and is a proud guest artist of Music From The Sole. |
|
Roxy King | dancer
Roxanne “Roxy” King is a tap dancer, teacher, and company director based in Washington D.C. Roxy received her dance training primarily at the Metropolitan School of the Arts, where she also teaches tap classes. Currently she is the Artistic Director of DynaMYTE which is the junior company of the Metropolitan Youth Tap Ensemble (MYTE). She has taught all across the US and Brazil, at festivals such as Riff (Dallas, TX), the D.C Tap Festival, and Tap in Rio. In 2017 Roxy attended the Jacob’s Pillow Tap Program, run by Michelle Dorrance, and Dormeshia, after which she was invited to be a guest performer with Dorrance Dance in The Blues Project. She started dancing with Music from the Sole in 2020. |
|
Gerson Lanza | dancer
Originally from La Ceiba, Honduras, Gerson first encountered tap dance after moving to New York City in 2001. Immediately after his first exposure to tap, he fell in love with the art form. He began his tap dance training under Omar Edwards at his studio “Harlem Tap,” and continued developing his craft at the Harlem School of the Arts, under the instruction of Joseph Webb. He has since taught and performed across the US and internationally including in Brazil, Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain. Highlights include a 3-month European tour with the Cotton Club Show, in which he was feature as a soloist, and dancing with Jason Samuels Smith, Josh Johnson, and Leonardo Sandoval, among many others. |
|
Lucas Santana | dancer
Originally from Pernambuco in the Northeast of Brazil, Lucas Santana started studying tap at 8 and has since appeared on some of the most important stages and TV shows in Brazil, including as part of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics celebrations. He is a frequent collaborator with Leonardo Sandoval both in Brazil and in the US, most recently appearing at the Yard and Tap in Rio in Partido. He currently lives in Florianopolis (Southern Brazil), where he teaches and performs as part of the Trupe Toe company, and continues to work with the group Afetos Sonoros in Rio. Lucas also holds a degree in philosophy from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. |
|
Gisele Silva | dancer
Gisele Silva is a LA-based multi-form dancer, instructor and choreographer from Brazil. She has danced with Music From The Sole since 2017, has performed at New York City Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Guggenheim and Harlem Stage. She’s also a member of Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies, touring with the group all across the U.S, performing live at the Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, Essence Festival, BET, CNN New Year’s Eve and more. Gisele is a teaching artist and performer with Afro Brazilian Company Viver Brasil, work at Disneyland for the holiday season and can be seen in the recently-released Apple TV+ musical film, Spirited. |
|
Ana Tomioshi | dancer
Ana Tomioshi is a Brazilian multi-style performing artist, choreographer and instructor, currently based in Washington DC. She is an alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s tap program and has performed at The Kennedy Center, São Paulo Municipal Theater, Battery Dance Festival, The Yard and Rock in Rio Music Festival. Ana also dances with Sole Defined Dance Company, directed by Quynn and Ryan Johnson, and is part of the Metropolitan School of the Arts faculty. Most recently, Ana was in the dance film “Rhythm Is Our Business”, a tap dance project commissioned by the Kennedy Center, which premiered on Sept 16th at the REACH film wall. |
|
Jennifer Vincent | band
Jennifer Vincent, bassist and cellist, has been an active force on the music scene in New York City for well over a decade. She plays and has played and toured with the likes of Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, the famed Boy's Choir of Harlem, Willie Martinez y La Familia, Son Sublime, the Xavier Cougat Orchestra, the Roberto Rodriguez Septet, Carmen Lundy, Harry Whitteaker, Jon Hendricks, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and many other jazz and Latin notables. A classically-trained cellist at Oberlin Conservatory, Jennifer is equally comfortable in the jazz, Latin-jazz, and traditional Cuban musical idioms. Her bass teachers include jazz icon Ron Carter, Andy Gonzales, Ed Bennett, Buster Williams, and Cuban bass legend Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez of the Buena Vista Social Club, with whom she traveled to Cuba to study with. Jennifer delves into music that utilizes West African, Japanese, and Middle Eastern influences with artists such as Sogbety Diomande from the Ivory Coast, the Pan-Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, and Algerian pianist Maurice el Medioni's "Descarga Oriental", which won the 2006 BBC Music Award for Best World Crossover. |
Guest artists & Collaborators
Izaiah Harris (dancer)
Izaiah Montaque Harris’s recent highlights include performing as Male Ensemble in Tap Dance Kid, Demetrius in “Midsummer A SHAKESPEARIENCE”, studying and performing at the 2021 School at Jacob’s Pillow, and performing as Tap Mathematician in “After Midnight” (Norwegian Cruise Lines). Izaiah was awarded “Outstanding Actor” at the 2018 Black Theater Alliance Awards and “Best Ensemble” at the 2019 Jeff Awards. A Chicago native, Izaiah studied at Columbia College and is a member of MADD Rhythms.
Izaiah Montaque Harris’s recent highlights include performing as Male Ensemble in Tap Dance Kid, Demetrius in “Midsummer A SHAKESPEARIENCE”, studying and performing at the 2021 School at Jacob’s Pillow, and performing as Tap Mathematician in “After Midnight” (Norwegian Cruise Lines). Izaiah was awarded “Outstanding Actor” at the 2018 Black Theater Alliance Awards and “Best Ensemble” at the 2019 Jeff Awards. A Chicago native, Izaiah studied at Columbia College and is a member of MADD Rhythms.
Sterling Harris (dancer)
Sterling (he/him), a Chicago native, is a graduate of Northwestern University where he received his B.A. in Neuroscience but also has a strong passion for tap dance. He is currently the Artistic Associate of Chicago Tap Theatre and performs with M.A.D.D. Rhythms and Music From The Sole. Sterling is also an alumnus of The School at Jacob’s Pillow and the recipient of the 2021 Lorna Strassler Award for Student Excellence.
Sterling (he/him), a Chicago native, is a graduate of Northwestern University where he received his B.A. in Neuroscience but also has a strong passion for tap dance. He is currently the Artistic Associate of Chicago Tap Theatre and performs with M.A.D.D. Rhythms and Music From The Sole. Sterling is also an alumnus of The School at Jacob’s Pillow and the recipient of the 2021 Lorna Strassler Award for Student Excellence.
Magela Herrera (band)
Miami-based Afro-Cuban flutist, vocalist and composer Magela Herrera is one of Cuba's leading jazz flute players. Following classical studies at Havana’s National School of Art, she got a master’s degree in jazz and improvised music performance and a bachelor’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Herrera has worked with acclaimed artists like Chucho Valdez, Stephen Marley, Munir Hossn, and Oslo Chamber Orchestra, and leads her own projects as a flautist, vocalist, arranger and composer.
Miami-based Afro-Cuban flutist, vocalist and composer Magela Herrera is one of Cuba's leading jazz flute players. Following classical studies at Havana’s National School of Art, she got a master’s degree in jazz and improvised music performance and a bachelor’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Herrera has worked with acclaimed artists like Chucho Valdez, Stephen Marley, Munir Hossn, and Oslo Chamber Orchestra, and leads her own projects as a flautist, vocalist, arranger and composer.
Adriana Ogle (dancer)
Adriana Ogle grew up in North Carolina, where she performed extensively with the NC Youth Tap Ensemble, directed by Gene Medler. She holds a B.S. in journalism from Boston University, and is a 2019 alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, where she received the Lorna Strassler Award. Since relocating to NYC, she has continued working with Boston-based company Subject:Matter, and has danced with Marshall Davis Jr., Okwui Okpokwasili, and danced on the TODAY show.
Adriana Ogle grew up in North Carolina, where she performed extensively with the NC Youth Tap Ensemble, directed by Gene Medler. She holds a B.S. in journalism from Boston University, and is a 2019 alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, where she received the Lorna Strassler Award. Since relocating to NYC, she has continued working with Boston-based company Subject:Matter, and has danced with Marshall Davis Jr., Okwui Okpokwasili, and danced on the TODAY show.
Damian Quiñones (band)
Damian Quiñones is a singer/songwriter, musician, and teaching artist. He's written music for television and film and performs regularly with his bands, Damian Quiñones y su Conjunto, and Analog Experimental. He was awarded "best score" by the NYU Short Film Festival 2013 for his soundtrack to the film Flood by Katy Scoggin. Quiñones currently works as a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Education in NYC, and has worked for Casita Maria and Hunts Point Alliance for Children.
Damian Quiñones is a singer/songwriter, musician, and teaching artist. He's written music for television and film and performs regularly with his bands, Damian Quiñones y su Conjunto, and Analog Experimental. He was awarded "best score" by the NYU Short Film Festival 2013 for his soundtrack to the film Flood by Katy Scoggin. Quiñones currently works as a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Education in NYC, and has worked for Casita Maria and Hunts Point Alliance for Children.
Serena Wong (lighting designer)
Serena Wong is a Brooklyn-based freelance lighting artist. Her designs have been seen at American Ballet Theater, Fall For Dance at City Center, Danspace, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Most recently she has designed for choreographers Gemma Bond, Leonardo Sandoval, Caleb Teicher, and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko. She enjoys biking, beekeeping, and bread baking.
Serena Wong is a Brooklyn-based freelance lighting artist. Her designs have been seen at American Ballet Theater, Fall For Dance at City Center, Danspace, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Most recently she has designed for choreographers Gemma Bond, Leonardo Sandoval, Caleb Teicher, and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko. She enjoys biking, beekeeping, and bread baking.
STAFF
Sofia Baeta | general manager
Sofia Baeta is a Brazilian arts administrator and the General Manager for Music from the Sole and Hélène Simoneau Danse. She also serves as the Manager of the National Dance Institute’s Collaborative, where she oversees teacher training programs, budgets, and logistics for global partnerships.
With a background as a Kenan Fellow at Lincoln Center Education and extensive experience in program development and artist support, Sofia combines her performance and management expertise to foster meaningful connections through the arts.
Sofia Baeta | general manager
Sofia Baeta is a Brazilian arts administrator and the General Manager for Music from the Sole and Hélène Simoneau Danse. She also serves as the Manager of the National Dance Institute’s Collaborative, where she oversees teacher training programs, budgets, and logistics for global partnerships.
With a background as a Kenan Fellow at Lincoln Center Education and extensive experience in program development and artist support, Sofia combines her performance and management expertise to foster meaningful connections through the arts.
PAST COLLABORATORS
Ian Baggett
Josh Bloom
Caroline Davis
Brittany DeStefano
Andre Imanishi
Dan Laureano
Jalen Saint Phifer
Ian Baggett
Josh Bloom
Caroline Davis
Brittany DeStefano
Andre Imanishi
Dan Laureano
Jalen Saint Phifer