Monica Ordoñez
Founding Artistic Director
Monica Ordoñez is a Big Easy Award-winning choreographer based in New Orleans. Originally from Miami, Florida, she discovered her passion for choreography at a young age, rooted in a harmonious connection between movement, music, and cohesive narrative. Shortly graduating from Tulane University with a double major in Dance and Paralegal studies, she was selected by the Paul Taylor Dance Company as one of six choreographers to present work at the Marigny Opera House’s 2012 New Dance Festival, catapulting her into the dance scene in New Orleans. In 2014, Monica conceived Mélange’s mission and cofounded the company with Alexa Erck. Monica pours enormous thought and meticulous research into her works to fulfill a vision that is purposeful, truthful, theatrical, and dynamic. She has choreographed numerous big easy award nominated productions that each uniquely integrate storytelling, history, and themes of humanity that inspire, educate, and entertain, often bringing little known stories to the forefront. Monica is grateful to have worked with so many talented dancers, musicians, collaborators, and artists that help achieve a rich vision and is excited to continue growing and inspiring positive change in the world through dance.
Alexa Erck
Founding Executive Director
Alexa Erck Lambert is originally from Wilmette, Illinois. Alexa began taking ballet class at the age of 12 and studied at the Center of Creative Dance and Ballet Chicago. She performed with Ballet Entre Nous and Kinesis Dance Company before heading to Tulane University where she studied Cellular Biology, ballet and modern dance and performed with Newcomb Dance Company. In New Orleans, Alexa performed with Tsunami Dance Company, New Orleans Dance and Alternative Collaborations. Alexa also had the opportunity to work with teenagers at New Orleans Hope Stone to facilitate the choreography of a ‘public health’ dance. In 2014, Alexa co-founded Mélange with Monica Ordoñez. Alexa is an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and mom to two sweet boys aged 1.5 and 4 years.
Adrienne Simmons
Adrienne Simmons is a dancer, singer, and actor, who began their formal ballet training at the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. Adrienne has trained at intensives nationwide including DanceWorks Chicago, University of the Arts, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Peridance Center, Brenau University, Dallas Ballet Company, The Washington Ballet, and Nashville Ballet. She is pursuing bachelor's degrees in business management and theatre at UNO as well as her master’s in business administration. Recent credits include The Ballet Goes to Broadway (JPAS), Fantômes (Mélange), The Nutcracker (New Orleans School of Ballet), and Onepiece (Crescent City Theatre Alliance). Adrienne focuses on work with inclusive representation for diverse audiences in hopes of widening perspectives.
Blake Bellanger
Blake Bellanger is a graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts, receiving a BFA in Contemporary Dance. He started dancing in the small town of Clinton, North Carolina when he was 9 years old. In 2018, he was accepted into UNCSA for his senior year of high school, where he was first introduced to modern techniques, such as Limon and Cunningham. After high school, Blake decided to continue his studies at UNCSA with the addition of a minor in Arts Administration. Throughout his training, Blake has studied many styles of dance, ranging from ballroom to ballet. He has performed with many different choreographers, including Yoshito Sakauraba, Ashley Lindsey, and Gina Patterson. Currently Blake is a touring member of MOMIX, a dance company based out of Connecticut. For Blake, dance is about making connections with others through the artistic expression of human emotion and story. He looks to the dancers of the past and hopes to bring elements of their work into the modern day. In addition to his dancing, Blake is an Eagle Scout, loves hands-on activities, and considers himself a jack of all trades.
Cade Garafola
Cade Garafola, 21, is a performer and writer from New Orleans, LA. In the past, Cade studied Musical Theatre, including tap, jazz, ballet, vocal, and acting training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, with additional dance training from the Metropolitan Dance Theater of New Orleans. Following his time in New Orleans, he studied Film and Television production at the University of Colorado, where he took on executive creative roles in a number of short films, including "Dependent" and "The Coldest Night of the Year" (2022). Today, he is a student at Tulane University, studying Environmental Studies and Public Health. Recent theatre and dance credits include Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn (JPAS), The View Upstairs (JPAS), 42nd Street (Tulane Summer Lyric), and Newsies! (Tulane Summer Lyric).
Cailyn O'Hara
Cailyn O'Hara holds a BA in Music Industry Studies with a minor in Dance from Loyola University New Orleans, and is a dance instructor at New Orleans Dance Academy. She started dancing in high school, training in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, and contemporary, and has performed in concerts at Loyola University, in Southern Voices: Dance Out Loud, Et Tu? A Show of Life, Death, and Rebirth, and Inferno. She has also performed in many musical theater productions including Loyola University's production of A Grand Night For Singing, Bay Area Houston Ballet Theater's Thoroughly Modern Millie, East End Theater Company's Catch Me If You Can, and most recently in East End Theater Company's production of Mamma Mia! as Sophie Sheridan.
Clinton Parfait
Clinton received his dance training from LSU and the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre in modern, ballet, and jazz. He danced with Mélange from 2015-2019 and performed in Once Upon a Dream, Herstory, Journey of Dreamers, La Résistance, and Love Letters. After a brief break, Clinton is honored to return to perform with the company as a lead dancer of “The Upstairs Lounge” show.
Elijah Krieger
Elijah Krieger is thrilled to be dancing with Mélange! With deep roots in theatre he has filled many hats including light design, directing, set design, choreographing, production wench, and any other job to broaden his experience in the arts. He trained at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts studying musical theatre and recently played “Gabe” in the musical Next to Normal. He received his formal dance training at The Dance Project of Slidell where he completed 10 years of ballet, jazz, and contemporary training. He would like to thank his oldest sister for beginning and continuously supporting his adventures in the arts.
Imani Johnson-Bey
Imani Johnson-Bey (she/they) is a writer and performer originally from Baltimore, Maryland. Imani started dancing at age 5 and went on to dance competitively with A Step Ahead Dance Company in their early teen years. After taking a seven-year hiatus from dance due to spinal fusion surgery, Imani returned to dance during college. Training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and aerial dancing, Imani is back and better than ever! Imani also holds a B.A. from Loyola University of New Orleans where they studied Environmental Studies and Theater, developing her passion for research, writing, and production. Through her ongoing journey with dance, Imani hopes to show and inspire other Black dancers with chronic illnesses that anything is possible, and all bodies deserve to dance.
Jakki Kalogridis
Jakki is an artist, dancer, choreographer, costume designer, and writer. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Recent collaborations include TANGENT SPACES, a multi-media trilogy featuring sound by Kerrith Livengood; Fast-Paced World with sound and projections by Mendel Lee; The Negative Space Project, a movement/sonic installation with sound design by Kerrith Livengood; Untitled (Ode to a New Atlantis) with music by Miles Hancock, projection art by John Boesche, and choreographed lighting design by Elliot Hubiak; Emergence, with music by Miles Hancock and featuring live band Loose Willis; Elements, a short film with choral director Kristen Hedegaard; and The Library, with sound design by Clare Marie Nemanich. Kalogridis was a recipient of the Moe Family Dance Award in 2022. She has been a Featured Designer at New Orleans Fashion Week and was awarded New Orleans Fashion Designer of the Year in a Raw Showcase in 2014. From 2001-2019, she taught numerous colorguard and band programs across NC, LA, and MS and was founder and Program Director for New Orleans Colorguard Arts, The Proposition, and Fortitude Independent.
Jay Canova
Jay is a New Orleans native and a Northwestern State University graduate with a BS in Theatre. While the study of acting and directing was his focus, he was always excited by movement. After studying different dance styles with varying results, he landed a role in NSU’s Modern in Motion. Since graduating in 2017, Jay has performed in productions around the city, including The Polar Express, as well as the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company’s The Mutilated and Suddenly Last Summer. He is honored by both the opportunity and challenge of being cast alongside the wonderful dancers within Mélange. As a former professor of his said, “the point of performing is to move others to move others.” It is his hope that through art and community we all push for a brighter, more empathetic future.
Jo Farley
Jo grew up dancing in New Orleans and is thrilled to get to dance with Mélange this season. She is grateful to Diane Carney, Ballet Hysell and all the teachers and dancers at the New Orleans Dance Academy, NOCCA and NORD for offering technical foundations alongside a love for dance, whether it be on the stage, in the street or down the grocery store aisle. She also has the great joy to dance as part of the Missalettes/Mxalettes fantasy dance team.
Joel Sunsin
Joel Sunsin is grateful to be able to tell Adam Fontenot’s story as well as be a part of all of the other stories that are being told in this very special production of Mélange Dance Company's, The UpStairs Lounge. He dedicates his performance to his family, his boyfriend, Michael Hue, and his fur baby, Brûlée. Special thanks to Monica and the cast of insanely talented dancers of Mélange Dance Company to be able to share the stage with them every night.
Julia Lemann
Julia Lemann is a dancer, jewelry artist, and professional stilt walker born and raised in New Orleans. She first fell in love with movement as a competitive gymnast, and has gone on to explore forms from ballet & modern, to musical theatre, to commercial hip hop and martial arts. She was a Choreographer and Creative Director for Fusion Dance Troupe at Boston University, and has been a youth instructor locally for the Country Day Creative Arts Program, Artivism, Dancing Grounds, and the International School of Louisiana’s Circus Arts Program. Through a widely varied training experience, Julia has become fascinated with the multitude of distinctions and intersections between different styles of movement. She is excited to be a part of her second production with Mélange Dance Company.
Justice Hues
Justice Hues is a multidisciplinary artist with a passion for telling the stories of people in the margins. They studied Musical Theatre at Northwestern State University in their hometown of Natchitoches, LA. Eventually moving to New Orleans in 2021 to widen the scope of their artistic opportunities. You may have seen Justice locally as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots (Rivertown), Hannah Jelkes in Night of the Iguana (TWTC), and Siobhan in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Le Petit). They will be returning to the Upstairs Lounge in September as Dale in JPAS’ production of The View Upstairs. Justice is humbled and honored to be a young Trans-person able to openly tell trans/queer stories without shame.
Dedicated to Regina Adams.
UNITED WE STAND.
Kristina Ganssle
Kristina Ganssle is originally from Baltimore, MD and has lived in NOLA since 2017. She studied dance and photography at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she was grateful to train with Curt Haworth, Christine Cox, Roni Koresh, Kim Bears-Bailey, and Jesse Zaritt. Upon graduating, Kristina freelanced and danced with Deep Vision Dance Company and The Collective in Baltimore, where she worked collaboratively with dancers, musicians, and other artists to perform, participate in arts based community outreach projects, choreograph, and help organize/dance in art and movement festivals. She does photography for local dance artists (including Mélange!) and works at the Children’s Hospital as a nuclear medicine technologist.
Nicole Boyd-Buckels
Originally from New Orleans, Nicole Boyd-Buckels began her dance training at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. She attended UC Los Angeles as a dance major and went on to receive her B.F.A in dance from Tulane University. Nicole has been a company member with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company, New Orleans Dance Collective, Mudhoney Dance Collective, Tsunami Dance Company and has performed in the White Wave Dance Festival and Battery Park Dance Festival. She has had the privilege to study with Ron Brown, Camille Brown, Milton Myers, Lula Washington, Lula Elzy, Alton Geno, Denise Oustalet and attended the Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive. Nicole has choreographed musicals such as The Rocky Horror Show, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dog Fight (Delgado Community College) under the direction of the late Timothy Baker. She also directed actor Charles Holt in Never Fight a Shark in Water, written by Laura Naughton. Nicole is the recipient of two Big Easy Classical Arts Awards in choreography for her pieces Waitin’ on That 5 o’clock Breeze (1997) and High Heels and Grits (2003). She is currently full time faculty member at The Willow School in New Orleans and an adjunct professor at Tulane University.
Sophia Rose
Sophia Rose is a visual artist and dancer originally from Montclair, NJ. Sophia’s artistry reflects her background in dance and music, as well as her studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned her BFA. Her work has been exhibited in cities such as New York, Richmond, Montclair, Baltimore, and New Orleans. She’s excited and honored to be a part of Mélange Dance Company.
Waverly Tess Evans
Waverly Evans is originally from New Orleans where she started dancing at the age of four. She grew up in Peachtree City, GA where she studied ballet, modern, contemporary, tap, jazz, and hip-hop for nine years at Dance Contempra under the direction of Paola Jenkins, Katy Morgan and Kara Gillcrist. She attended the South Carolina Summer Dance Conservatory under the instruction of Susan Anderson. She returned to New Orleans to earn a BA in English Writing from Loyola University New Orleans. She later received her Master’s Certificate in Book Publishing from the University of Denver. She has been a company member of ELLEvate Dance company since 2019, where she has danced on water in Sift and was featured in ELLEvate’s dance film, Wild(her). She has performed in other dance events around the city including, MOVEment for Change and Art Klub’s Inferno.