Guest Choreographers
Da'Shown Rawl '14
Da’Shown Rawl studied Ballet and Modern at the Baltimore School of the Arts in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of the prestigious Dance Department of George Mason University (GMU). While at GMU, he had the opportunity to perform works by Alejandro Cerrudo, Andrea Miller, David Grenke, Doug Varone, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, and Robert Battle.
Mr. Rawl teaches at The Washington School of Ballet and Howard University. He has been teaching and choreographing in the DMV and New York City area since the age of 16. In 2015, he founded RawArts Dance Company and has created works at the Baltimore School of the Arts, George Mason University, various companies in the DMV Area, and festivals in New York City. Some of his recent choreographic endeavors have included a dance for film, Holding My Breath, Conflict Within A Small Room, and Cold Fire: A Story of Emotions, his first full-length work. Mr. Rawl’s passion for choreography was the catalyst for the establishment of the RawArts Dance Company.
Janice Rosario
Janice Rosario is a nationally recognized contemporary dance choreographer and educator. As a native New Yorker, Janice studied at some of New York City’s most elite institutions including Ballet Hispánico and The Alvin Ailey School. She is a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and Hunter College. She is currently on faculty at The Alvin Ailey School and is the artist in residence at Dean College and Brockport University.
Janice has been commissioned by numerous prestigious institutions throughout the United States including: Ailey/Fordham University, Howard University, Grand Canyon University, Irvine Valley College, Sacred Heart University, Drexel University, Hunter College, The Martha Graham School, New York Dance Project, Steps on Broadway’s Conservatory, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, the Dance Institute of Washington, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Davidson High School, Passaic County Technical Institute, The Thacher School, the Joy of Motion Dance Center, Frank Sinatra High School for the Performing Arts, Fort Hamilton High School, Norte Maar’s Counterpointe Series, Periapsis Music and Dance, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival and the Battery Dance Festival.
In addition to her choreographic endeavors, Janice has taught at Ballet Hispanico, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Gibney Dance Center, New York Dance Project, Frank Sinatra High School for the Performing Arts, Fort Hamilton High School, Sacred Heart University, Grand Canyon University, Hunter College, Harvard University, High Tech High School, the American Youth Dance Theater, Irvine Valley College, the Contemporary Dance Festival in Tobago and the Joy of Motion Dance Center.
Kameron N. Saunders
Kameron N. Saunders (St. Louis, MO) began his dance training at the Center of Creative Arts, or COCA. Kameron is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a BFA in Dance. He has worked with renowned artists such as Alonzo King, Alicia Graf Mack, Antonio & Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Sally Bliss, George Jones, Kate Skarpetowska, Matthew Rushing, and Judith Jamison. Kameron has choreographed for universities and companies including Saint Louis Ballet, Washington University in St. Louis, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Dissonance Dance Theater and many others. He has presented his works at festivals including PUSHfest in San Francisco, APAP in New York City and the Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis. He has also choreographed for renowned actor Ken Page for his original play for dance, Sublime Intimacy. In the summer of 2018, Kameron was one of eight internationally selected choreographers for the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow in its inaugural year under the direction of Dianne McIntyre and Risa Steinberg. In the summer of 2019, Kameron joined the faculty at Broadway Dance Center and has taught at some of the New York City’s leading dance studios like Peridance and Gibney, and worked with student programs like MOVE(NYC) directed by Nigel Campbell and Chanel DaSilva. That same summer, he joined Les Ballet Afrik, a dance company that fuses voguing with traditional African dance, afrobeats, and house dance styles, under the direction of Omari Wiles. Very soon after, Kameron was promoted to Associate Artistic Director. Kameron continues to work as a freelance performer, teacher, and choreographer.
Maleek Washington
A native New Yorker from the Bronx, Maleek Washington is a performer, choreographer, and teaching artist.
He began his dance training at Harlem School of the Arts, Broadway Dance Center, and LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, and attended The Boston Conservatory on a full scholarship before beginning his professional career with CityDance Ensemble (Washington, DC). While there, he worked with Paul Taylor, Kate Weare, and Alex Neoral. As a SpringBoard Danse (Montreal) participant, Washington worked with Jose Navas & Rubberband. Upon his return to New York City, Washington collaborated with McArthur Genius awardee Kyle Abraham and his company Abraham.In.Motion for four seasons before becoming the first African-American male to perform in the critically acclaimed immersive show Punch Drunk’s Sleep No More. He has also performed for musical sensations such as Sia, Phish, and Rihanna for her immersive ANTIdiaRy Campaign.
Washington’s performance and commercial choreographic talent has been recognized nationally at prestigious venues such as The White House, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Jacob’s Pillow, and internationally in Australia, Jordan, Mexico, and Sweden. In addition to his performance career, Washington is a sought after national and international teaching artist at the Joffrey Ballet School, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, Broadway Dance Center, and Brent Street in Australia.
With multidisciplinary, experiential performance works that investigate the people, practices, and spaces shaping Washington’s black identity, he was proud to present his art in 2017 at the Boston Dance Festival, Pepatian and BAAD!, Periapsis Dance and Music Noesis, and at the legendary Movement Research at Judson Church in Spring 2018. Washington was also a 2017-18 Dancing While Black top 10 choreographic finalists. Gibney granted Mr. Washington an evening length show in 2019.
Alongside his creative work, Washington has entered his second season with Camille A. Brown & Dancers in collaboration for her work “Ink” that premiered at the Kennedy Center in December 2017, and went international to NYU, Abu Dhabi, and The Joyce NYC in 2019. Maleek was a part of the ensemble for NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar starring John Legend as Jesus. He performed at the 2018 Ted Talk Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, in Camille A. Brown’s New Second Line, and for A$AP Rocky’s Testing album release installation at Sotheby’s NYC.
Recently, Maleek has been assisting Camille A. Brown on her theatrical endeavors with the staging of Porgy and Bess.
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