At 19 years old, Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Christian Burse commands the stage with expansive and exacting movement beyond her years. In Dwight Rhoden’s recent Endgame, she uses her classical sensibility to morph into contemporary shapes, her gaze projecting into the audience with cool intensity. Her stability in moments of stillness is as much of a standout as her quick feet and soaring leaps.

When Jaxon Willard dances, he soars through the air and glides along the floor, and his transitions are equal parts surprising and seamless. Willard’s flexibility, strength, and raw passion allow him to layer a spectrum of aesthetics, from expansive and powerful to graceful and soft.

Iris R. Dávila didn’t plan on becoming a ballet dancer. “It was sort of a mistake!” says the second-year BalletMet artist. Growing up in Puerto Rico, she excelled in gymnastics and swimming, and took her first ballet class at age 11 because a friend was in it.

The Cincinnati Ballet soloist exudes a quiet confidence and curiosity, coupled with striking technique. It’s no surprise that just into her second season, the Cuban dancer had nabbed a promotion and already danced her first full-length title role, in Septime Webre’s Alice (in Wonderland).

As a recent guest with chuthis., Miriam Gittens was a study in grace and understated power. She carved out space with exquisite precision and unwavering control as she moved through precariously unstable positions in Peter Chu’s Tracing Rhythms.

Paris-based Tamil dancer and choreographer Usha Jey took the world by storm when her #HybridBharatham series went viral on social media. Featuring duets and trios in which dancers switch between hip hop and the Indian classical dance style bharatanatyam, the videos are set to tracks by rappers such as Lil Wayne, Jack Harlow and DaBaby.

2022 was a big year for Juan Tomás de la Molía: He presented his first solo work at Festival de Jerez, joined his first company, Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, and won the biggest flamenco dance prize at the National Competition of Flamenco Art in Córdoba,

Few commercial dancers have had an impact as broad and sudden as Jordan Laza’s. In 2021, her profile skyrocketed after she performed Nicole Kirkland’s choreography to Chris Brown’s “Under the Influence” in a viral class video, moving with such authority as to make Brown, seated, appear a supporting act.