Dorrance Dances

Michelle Dorrance

Michelle Dorrance

Elizabeth Burke

Elizabeth Burke is a founding member of Dorrance Dance who spent eleven years under the direction of her mentor, Gene Medler, in the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble. She is an alumna of the School at Jacob’s Pillow and Marymount Manhattan College. Other performance credits include work with Bessie Award winner Nicholas Van Young’s SoundMovement and the American Dance Festival alongside Luke Hickey. She has been described as a “deft and impassioned” dancer by the NY Times.

Emiko Nakagawa

Emiko Nakagawa is a Japanese tap dance artist currently based in NYC. She went on to further develop her tap artistry with Yukiko “Smilie” Misumi’s mentorship, and she served as dance captain on various stages, including ARTN Company’s solo “Legends of Tap” series 2015-2020 in Japan. Before coming to NY, she achieved international recognition through performing at “JUBA!” at Chicago Tap Festival and Big Apple Tap Festival. She also has had success at many international tap dance contests. She was a winner of both Woodshed Experience and LA Tap Fest cutting contests in 2019. In the tap dance contest “KAWASAKI TAP FESTIVAL” in Japan, she won six prizes until 2016 and was the champion in 2017. After coming to NY, Emiko is an alumnus of The School at Jacob’s Pillow 2023. Her choreographies and performances have been shown at 54 Below, Symphony Space, The Joyce Theater, World of Dance, 92NY and more, and she has a great appreciation for working and performing with amazing artists: Michelle Dorrance, Caleb Teicher and more and their guidance in NY.

Claudia Rahardjanoto

Claudia Rahardjanoto is born and raised in Berlin, Germany, Claudia started her professional dance career at the Deutsche Open Berlin. At fifteen, she fell in love with tap dance under the tutelage of Sven Göttlicher and Marie-Christin Zeisset and moved to NYC in 2003 to pursue a career in tap dance, where she is now a dancer at Dorrance Dance. She hopes to continue to share her love and passion for music and the art of tap dance through her teaching and performing worldwide.

Leonardo Sandoval

Artistic Director

Leonardo Sandoval is a Brazilian tap dancer with Dorrance Dance, and renowned for his unique style, blending America’s great jazz and tap heritage with Brazil’s rich rhythmic and musical forms. A true dancer-musician, he is increasingly in demand as a choreographer, solo dancer, and jazz musician. His choreography, including frequent collaborations with composer Gregory Richardson, has been presented at venues including Jacob’s Pillow, the Yard, the National Folk Festival, and the Battery Dance Festival.

Joel Wenhardt

New York based Joel Wenhardt is a jazz pianist, and collaborator. While completing his studies at Juilliard (BM ‘18, MM ‘23) he has become a regular presence on the Jazz scene, as well an active participant in multi-medium productions. He has played or recorded with Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis, Veronica Swift, Caroline Shaw, Claire Chase, and Brooklyn Rider as well as dancers from Juilliard, NYC Ballet, ABT, Alvin Ailey and more. Currently, he is Musical Directing at the McKittrick Hotel, where he can be found in the Manderley Bar leading The Nightingales. This will be Joel’s 4th time in Vail for the dance festival, and is grateful to call this community his artistic family.

Jayla Chee

Jayla Chee is a New York based bass player and composer originally from the Bay Area in California.  

 While earning her bachelor’s degree at the Juilliard school Jayla was mentored by Gerald Cannon. Since then she has also studied privately with Rufus Reid.  

 Jayla has performed with Joshua Redman, Billy Drummond, John Faddis, Kandace Springs, Darren Criss, Wynton Marsalis, among many others. On top of her major musical influences, like Herbie Hancock and Elis Regina, Jayla derives immense inspiration from Nature. Her passion for natural gardening, hiking, and studying plants and forests is apparent in her art and personality.  

 Originally a trumpet player, Jayla took up the bass in high school and soon started performing around at venues around the bay, notably as the house bass player at the old Cafe Stritch session. She also was in bands such as the Carnegie Hall NYO jazz band, and Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation jazz orchestra.  

 Now in New York, Jayla maintains a busy performance schedule with regular appearances at venues throughout the city such as Smalls, Birdland, and Dizzy’s. 

Eliza Salem

Eliza Salem is an in-demand drummer, educator and composer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. As a multi-faceted musician, Eliza strives to explore and reach across the many domains of creative music. Eliza has played in acclaimed performance spaces locally and nationally such as Lincoln Center, The Stone, Mezzrow, Smalls, Birdland Jazz Club, the Vail Dance Festival, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ, PDX Jazz Festival, and DC Jazz Festival, among others. Eliza has taken part in multiple national and international tours including Caroline Davis’s Alulathroughout the United States and Australia. Eliza has toured with the Marta Sánchez trio across the U.S. and in India, with performances at the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi and multiple venues across and outside of the city. Eliza has also toured across the U.S. and Europe with bassist Max Johnson. In 2024, Eliza was a finalist and awardee for Next Jazz Legacy, a transformative program that creates a more inclusive future for those most underrepresented across the different contexts of jazz and improvised music. Through this program Eliza has had the opportunity to work closely alongside mentors Cindy Blackman Santana, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Terri Lyne Carrington.