Emerging Choreographers Showcase & Awards

Hello all! My name is Capri Carpenter, and I am currently a second year student at San Diego State University. I was accepted into the dance major program, and my mindset has completely shifted about what I consider dance to be since entering this profound dance program. I come from a competitive dance background and am eager to keep diving head first into what my “unknown” is within my dance vocabulary and movement. I desire to influence and motivate others by “being the domino” and showing by example of how we should liberate what we feel grooving and moving with content in our body . As a human being, I strive to be open-minded and optimistic with the various situations that we are being presented with every single day. Looking to work with more dancers in the San Diego community, so I would love you to reach out to me if you want to make something happen!!

Tina Carreras has been dancing since she was a young child. Her passion for movement as a form of creative expression, exercise, therapy, self-care, and building community is why she is pursuing choreography, dance performance, and dance film making. She has her Certificate of Dance Performance from San Diego City College and has performed and/or choreographed with Disco Riot, San Diego Dance Theater, PAW, 40 North and Mounarath-Powell Productions. Tina teaches an Aging Creatively Modern class at SDDT and is a Certified Teaching Artist with Grey Matters where she teaches seated dance to Assisted Living and Memory Care patients. She is also a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and SCHWINN Certified Indoor Cycling Instructor.

Jovani (Jio) Chavez is a Proud Black/Guatemalan Mix male dancer from San Diego California, Normal Heights to be exact. Started dancing around Freshman year of high school and now has 8 years of dance training under his belt. He is an Award Winning Choreographer from Movement Makers 2021 courtesy of Mounarath-Powell Productions. He even has his very own dance brand “ Dance with Jovani”. He likes to specialize in Contemporary, Modern and Improvisation. Jovani has trained with TranscenDANCE youth arts project as a Principle Dancer since 2015 and graduated as an alumni in 2018. He also credits his training from being selected and performing for the San Diego Trolley Dances (3 consecutive years) with Dave Massey, Teri Wilson, and Jeremy Zapanta. He was blessed to work with such amazing artist such as Filipino Icon Inigo Pascal and Grammy Award Winner Jason Mraz. Jovani’s passion for dance can be seen on and off stage and is always eager to help the dance community

Giovanna Francisco (she/her) is a passionate movement artist based out of Southern California. She will be graduating from UCSD in June of 2023 where she is pursuing a BA in Dance, BA in Sociology, and a minor in Education Studies. Her movement practice reveals her ballet training growing up as well as influence from (post)modern and contemporary forms. In addition to movement, she cherishes photography and collage work that draws upon botanical, sentimental influence. Giovanna is passionate about the interplay between art and social justice to foster community, healing, and connection with hopes to contribute to the expansion of arts accessibility. She aspires to pursue more choreographic endeavors, dancing professionally, and one day her MA in Dance Movement Therapy.

Erin is a San Diego based dancer and teaching artist. She began training in modern dance at San Diego City College in 2017 and earned her AA in Dance in 2020.  In 2022 Erin graduated summa cum laude from San José State University with a BFA in Dance, where she was granted the Virginia Ann Excellence in Dance Scholarship. At San José State, Erin studied Limón modern, ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary dance forms. While Studying in the Bay Area, Erin performed in Mark Foreinger’s Nutcracker Sweets and SAFEhouse Arts RAW Residency in San Fransisco. A year before graduating, Erin severely injured her hip. This caused her to change her approach to choreographing. Through this experience, she discovered joy in using imagery and collaboration to generate movement.

Anna Medina is a Mexican-American dancer, teacher and choreographer that hopes to inspire and empower her students and audience through her work. She began her dance training in Tijuana, Mexico and continued in San Diego and Boston. Anna has been teaching dance for over ten years. Anna completed her BA in Political Science and Minor in International Studies at Boston College. She participated in local government as a Council Representative and Arts Organization liaison in the City of San Diego. Anna has a Masters in Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California Irvine. Her work with the community inspired her to continue researching the effects of dance education for youth living in low income neighborhoods. As a choreographer, Anna relies on the fusion of various styles, such as jazz, flamenco, contemporary and ballet. She has also collaborated with international artists, sharing her work in person and through screen dance.

Micah Parra was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington where she studied ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, hip hop, improvisation, acrobatics and gymnastics. At 18 years old she moved to Las Vegas and expanded her movement vocabulary by entering the circus and aerial arts community with a primary discipline of aerial pole. More recently Micah has trained with the TL Collective, Hubbard Street Dance, San Diego Circus Center, and is a current company member for Malashock Dance.

As well as being an artist and performer, Micah teaches and choreographs. She has created work for the San Diego Circus Center, SeaWorld San Diego, and was one of three recipients for Disco Riot’s 2022 Space Residency Program where she curated a 20 minute dance / media performance art piece. Her love for movement and community runs deep and she looks forward to further developing her own artistic voice.

Luci found her love for dancing as a child when she started training in ballet training with Felicity Cunningham in Las Vegas. After moving to San Diego at age 10, Luci continued her dance training with Kathy Roach at Fine Pointe Ballet Studio. In addition to dance, there she was also given opportunities to teach and choreograph. Luci graduated with a BA in Dance from University of California, San Diego in Spring of 2019. While at UCSD, Luci has enjoyed exploring many different dance styles such as contemporary, improvisation, jazz, hip hop, and tap. In 2018, Luci became a company member with H2O dance and a Work Study student with San Diego Dance Theater. She is honored to now be a company member at SDDT. She hopes to continue her career in dance with more opportunities to perform, choreograph, and teach dance in many capacities.