dancers

Please consider sponsoring a Dancer for the 2025 Spring season.
Click on the the Zikr Logo button below or scan the QR code
to select the dancer you wish to support.
Any level of sponsorship is greatly appreciated!

2025 Season Company Members:

Jacob Amey

Jacob Amey is originally from Portland, Oregon and started his dance journey at the age of 12 when he attended the Arts and Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA). At ACMA, he explored various forms of art, but it wasn’t until he tried dance that he found his passion and went on to train at the pre-professional program, Dance West. Jacob then went on to perform with The Portland Ballet and spent his summers training with San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. After high school, Jacob attended the University of Arizona, where he grew in his technical training and artistry and performed numerous pieces from faculty and renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine and Paul Taylor, as well as performing works by Christopher Compton in the Solo Duo Dance festival in New York. In 2023, Jacob graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in Dance. He has most recently been a part of the Wonderbound company for their 23/24 season.

Alberto Andrade

Alberto Andrade is from Queens, New York. He started his training at Sugarloaf Ballet, then went to train at The Colburn School, and the Milwaukee Ballet School. He attended a number of summer programs such as The School of Pennsylvania Ballet, The School of American Ballet, The Harid Conservatory, Ellison Ballet, and The Milwaukee Ballet School. He previously danced with Milwaukee Ballet 2, American Contemporary Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

Jacqueline Bertault

Jacqueline Bertault is a French-American dancer based in New York City. She grew up in Arizona where she attended the Scottsdale School of Ballet and Ballet Arizona. When she was 16, she moved to France to attend the École Supérieur de Danse under Rosella Hightower. She was then accepted into the Houston Ballet Academy at 17 and spent two years there, where she danced in the corps de ballet and participated in professional productions with the Houston Ballet. Jacqueline continued her career as a trainee with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and also worked for the Ballet Nice Méditerranée, under the direction of Eric Vu-An, dancing in their production of Don Quixote. Later, she joined the Milwaukee Ballet II for three seasons, where she danced with the Milwaukee Ballet in their corps de ballet. She moved to New York in the summer of 2024 and has been freelancing ever since. In April 2025, she competed in the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition and won a silver medal and then danced for the State Ballet of Georgia under the direction of Nina Ananiashvili. She has also attended prestigious summer programs including at the Paris Opera Ballet, Masterclasses in Prague, IB Stage Barcelona, San Francisco Ballet, and the Artof Ballet Masterclasses in Marseille. In addition to dancing, Jacqueline is also earning a Bachelor’s degree with Arizona State University, majoring in Psychology, and works for an online platform for dancers called Ballee, which has over 20,000 dancers involved from 150+ different countries. She is very excited and grateful to be a part of the Zikr Dance Ensemble for the 2025 Fall season!

Antonio Houck

Antonio Houck began dancing at the age of 9 at Colorado Conservatory of Dance, then known as Ballet Nouveau Colorado. He had his first Nutcracker and Studio Company performance, Prince Igor, at the age of 13. Since then, he has danced at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Indiana University Ballet Theatre, and Boulder Ballet, where he has performed in works by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Sasha Janes, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Jerome Robbins and Martha Graham. This is Antonio’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Brandon Penn

Brandon Penn was born and raised in Richmond, VA. At the age of 10 he began his dance training at the Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center where he studied with Annette Holt, Rodney Williams and Willie Hinton learning a variety of styles. He later enrolled into the School of Richmond Ballet where he studied under Igor Antanov, Malcolm Burn, and more. After spending three years at the Richmond Ballet Mr. Penn was accepted as a trainee of the company whilst completing his senior year. After graduating, Brandon spent one year at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase College Conservatory for Dance, studying under Larry Clark, Taryn Russell, and Ted Kivitt and others. After spending a year at SUNY, Penn was offered a position with Atlanta Ballet 2. After two years there, Brandon was offered a company position with the Columbia City Ballet. Later, after much experience and repertory under his belt, Brandon accepted a principal contract with the Fort Wayne Ballet where he spent two successful seasons. Since, he has taken upon a freelance career and guested across the country and further. He would like to immensely thank his family for all of their love, support and words of wisdom. This is Brandon’s third season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Emelia Perkins

Emelia Perkins, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had her formative training with Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre until the age of 16, when she joined the Houston Ballet Academy in 2015. After graduating from HBA in 2017, Perkins joined Kansas City Ballet’s Second Company as a trainee and had the opportunity to perform works by Devon Carney, Ryan Jocelyn-Nye, and Balanchine’s Diamonds. In 2018, Perkins joined the Sarasota Ballet’s Studio Company and was promoted to Coryphée in 2022. During her seven-year career with TSB, Perkins performed featured roles in works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Jessica Lang, Sir David Bintley, Paul Taylor, Gemma Bond, Johan Kobborg, Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Dominic Walsh, and Ricardo Graziano. Perkins made her choreographic debut in 2021 with her ballet Washington Square in Sarasota Ballet’s Voices of Her series. This is Emelia’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Thomas Caleb Roberts

Thomas Caleb Roberts began his pre-professional dance training at the Center for Dance Education under the direction of Mimi Worrell. He graduated from the SC Governor’s School for the Arts under the tutelage of Stanislav Issaev and attended North Carolina School for the Arts, studying with Ethan Stiefel. His professional career began with Boston Ballet as a trainee, continued with Cincinnati Ballet as a corps de ballet member and Columbia City Ballet as a demi-soloist and Fort Wayne ballet as a principal. He has been a frequent guest artist with various regional companies including Carolina Ballet. Thomas has enjoyed performing in ballets such asSwan Lake, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Spartacus, Fancy Free, Light Rainand many others. This Caleb’s first Season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Hailey Stinchcomb

Hailey Stinchcomb was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and moved to Florida at the age of 17 to continue her training at the Sarasota Ballet‘s Margaret Barbieri Conservatory. In 2021, she joined the Sarasota Ballet Studio Company and was promoted to the position of Company Apprentice in 2022. During her time with The Sarasota Ballet, she had a principal role choreographed on her by company dancer Richard House, as well as the pleasure of performing in repertoire including Giselle, Serenade, Theme and Variations, Company B, Who Cares?, La Sylphide, Western Symphony, and Elite Syncopations. Hailey danced as a lead company artist with Twin Cities Ballet for the 2024-2025 season, where she performed several principal roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Christine in Phantom. Hailey is now pursuing a freelance career based in Denver, Colorado, and is thrilled to be joining Zikr Dance Ensemble for her first season.

Anaka Weiss-Jones

Anaka Weiss-Jones was born and raised in Colorado. She began dancing in the Boulder area at age 8, most notably under Jayne Persch at Briah Danse. In 2018, she joined in the inaugural year of Ballet Melange and spent three years training with Elizabeth Shipiatsky, Sergii Sydorskyi & Maureen Breeze. She attended summer intensives with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Ballet X, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater, Colorado Ballet, The Chautauqua Institution, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Her professional career began after the 2020 International Ballet Competition in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she was presented with multiple Special Judges' Awards and was asked to join the Klaipėda State Music Theater in Lithuania for the 2021-2022 season. Upon returning to the States in 2022, she transitioned to a career as a freelance artist and has danced with Boulder Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Ballet Taos, Neglia Ballet, New York City Emerging Artists Project, The Table of Silence Project by Buglisi Dance Theater and Maureen Breeze Dance Theater, among others.
Prominent among her work is dancing with Zikr Dance Ensemble, and she is especially excited to join the company for her fourth season as the company’s newly appointed Assistant Artistic Director.