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:

Maya Adams

Maya Adams is from Littleton, Colorado, and began her training at Denver Academy of Ballet under the instruction of Rob and Chandra Kuykendall. She attended various intensives with Kansas City Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Open Space Dance, and Koresh Dance Company. Maya studied at Point Park University, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a Minor in Marketing. There she performed a diverse repertoire of works choreographed by George Balanchine, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Ronen Koresh, and even originated her role in Houston Thomas’ Steel City Elegy. Maya made her choreographic debut in 2024 with her piece Reminisce in Point Park University's Student Choreography Project. This is Maya’s first season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

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!

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.

Sanford Placide

Sanford Placide was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where he began learning Afro-Caribbean and folkloric dance at 11. After emigrating to the U.S., he trained with Ballet Etudes of South Florida, Francois Perron at Manhattan Youth Ballet, the French Academie of Ballet in NYC, and privately with Nadege Hottier. He also attended summer intensives at American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Austin, Ballet Hispanico, and LINES Ballet. Placide's professional career spans six seasons with Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), following engagements with Alberta Ballet, Ballet West 2, and North Carolina Dance Theatre 2 (now Charlotte Ballet). He has performed as a guest artist with companies including Ballet Etudes of South Florida, Voorhees Ballet, Collage Dance Collective, Black Iris Dance Project, Boca Ballet Theater, Ballet Northwest, Ballet des Amériques, Traverse City Dance Project, Accent Dance, Ballet Theater of Scranton, Tabula Rasa Dance, and FJK Dance. His repertoire includes works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Stanton Welch, Glenn Tetley, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Wen Wei Wang, Robert Garland, Mark Diamond, Desmond Richardson, Yukicchi Hattori, Aszure Barton. Tiffany Rae Fischer, and Claudia Schreier. Off stage, Placide has appeared in short films, fashion magazines, and media interviews. He performed at Aretha Franklin's Holiday Party in Detroit and was featured in a Times Square digital billboard campaign by artist Terry Rosenberg. Internationally, he performed in Isadora at Moscow's Stanislavski Theater, produced by Ardani Artists featuring Natalia Osipova. As Founder & Creative Director of UNI, an art collective launched in 2018 in commemoration of Haitian Flag Day, he collaborated with the Consulate General of Haiti in New York to produce the series, receiving honors for his work in preserving Haitian culture. The series continued in 2019 and was hosted virtually in 2020.This is Sanford’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 is Caleb’s second Season with Zikr Dance Ensemble.

Alex Schooling

Alex Schooling, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, began her training at the Lancaster School of Ballet. She continued her education at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. Alex studied at Butler University, earning a BFA in Dance Performance with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. Later, she freelanced in Portland, Oregon, collaborating with Push/Fold, PDX Contemporary Ballet, and The Holding Project, where she collaborated on dance films. For nine seasons, Alex danced with Oklahoma City Ballet, performing a diverse repertoire by choreographers such as Alexander Ekman, Twyla Tharp, Jessica Lang, Jirí Kylián, Septime Weber, and George Balanchine. She has also contributed to the creation of original works by artists including Rena Butler, Nicolo Fonte, Larry Keigwin, and Penny Saunders. Alex’s choreography has been featured in Oklahoma City Ballet’s Future Voices, CURE8, presented by Race Dance, and the Red Rock Dance Festival. Since 2022, she has created original works for Central Oklahoma Ballet Theater’s summer season. Alex was named a Kirkpatrick Foundation Emerging Artist Fellow for 2025. She is thrilled to be joining Zikr Dance Ensemble for the Fall 2025 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.