Dancers

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  Margaret Jones

  Margaret Jones hails from Raleigh, North Carolina where she grew up dancing competitively and fell in love with movement. Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Contemporary dance, Margaret immediately moved to NYC to pursue her professional dance dreams. Since living in New York she has performed nationally, internationally and on film under the direction of Twyla Tharp, Mike Esperanza, Yoshito Sakuraba, Andrew Harper, Dolly Sfier, among many others. Margaret started her journey with BOCA TUYA in 2021 and continues to enjoy the fun challenges that Omar’s work presents!

  Margaret Jones

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  Yusaku Komori

  Dancer and cinematographer Yusaku Komori won first prize in three prestigious Japanese dance competitions. His dance career includes becoming a company member with Ailey ll, Bad Boys of Dance and Armitage Gone! He has also danced and performed lead roles in the 20th Century Fox movie The Greatest Showman, TV commercials for BMW, TOYOTA, Apple Music, Apple TV+ movie Spirited and many Japanese TV shows.

  Yusaku Komori

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  Ali Pfleger

  Ali Pfleger is an NYC-based freelance performer and choreographer, born and raised in Southern California. Growing up close to Los Angeles, Ali was exposed to the commercial industry at an early age. While training at Orange County School of the Arts, she began dancing professionally at age 14 for stage, film, and television. She was fortunate enough to work under many esteemed and influential creators, which fed her innate passion for choreography. Ali has had the opportunity to create and present work throughout North America, Central America, and Europe. Additionally, she shares her work throughout the year touring with Intrigue Dance Convention. She prides herself on training in a wide array of techniques and diligently prioritizing being a forever student.

  Ali Pfleger

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  Rachel Secrest

  Rachel Secrest (sher/her) began her training in Carmel, Indiana, under the instruction of Suzann DeLay. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from the Fordham/Ailey BFA program with degrees in Dance and Political Science. Rachel worked as an apprentice for River North Dance Chicago, and Parsons Dance. In 2017, she joined Jessica Lang Dance as a company member, where she danced for three seasons. She went on to perform with LA based dance company BODYTRAFFIC for their 2019/2020 season. Rachel has also performed as a principal dancer and soloist at the Washington National Opera and the LA Opera, while working as dance captain. She has been a performer and collaborator for contemporary dance company BOCA TUYA since its founding.

  Rachel Secrest

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  Lieana Sherry

  Lieana Sherry is a Chinese-American dance artist and teacher focusing on concert dance via contemporary, modern, and ballet techniques. Sherry pursues work that wields technique and physicality to share stories, cultivate diverse conversations, and reflect life through multiple lenses. Her professional work includes repertoire from Omar Román de Jesús, Caroline Dahm, Christian Denice, Charissa Barton, and Ronin Koresh with Wylliams-Henry Contemporary Dance Company. Lieana, recently based in Chicago, had the pleasure of working professionally with Dance In The Parks, Moonwater Dance Project, Symbiosis, C5 Create With No Limits, and Boykin Dance Project. Her work there includes repertoire by Stephanie Martinez, Katlin Michael Bourgeois, Alysia Johnson, and Justin Rapaport. Lieana is also a 200hr certified Yoga instructor.

  Lieana Sherry

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  Ian Spring

  Ian Spring is originally from Middletown, Ohio where he began his dance training under the direction of Phyllis DeWeese-Morgan. He graduated magna cum laude with a BA in dance from Point Park University before joining Parsons Dance where he continued for the next seven seasons. During his time with the company, he had the opportunity to perform David Parsons’ masterpiece Caught for nearly six years. Ian joined the cast of the Radio City Summer Spectacular choreographed by Mia Michaels, in 2016. He has since danced in several productions with Austin McCormick’s Company XIV as well as Samson et Dahlila at the Metropolitan Opera. He performed as part of Sleeping Beauty Dreams choreographed by Edward Clug and Jakob Karr’s Ain’t Done Bad. Ian has guested for Bruce Wood Dance and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance and has worked with choreographers Dolly Sfeir and Annalee Traylor. Ian is a founding member of Omar Roman De Jesus’ NYC based company, BOCA TUYA.

  Ian Spring

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  Marco Vega

  Marco Vega (he/they), received a BFA in Dance Performance and a BA in Education Sciences specializing in Digital Media from the University of California, Irvine in Spring 2021. Additional training includes the Whim W’him Summer and Winter Intensives under the direction of Olivier Wevers and Karl Watson, the GALLIM Summer Intensive as an Emerging Artist Scholar under the direction of Andrea Miller, and the BEMOVING Summer Dance Program under the direction of Bret Easterling. Upon graduation, he joined Backhausdance as company member in Orange County, California and completed three seasons with the company. During their time, they had the opportunity to originate roles in works by Ching Ching Wong, Alice Klock and Florian Lochner, Peter Chu, and Amanda Kay White, as well as perform work by Dwight Rhoden. Marco is eager and honored to be performing with BOCA TUYA this fall.

  Marco Vega

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  Santiago Villarreal

  Santiago Villarreal, born in Monterrey, Mexico, started dancing at age of 16 and earned his BFA from Chapman University in 2019. After graduating Santiago moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a freelancer and had the opportunity to work extensively in the commercial and concert dance world. He has had the pleasure of working with distinguished choreographers and dance companies such as NW Dance Project, Ate9, The TL Collective, Ihsan Rustem, Yin Yue and Jacob Jonas to name a few. He has also worked with commercial artists such as Kareem Lomax, MILCK, JORDY and has been featured in national commercials. Santiago is currently a dancer for Kali Uchis and has been part of her Coachella 2023 set and her Latin America tour and Red Moon In Venus headlining US tour. Santiago continues to be curious for new experiences and movement languages and is focused on continuing growing as a dancer and choreographer in the concert and commercial world.

  Santiago Villarreal

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  Nat Wilson

  Nat Wilson (they/he) is a Brooklyn-based dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Their formative training was in ballet and in 2016, they joined Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, where they had the opportunity to perform and teach around the world, including China, Peru, South Korea, and India. In January of 2020 they moved to New York City to pursue a freelance career. Since then, they’ve worked in both New York and Los Angeles, performing with YYDC, kNoname Artist/Roderick George, BOCA TUYA, More Fish Dance, and ate9 Dance Company, as well as creating their own work. They are one of the first two dancers certified to teach Yue Yin’s FoCo technique, and they are always happy to connect via Instagram through the handle @natattax.

  Nat Wilson

Directors

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  Omar Román de Jesús

  Omar Román de Jesús is a queer Puertorriqueño choreographer and the director of the NYC-based dance company BOCA TUYA. Currently, he is a proud Artist in Residence at 92NY. Omar is the inaugural Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellow at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park and a 2023 Dance Magazine Harkness Promise Awardee. His accolades include the 2022 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, the 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography, the 2022 Palm Desert Choreography Festival Grand Prize, and the 2020 Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow. He has been commissioned to create works for over 20 companies and pre-professional schools, including The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Charlotte Ballet, The Juilliard School, Ballet Hispánico, BalletCollective, Limón 2, SALT Dance, St. Louis Dance Theater, MOVE NYC, Bruce Wood Dance, Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, Whim W’Him, Parsons Dance, The Ailey School, Kennesaw State University, James Madison University, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

  Omar’s works for stage and screen have been presented worldwide, receiving top recognitions through the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s Winning Works Choreographic Competition, Whim W’Him’s Choreographic Shindig, The Dance Gallery Festival, Reverb Dance Festival, and the International Dance Festival of Puerto Rico, where he was awarded the Ambassador of Dance medal. His screendance, Los Perros del Barrio Colosal, has been viewed by audiences in over 20 countries and was awarded Best of Screen Dance International as well as Best Choreography and Best Narrative at the ReThink Dance Film Festival. Over the past five years, he has toured internationally to Colombia, Panama, and the Canary Islands, and has presented work domestically in New York, Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, and California. In 2023, his piece Papagayos, commissioned for Ballet Hispánico, premiered at New York City Center and traveled to North Carolina for the American Dance Festival. Most recently, Like Those Playground Kids at Midnight was presented in celebration of the 92NY 150th anniversary.

  Omar is fond of education and has experience teaching workshops and master classes all over the world for professional dancers, students with special needs, people with physical disabilities, and marginalized communities.

  Omar began his formal training at the School for the Performing Arts in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Omar was a member of Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico from 2006-2011. During this period, he won the Championship Cup and Gold Medal at the National Dance Competition in Puerto Rico. He received a scholarship to the Ailey School in 2011, and after two years, he began his professional career in the modern and contemporary dance world. He has toured nationally and internationally with Yin Yue Dance Company, Ballet Hispánico, Parsons Dance, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company and Sleeping Beauty Dreams featuring Diana Vishneva. He has performed and led works by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, David Parsons, Robert Battle, Trey McIntyre, Kate Skarpetowska, Jennifer Archibald, Carlos Pons, Ephrat Asherie and Yin Yue. Omar had the honor of performing at the 2018 TITAS Gala representing Ballet Hispánico, and he is proud to have danced at BAM Fisher, NY and the 2019 Schrittmacher Festival in Germany, where he performed an evening-length show by Yin Yue. Omar collaborated with Erin Sullivan on an Interactive Projection Workshop titled Spine Lines, which was presented at Yale University’s Center of the Collaborative Arts and Media.

  Omar Román de Jesús
  Artistic Director

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  Lindsay Clipner

  Lindsay Clipner is the Executive Director and Producer of BOCA TUYA. She is a cultural producer, filmmaker, documentarian, photographer, choreographer, and dance educator at Interlochen Academy of the Arts. As founder of RISE ARTS, she partnered with the Merce Cunningham Trust to produce In Conversation with Merce, bringing the work to Kansas City after 20 years. She was rehearsal director and assisted Leo Holder and Carmen de Lavallade in the staging of Geoffrey Holder’s The Creation in 2023 for Karen Brown (DTH). Her dance photography has been featured in Fjord Review, Pointe Magazine, Dance Magazine, KCStudio, and the San Francisco Chronicle, capturing dancers from Ailey, Parsons, SFDW, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Juilliard, Kansas City Ballet, among others. Her dance film As Big as the Sky has been screened internationally, filmed with permission by renowned artist James Turrell in his Skyspace; Three Gems in San Francisco, premiering at The National Gallery in DC, the de Young Museum, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Pacific Northwest Ballet Film Festival, Dance Camera West, Bogotá Musica Video Festival, Dance Film Festival Prague, among others. Her upcoming documentary follows choreographer Christian Warner’s What Came with Spring, danced by Owen/Cox Dance Group. Lindsay choreographed after hours featuring musical collaboration by Lune Ruse and Carlos Pesina Siller of Los Amparito. She served as Executive Director for SFDW for its fifth season and welcomed works by Yin Yue, Dani Rowe, Laura O’Malley, Babatunji Johnson, Edward Clug and Martha Graham. In advertising and production, she traveled internationally with fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier for many brands and publications, served as film production coordinator for director Stephane Sednaoui. Highlights include: Vogue, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Apple, Palm Pictures, among many others; choreographing and dancing for Vogue Italia and appearing in the first SATC film for Miramax, as well as working with figures like Bono, Sara Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Steven Colbert and Reggie Watts. She produced for Sandbox Studio / Creative Drive in San Francisco and internationally for GYPSY Creative

  Lindsay Clipner
  Executive Director

About the Company

BOCA TUYA is a New York-based artistic incubator providing contemporary dance artists with multifaceted, high profile experiences that characterize a holistic life in the arts. Since 2018, we have stood strong in our commitment to visibility and artistic excellence, showcasing the talents of New York’s top movement artists while establishing a company culture that prioritizes the wellbeing, economic stability, and personal achievement of our dancers. Through extensive opportunities for performance work, national and international touring, educational outreach, and choreographic commissions, we exist to give our dancers the resources they need to live as artists rather than chasing art for their livelihood.

Thank you, Alison Manning and the 92NY Team, for your faith in my work, for being instrumental in bringing BOCA TUYA’s New York debut to life and for nurturing my artistic growth with grace and generosity.

Querida Stephanie Connor, your unwavering support over the past years has been the heartbeat of BOCA TUYA. I am profoundly grateful for your commitment to the art of dance.

PR: Michelle Tabnick, Publicist