Tessa Bañales
Tessa Bañales graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle Washington receiving her Bachelors in Fine Arts. Since being at Cornish Tessa has worked with choreographers including Danielle Agami, Kiyon Gains, Jason Ohlberg, Pat Hon and Petra Zanki. Tessa was also a guest performer for the City Opera Ballet in a piece choreographed by Laura Rodriguez as an opening work for their Firebird concert. After Graduating Tessa was chosen to dance under Bruno Roque for the Next Step: Outside/In concert for Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Tessa Bañales has always felt a special love for dance, but her other passion is stage managing. Tessa started stage managing in 2014 within Cornish College of the Arts. She started out stage managing Cornish Dance Theater for artists like Sidra Bell, Kyle Abraham, Crystal Pike and many more. Tessa has also worked for the Cornish preparatory company managing their spring Gala and The Nutcracker. When Tessa is not working within Cornish she has also been invited to work shows in the Seattle community like Men in Dance. Tessa was also sought out to stage manage for Bellevue community college for their end of the year concert. Tessa now plans to balance her love of dance as well as her stage managing passion, and looks forward to hopefully working with many more theaters.
Lisa Kwak
Lisa Kwak is a Seattle-based dance artist. She currently works with dance companies Dani Tirrell and the Congregation, The Guild Dance Company, and PRICEArts N.E.W. She has also danced with The Three Yells, and artists such as Rachael Lincoln, Etienne Cakpo, Leslie Kraus, among others. Lisa holds a BA with majors in dance and international studies from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. There she was awarded the Dean's Medal for the College of Arts & Sciences division of the Arts (2018)
Madison Walker
Madison started her dance journey at a young age. Growing up in New Orleans as a young mixed woman, she always felt a deep emotional connection to dance that allowed her to express who she was. At 12 years old she was selected to be a part of a small ballet conservatory, JPB Le Petit Ballet, where she learned to utilize the backbone of classical technique. For many years Madison studied the Vaganova technique of ballet under Jennifer Picart Branner. Madison studied abroad in the beautiful country of Norway where she danced with Extend, a small dance company, and was chosen to perform a lead role in The Nutcracker.
Since high school, Madison has danced and taught throughout the Pacific Northwest, currently acting as the Assistant Artistic Director of Academy of Dance. Her passions include traveling the world and volunteering. She teaches dance in her local community of Port Orchard, as well as underprivileged communities all around the world.
Eva Crystal
Eva Crystal grew up in Oregon where she received a foundation in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and Acrobatics at Innovative Dance. Eva refined her technique and performance skills studying at NW Dance Project. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and with honors from Loyola Marymount University where she received a B.A. in Dance, focusing on Modern and Composition. She has been featured in works by Sidra Bell, Stephanie Zaletel, Rebecca Lemme and Rosalynde LeBlanc Loo in performances at LMU. In collaboration with Halie Donabedian, Eva has created multiple duets that have been invited to be performed at the Dean's Convocation, Annual Spring Student Concerts, ACDA, and MixMatch Dance Festival. She has been awarded scholarships to study with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, BODYTRAFFIC, and Gibney Dance Company. Upon graduating, Eva was awarded an Artistic Merit for Choreography. Eva moved to Seattle in the Fall of 2019 where she began dancing with PRICEarts N.E.W., and Daniel Costa Dance. Collaboration is at the heart of everything that Eva does and she deeply enjoys bringing art to life through movement.