Plgdc guest Dancers
Deja Darbonne
Deja N. Darbonne was born and raised in Fairfield, CA, where she began dancing at Center Stage Ballet Academy under the direction of her mother Anita Hope. Darbonne admired her mother for being one of the few Black women to teach classical ballet and have her own business, which influenced Darbonne's admiration for the ballet technique. Darbonne mainly focused on the techniques of concert dance (ballet and modern). However, was influenced by various cultural dances such as: West-African Dance, Flamenco, Salsa, Afro-Brazilian, and Haitian Folklore.
In April 2017, Darbonne graduated with honors from New World School of the Arts College in Miami, FL where she received her Bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of Florida. Darbonne has danced professionally with Peter London Global Dance Company, Dance Now Miami, National Water Dance Project, Ballet Hispanico Dos, Ruddur Dance, and OCA Dance.
She has performed works by Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Ronald K. Brown, Talley Beatty, Gustavo Ramirez, Robert Battle, Jamar Roberts, Eduardo Vilaro, among others. Darbonne has attended numerous dance programs such as Ballet Hispanico's ChoreoLab, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Francisco Gella Dance Works, Miami City Ballet, and San Francisco City Ballet. In recognition of her academic excellence and scholarly achievement, Darbonne was awarded the Miami-Dade College Honors Dance award in 2015.
Jamaii Melvin
Jamaii Melvin is a 19-year-old dancer/choreographer from Homestead, FL (in the Miami-Dade county area) and has been dancing since the age of 5. He is a 2nd year student at The Juilliard School. He previously trained at New World school of the Arts and was also a part of the Pre-Professional programs at Miami Dance Collective and Dance Empire of Miami, where he trained under the direction of Marie-Louise Gaschler, Kristin Douthit Richards, Irene Balague, Angel Fraser-Logan, and Tawanna Hall. Jamaii has trained in various styles, which has led him to performing on the Ellen DeGeneres show, to being awarded a Young Arts Gold award recipient and finalist in Modern/Contemporary and Choreography in 2019, along with being a Semi-finalist Presidential Scholar in the arts .
He has been accepted into exceptional summer programs such as the Nederlands Dans Theater summer program, Alonzo King LINES summer program, The School at Jacobs Pillow contemporary and many more. Jamaii is not only inspired by these professionals but has worked with Peter Chu, Bobbi Jene Smith, Ohad Naharin, Alicia Graf Mack, Mario Alberto Zambrano, Bret Easterling and Risa Steinberg, just to name a few. Jamaii has found his love for making pieces at the age of 10 and has grown within this different element of dance and started to find his choreographic voice through the years. Jamaii feels as artist we all have a responsibility to uphold and that is to “not just produce movement, but to produce a statement, a story, your story”.
Johnàe Wright
Johnàe Wright was born in a small town called Liberty City in Miami, Florida. Growing up she always aspired to become a professional dancer and began training at local performing arts centers at age 8, where she learned dancing, singing, design and modeling. In 2010 she was discovered by Disney’s The McClain Sisters who asked her to dance for them in Las Vegas.
Johnàe graduated from New World School of the Arts in June 2014 and began mentoring under some of the biggest names in the industry, Aisha Francis & Danielle Polanco (Beyonce) and Yanis Marshall. In 2015 she was featured in Oxygen Channels ‘The Prancing Elite Project’ and the glitz and glamour backstage inspired her to enroll in the Paul Mitchell School for Cosmetology where she later graduated. Ms. Johnae also appeared on "TMZ" on numerous occasions mentioning ASAP ROCKY, JUSSIE SMOLLETT, JUSTIN BEIBER, KIM KARDASIAN, and more.
In 2019 Johnàe Wright became a cast member on The ON Channels ‘Beautiez & Bikerz of Charlotte’ a reality show which follows the lives of Johnàe and several other entertainers as they perform all over the East Coast. In 2020 Johnàe Wright began writing songs and released her debut single ‘Pwussy Bill Due’ in January 2020. The single went ‘viral’ after becoming a TikTok dance and was added to rotation on Hilltop Radio. After the success of ‘Pwussy Bill Due’ Johnàe began recording her debut album ‘Scorpionic’ and has since released two additional singles ‘Making Love’ featuring Darkface Squatta and ‘Honey Bun’ featuring Mac Shug. The album also features collaborations with Brandon Hilton, Booda Baddazz, Alyse Fontaine, Daa Kant, Electin and is scheduled to release to all stores and streaming services on May 31, 2021.
Nathaniel Davis
Nathaniel Davis was born in Toronto, Canada, and started his training at the age of 17. He attended the New World School of the Arts College, graduating cum laude in 2015 with a BFA in dance. He has worked with the Peter London Global Dance Company in Miami, Florida, Artichoke Dance Company in Brooklyn, New York, and Momix Inc in Washington, CT. He has performed works choreographed by Peter London, Robert Battle, Moses Pendleton, Daniel Ulbricht, George Balanchine, Jose Limon, Kyle Abraham, Bill T. Jones, and Darshan Bueller.
Yu-mien Wu (Bruce)
Yu-mien Wu was born in Chiayi, Taiwan, and began his studies in dance at the age of seven. He graduated summa cum laude from New World School of the Arts with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. At school, he performed repertoires by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Daniel Lewis, and Robert Battle. He was honored to receive scholarships to attend workshops such as Jacob’s Pillow, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, and Nederlands Dans Theater. Mr. Wu was a principal dancer and an assistant to the Artistic Director at Peter London Global Dance Company in Miami. In 2018, Yu-mien was commissioned to choreograph a dance that was inspired by female figures in his life.