Shelby Williams began her ballet training with the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, and continued her professional training on scholarship at the Washington School of Ballet (Washington, DC) and the Houston Ballet Academy (Houston, TX). From 2007 to 2009, Shelby performed with Houston Ballet as a dancer of Houston Ballet II, under the direction of Claudio Muños and Stanton Welch. She then joined Dresden Semperoper Ballett (Dresden, Germany) for the 2009/2010 season. After joining the Ballet d’Europe (Marseille, France) in 2010, she performed soloist roles in neoclassical and contemporary pieces on tour with the company throughout France and Switzerland. In 2012, Shelby performed with Barcelona Ballet (Barcelona, Spain) under the direction of Ángel Corella on tour throughout Spain and in the USA. From 2012-2014 she was a soloist with Ballettmainz of the Mainz State Theater (Mainz, Germany). Shelby has danced for Hessen State Ballet (Wiesbaden/Darmstadt, Germany) as a soloist where she has performed works featured roles in full length story ballets and leading roles in works by international choreographers. Shelby currently dances as a soloist with the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Antwerp, Belgium, and has recently become an Instagram sensation as @biscuitballerina, a parody site that focuses on finding humor in dance and improving the self-image of dancers in their pursuit of perfection.

Dwayne Holliday is a professional dancer and choreographer working out of Cologne Germany. He began his ballet training at the Dancers’ Workshop in Baton Rouge, La, after discovering ballet at BRHS with Sharon Matthews his senior year. He finished his ballet training with the Houston Ballet and went on to dance with Ballet Memphis, Cincinnati Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet am Rhein in Dusseldorf and Theater Ulm. In this time he danced works from such choreographs as Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Trey McIntyre, Paul Taylor, Youri Vamos, Ben Stevenson and many others. Following his ballet career, he completed his Bachelors in Contemporary Stage Dance at the Center for Contemporary Dance in Cologne, Germany and his Masters in dance studies. He is currently writing his doctoral dissertation, studying how artistic research is learned at five major European Universities. He wrote for 5 years as a critic for Dance Europe Magazine, covering most of the major continental European Companies. He is a freelance dancer and choreographer, producing works that have been shown in various theatres, festivals and museums. He has taught ballet and contemporary dance at various universities and professional companies in the United States and Europe. Dwayne is also a certified yoga and Gyrokenesis teacher, as well as enjoying exploring movement forms such as martial arts, and capoeira. He is grateful to the Dancers’ workshop for inspiring him to dance and is delighted to return to share what he has learned with those wishing to explore the path of dance.

Taylor Mitchell is a native of Baton Rouge, where he trained with the Dancers’ Workshop and the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. Taylor is now a Chicago-based dance artist who currently performs, choreographs, serves as a collegiate artist in residence on a freelance basis, and teaches nationally and internationally. He earned his BFA in Dance from The University of Arizona, where he received the Creative Achievement Award for numerous works of choreography set upon the UA Dance Ensemble and the Musical Theater Department. Taylor has performed with professional companies in the Chicago area such as Thodos Dance Chicago, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Cocodaco Dance Project, and other various national projects. Some of his professional choreography credits include DanceWorks Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago, Dance In The Parks, Level Dance, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, and The Big Muddy Dance Company to name a few. Taylor recently showcased his choreography at the 2017 Summer Kieler-Woche Festival (Kiel, Germany) and enjoyed teaching American Jazz technique to students across southern Germany.