Guest Choreographers

Lorenzo Di Loreto is an Italian born dancer and choreographer.

Di Loreto trained at the English National Ballet School in London, where he received a Diploma in "Professional dance" recognized by the Trinity College London.

As a professional dancer he danced for most of his career at the Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen, Denmark, where he danced the majority of the classical repertoire while working with international choreographers like J.Kilian, Wayne McGregor, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shecter, Natalia Horecna, Cristopher Wheeldon, John Neumeier.

In 2021, Di Loreto was chosen by the Royal Danish theatre to take part in “Koreorama”; a choreographer development program of two years where he assisted classes of concept and creative development as well as production development receiving a diploma in “choreography” in 2023.

His recent award-winning short film “VIVIDREAM” (2022) has received numerous nominations at film festivals all around the world like the San Francisco dance film festival and the Cannes World film festival. It's been defined by Danish Magazine POV International as a "..touching and poetic work... capturing something essential and real about the dreamy and trascendental world of dance".

Tsai Hsi Hung graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts 2011. In 2009, she traveled to Australia as an exchange student for the Dance at Queensland Technology University Dance Department. She has worked with the Australian Dance Theater, Tasdance, Expressions Dance Company, and Chunky Move Dance Company Dancers.

In 2020, Hung received a Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Shortly after, Hung’s work was selected by the Joffrey Academy of Dance for their Spring 2020 Winning Works performance in Chicago.Hung was invited to Taipei National Dance Theater to perform New work this July 2020. Hung's most recent work will be featured in BalletX’s 2020-2021 season. In 2021, Hung won Western Michigan University’s National Choreography Competition and will premiere a new work in 2022. For BalletX’s 2022 Season, Hung created a new work for their dancers through the BalletX Choreographer Fellowship. Battery Dance Company of New York also premiered an original work in the summer of 2022, inspired by the paintings of Hans Hofmann. Hung was in residence at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, in the summer of 2022 to create new work for the students of their dance department. Hung premiered a new work in the Spring of 2022 with the Ballet Hispánico Professional Studies dance students. Hung was recently commissioned by the South Chicago Dance Theatre to create a new work for their 2024 season. She will also continue to work with Taipei National University of the Arts in 2023/2024, teaching and creating new work for their department.

In June of 2018, the MET Dance company performed Hung’s work IO for 12 dancers at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Houston, Texas. In 2019, Hung’s piece DOUBLEND was performed at the NU VU Festival at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Martha Graham Studio Theater and NYU Skirball Center. Her most recent work, Brushstroke- X2, was performed at the 2020 APAP Peridance Showcase in New York. Hung teaches the open class at the Peridance Capezio Dance Center and NYU Tisch Dance and /MOVE|NYC|.

Jack Lister is an Australian dancer, choreographer and creator, working across stage, screen, movement direction and large scale performance events.

After graduating from The Australian Ballet School, Jack joined Queensland Ballet (QB) in 2014 and danced many featured roles within the vast classical and modern repertoire, including works by Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, Nils Christe, Liam Scarlett, Trey McIntyre and Natalie Weir.

After creating his first work for QB in 2015, Jack quickly established a name as a respected emerging maker, recognised in The Australian’s national dance critic as “a young choreographer who is going places.” He has gone on to create works for Queensland Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Australasian Dance Collective, presented throughout Australia, United Kingdom, China and Germany to critical and audience acclaim.

In January 2020, Jack joined Australasian Dance Collective (ADC) as a company artist and was appointed Associate Choreographer with Queensland Ballet.

Since joining ADC, Jack has performed in creations by celebrated Australian and international choreographers, including Hofesh Shechter, Maxine Doyle, Melanie Lane, Amy Hollingsworth, Alisdair Macindoe, Cass Mortimer Eipper, Kate Harman and Gabrielle Nankivell, as well as creating two mainstage works for the company.

For ADC, Jack has choreographed Aftermath, a co-creation with ADC Artistic Director, Amy Hollingsworth, and two-time ARIA Music Award-nominated, producer and singer-songwriter, The Kite String Tangle’s, Danny Harley. The full-evening work was met with audience and critical acclaim, described by The Courier Mail as “one of the most compelling performances I have ever witnessed.” Since its sold-out premiere season, Aftermath has gone on to feature in three major festivals across Australia.

In January 2022, Jack was appointed Creative Associate of ADC, a position created for him.

Internationally, Jack has created A Brief Nostalgia for the Birmingham Royal Ballet (co-produced with QB), staged at both the Birmingham Hippodrome and Sadler’s Wells in 2019, with recognition in Dancing Times such as, “Lister is just 25 years old, yet the piece appeared to be of exceptional maturity and depth.” He was also a finalist in the 2019 International Ballet and Choreographic Competition, presenting two works in Beijing. In 2022, Jack premiered Perfect Strangers, performed by QB, at The Royal Opera House in London.

Jack has collaborated with respected Australian film director, Ryan Renshaw, creating dance films that have featured in film festivals worldwide. Their collaborative works have garnered award recognition, notably at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and LA Dance Film Festival and their latest creation, Still Life, receiving over 10 awards globally.

Jack is currently based in Brisbane, Australia where he holds the dual role of Company Artist and Creative Associate with ADC and maintains his ongoing appointment with QB as Associate Choreographer. Jack will premiere his latest full length creation, Halcyon in November 2023; an immersive dance theatre work, using live relay cameras and projection to re-create a “whodunit” in the style of 1920’s film noir.

Gabrielle Lamb, choreographer and 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, is based in NYC, where she directs Pigeonwing Dance, described by The New Yorker as “eccentric...playful...curious.” Her work has also been presented by the American Ballet Theatre Incubator, the New York Choreographic Institute, the MIT Museum, BalletX, the Julliard School, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet Collective, Whim W’Him, Jacob’s Pillow, and Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center. She has won fellowships and competitions at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet, and the Banff Centre, as well as the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award and a Princess Grace Award. A native of Savannah, GA, she trained at the Boston Ballet School and was a longtime soloist at Les Grands ballets Canadiens, later performing with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and Pontus Lidberg Dance in NYC. She has been lauded by DANCE Magazine as “a dancer of stunning clarity who illuminates the smallest details—qualities she brings to the dances she makes, too.” 

She was recently selected as a 2024 Hearst Choreographer in Residence at Princeton University. Her 2024 commission includes the Savannah Music Festival, and “rising,” an evening-length collaboration with Grammy-nominated Neave Trio. 

Penny Saunders, originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, graduated from the Harid Conservatory in 1995 and began her professional career with the American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Septime Webre. She went on to dance with Ballet Arizona, MOMIX Dance Theater, Cedar Lake Ensemble, and, in 2004, she joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2011, Saunders won the International Commissioning Project, which launched her choreographic career, creating pieces for Hubbard Street, Cincinnati Ballet, Whim W’Him, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Parsons Dance, Oklahoma City Ballet, BalletX, Sacramento Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, and Seattle Dance Collective, among others. Saunders is honored to be the Resident Choreographer at The Grand Rapids Ballet, to have received support from The New York City Ballet Choreographer Commissions Initiative, to have participated in the Guggenheim Works & Process and The National Choreographers Initiative, and to be the recipient of the 2016 Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship. She is currently Artist in Residence at USC Kaufman School of Dance as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at The University of Utah School of Dance. 

A French native of Dutch descent, Nelly van Bommel was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in January 2010. She is an award-winning choreographer whose work has been featured in France, Taiwan, Canada and the United States in venues, companies and programs, including Ballet Austin, Milwaukee Ballet, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Taipei National University of the Arts, Springboard Danse Montreal and the Juilliard School.   

Van Bommel is an Associate Professor in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York, currently serving as Director.  

“Nelly van Bommel’s choreography magically teeters between tragedy and comedy, classical and folk, serenity and wildness.” —?Dance Magazine