National Choreography Month Los Angeles (NACHMO LA) originated in New York City and has spread to several cities along the east and west coasts. Rachel Turner participated in the month long choreography workshop in Washington, D.C. and is now the Regional Director of NACHMO LA. The workshop culminates in a weekend of performances that showcase the Works-In Progress, and this was the 4th year that it occurred at Stomping Ground L.A. On this night, January 6, 2026, there 16 works by as many choreographers.
Creating a dance in just one month can be difficult but it is great training for a choreographer who may be asked to create a dance for university students in just two or three weeks. I know, I have been there. I admire these young choreographers for participating in NACHMO LA and having the courage to present their work before a paying audience. Kudos also go out to the dancers who learned, rehearsed and performed them.
As previously mentioned, these were works-in-progress, but there were a few that appear complete or nearly finished, so I will write about these.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Diane Della Anderson, Aerica Goetten, Ermioni Har, Cassidy Kittredge, and Melody Wilson in “Stay In The Lines” choreography by Marissa Mahoney – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
Marissa Mahoney’s Stay In The Lines opened the evening and set a high bar for the other choreographers, not just with her movement, but also how well rehearsed the dancers were. Set to the music “Infinite Wave” by British electronic music composer and producer gorse panshawe, Mahoney took on a futuristic score while presenting a down-to-Earth theme of social norms and expectations. To top it off, Mahoney added spoken word while incorporating different color markers that the performers used to draw lines onto themselves and each other. The dance movement was contemporary but the work’s structure was very sophisticated. Stay In The Lines is a work that I hope Mahoney polishes and presents in the near future.
The dancers that did a wonderful job of visualizing Mahoney’s vision were Diane Della Anderson, Aerica Goetten, Ermioni Har, Cassidy Kittredge, and Melody Wilson.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Maddie Cardinal, Danielle Celestino, Cindy Chang, Kristine Kimter, Norianna Galindo-Ramirez, Jessica Keene, Priyanka Kompella, Samantha Mejia, Brittni Miller, LeorizDelle Rivera, Natalie Rubio, Marialyse Rudi, Savanna Scott, Jeremiah Sheppert, Rachel Sloan, and Sara Wizman in “Lost Without You” choreography by Kristine Dimter – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
Another promising work was Lost Without You choreographed by Kristine Dimter to music by English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Freya Ridings. It opened with 15 or 16 dancers lined up in three lines, giving the impression that the piece was going to be a series of parade like formations. As the music began, it became clear that this work was anything but that. Dimter beautifully different groups and re-mixed them into interesting and separate entities. One stunning moment was when the dancers briefly created a vortex of bodies moving across the space.
The dancers were Maddie Cardinal, Danielle Celestino, Cindy Chang, Kristine Kimter, Norianna Galindo-Ramirez, Jessica Keene, Priyanka Kompella, Samantha Mejia, Brittni Miller, LeorizDelle Rivera, Natalie Rubio, Marialyse Rudi, Savanna Scott, Jeremiah Sheppert, Rachel Sloan, and Sara Wizman.
Rachel Turner was the choreographer of For Your Eyes, set to the music by Ladji Mouflet, aupinard, gracegrace. Turner is obviously more experienced a choreographer than some of the others on this program, and For Your Eyes demonstrated her knowledge of structure and form. I was impressed by her musicality and the lyricism of her movement. While the music was a Bossa Nova, Turner wove her dancers through series of styles.
The cast of For Your Eyes were Danielle Celestino, Mallory Chen, Dristin Curi, Jessica Keene, Alondra Zitlaly Perez, Jeremiah Sheppert, and Elizabeth Villalobos.
*In full disclosure, Rachel Turner is on the writing staff at LA Dance Chronicle.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Sami Flores in “it used to be us” choreography by Sami Flores – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
Choreographed and wonderfully performed by Sami Flores, it used to be us was a dance about love, loss, grief, anger and moving on. Set to gorgeous music by Austrian composer and conductor Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Flores began sitting on a folding chair downstage right facing a similar chair with a white jacket draped on its back, upstage left. Her slow, hesitant movement took her on a diagonal toward the chair where she lifted the jacket and lovingly smelled it. This simple movement told us the entire story. The woman had lost someone she loved very much and that she was grieving that loss. She moved on and very briefly expressed anger at being left alone but quickly decided that it is time to move on.
What I loved about this work was its simplicity and how Flores told her story without over acting. She wasn’t afraid of stillness. She let the audience share her grief without burdening them. Kudos to Flores.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Sarah Gibson in “Cease” choreography by Sarah Gibson – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
Another solo but in a different dance genre, Tap, Cease was choreographed and performed with great clarity by the tall and svelte Sarah Gibson. Her music was Ashley Singh’s “A Million Days” whose open lyrics were “Walls talking, Waters dry since you walked out of my life.” The song is sad and Gibson’s demeanor was as well, but her choreography was hopeful. Even though she was performing on a floor that wasn’t wood but covered with Marley, Gibson’s footwork and musicality shone through.
Hues, set to a sound mix by Jamie xx; Oliver Sim and ODESZA, was a work that I would like to see more exploration and clarity but it was one that left me smiling. Choreographers and dancers Zara Fuerstein and Jill Gregory had just begun to explore the movement themes of different shades of color when the dance ended. Keep going.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Mallory Chen, Jackie Nii, and Sharon Zhang in “Finding Wonder” choreography by Nadine Tran – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
Nadine Tran’s very well constructed work Finding Wonder had inspiring moments and unexpected shifts in tempo and mood. The dancers who helped this happen were Mallory Chen, Jackie Nii, and Sharon Zhang.
NACHMO LA 2026 – Alondra Zitlaly Perez in “la parálisis del sueño” choreography by Santiago Isaac Rivera Radas – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
One of the highlights of the entire evening was a solo choreographed by Santiago Isaac Rivera Radas and performed by Alondra Zitlaly Perez. Entitled la parálisis del sueño (sleep paralysis) and set to an eerie mixture of music that opened with “Psycho-A Suite for Strings: The Knife” by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Perez was dressed in only a flesh colored leotard with a bright red rose placed in her jet black hair. She never left the spot that she was in but the control that her slow, twisted and quietly emotional movement took was amazing. Radas proved that sometimes less is more and Perez’s performance had me spellbound.
One bit of advise to many of these young and inspiring choreographers is that they might want to explore music that without lyrics so that they are not cornered into interpreting the author’s words.
I look forward to NACHMO LA 2027.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: NACHMO LA 2026 – Danielle Celestino, Mallory Chen, Dristin Curi, Jessica Keene, Alondra Zitlaly Perez, Jeremiah Sheppert, and Elizabeth Villalobos in For Your Eyes choreography by Rachel Turner – Photo by Gregory M. Kasunich.
