JEFFERSON
DANCERS
LILA MAE WENDROFF
Lila Mae is a sixteen-year-old senior and this is her fourth year with the company. Lila started dancing at age three at Miss Pam’s Ballet School in Los Angeles, California. When her family moved to Portland she joined The Children’s Gym competitive dance team and danced with them for two seasons. She started dancing at Center for Movement Arts doing ballet, jazz, and modern with Tim and Sherie Ryan. While also attending DaVinci Arts Middle School learning tap and jazz under the instruction of Sara Martins. She danced ballet, hip-hop, and contemporary and at various intensives with Northwest Dance Project and Open Space Dance.
AVA MASSEY
Ava Massey is a 17-year-old senior. This is Ava’s first year in the company. She first started out dancing at Da Vinci Arts Middle School, learning techniques like jazz, ballet, and tap taught by Sara Martins and Bobbi Sullivan. After middle school, she then continued her dancing journey at Franklin High School, where she worked with Sonia Kellermann for 3 years and received a scholarship to attend the FAA Summer Dance Intensive in Illinois. During the summer, Ava also attended NW Dance Project 2026 Summer Dance Intensive, where she had the honor to work with Rick Gonzalez, Makino Hayashi, Adrianna Audoma, and Audrey Wells, mastering ballet, modern, and contemporary. This year, Ava is very excited to be a part of the Jefferson Dancers and is looking forward to getting stronger as a dancer and performing better.
Ava would like to thank her family, friends, and past dance teachers who always supported and inspired her to do her best, be confident, and never give up even when things are challenging. In the future, Ava plans to move to San Diego or Arizona where she will continue to take classes of all sorts and dance on the side.
SARYAH MORRIS
Saryah is a 17 year old senior at Jefferson high school she started dancing at Tubman middle school doing African with Sekou Walker. Her love for dance has been an ongoing thing since she was 6. To her dance is like therapy, she gets to release her stress and emotions all on the floor with her moves. Saryah has been a part of Sebekan for 6 years as Sekou Walker as the director, she has done SEI Elite for 2 years, she was on Jefferson Dancers 2 for her first 3 years at Jefferson and now has become a Jefferson dancer. Saryah wants to study dance and wants to look at dance schools in New York and she wants to be a prosthodontist at Clark Atlanta or LSU to make people feel better about their smiles. Saryah would like to thank Bunky Williams, Lauren Smith, and Steve Gonzales for being great dance teachers and helping her push herself when she felt like she couldn’t do it.
NIMAH CREWS
Nimah is a dedicated 16-year-old junior, currently in her third year with the company. She began her dance journey at the age of six at Boise Elementary, under the guidance of Ms. Shelton. At eleven, she joined the esteemed African dance company Sebekaun, where she had the privilege of learning from Sekou Walker. The following year, Nimah expanded her horizons by enrolling at STEPS PDX, where she honed her skills in ballet, contemporary, and jazz with instructors Ms. Lauryn, Ms. Kathryn, and Ms. Olivia. Additionally, she spent two years with the SEI Elite hip-hop crew, training under Ms. Nunu and Ms. Leslie. Dance is a huge part of Nimah’s life, and she would like to extend her heartfelt gratitude to her church, family, and friends for their unwavering support and contributions to her dance career. With aspirations of attending Fordham University in New York or an HBCU after high school, she looks forward to furthering her dance education and pursuing a successful career in the performing arts and beyond.
ELLA SANCHEZ-GEORGE
Ella is a 16-year-old junior. From her hometown in Spain to Florida and Portland, OR, Ella has practiced a variety of dance styles, including street styles, ballet, jazz, tap, and flamenco. The Jefferson Dancers have expanded her world of dance with African and Modern. Ella also enjoys choreographing. Her choreography shows how much she loves how music and movement can combine.At OpenSpace Dance, she trained in contemporary and pointe. With them, she performed a quartet piece by Anna Hooper at the Regional High School Dance Festival opening ceremony.In addition to dance, she has trained in taekwondo, rhythmic gymnastics, and aerial arts like trapeze, silks, and lyra. K-pop has been a significant influence in her life too; she's learned countless dances.She is passionate about this art and is dedicated to continuing a dance career as an adult.
SIERRA MILLER
Sierra is a 15 year old junior, and this is her third year with the company. At age 2, she took ballet for a year at Haiyan International Dance Academy. She discovered her love for dance at Da Vinci Arts Middle School when she was 10 years old, taking tap and jazz under the instruction of Sara Martins, while also taking gymnastics at the Children’s Gym. As well as dancing at Da Vinci, she took theater, and performed in multiple plays and musicals. She knew she wanted to be a Jefferson Dancer after seeing the them perform at the Newmark Theater in 7th grade. She was inspired by their hard work, dedication, and perseverance. After middle school, she joined the Jefferson Dancers, learning Modern, Ballet, and Jazz from Lauren Smith and Steve Gonzales. During her sophomore year, Sierra also took weekly tap classes at BodyVox Dance Center with Steven Spanopoulos. She hopes to grow even more this year and adapt to new styles. Sierra would like to thank her family for always supporting her decisions and making her dreams possible.
BRIXTON FAIRMAN
Brixton is a sixteen-year-old junior in her third year with the company. She was introduced to dance by her sister and quickly fell in love with the art form. She took classes in many styles, such as tap, jazz, and hip hop, but one stood out to her the most. She started her ballet training at The Portland Ballet. She also attended DaVinci Arts Middle School, learning under Sara Martins’ instruction. She would like to thank her Grandma for always supporting her and getting her into dance classes. She would also like to thank her sister Cash for teaching her in and out of class, and of course, she would like to thank her teachers for helping her become a better dancer, creator, and person.
JAHLIL YARBOROUGH
Jahlil is a sixteen-year-old junior at Jefferson High School. Jahlil is a passionate and dynamic young dancer whose journey began in middle school, where he first discovered the different styles of dance. Jahlil was inspired by the energetic rhythms and expressive movements of African and hip-hop dance styles. This early exposure made him realize this is something that he would wanna do. With room for growth, Jahlil joined the West African dance company, Sebekan. Under the guidance of talented mentors Sekou and Lyric, he honed his skills, immersing himself in the rich traditions and cultural narratives that West African dance comes with. Now, as Jahlil looks to expand his dance repertoire, he is thrilled to be apart of Jefferson Dancers. He sees this opportunity as a chance to further develop his technique, and collaborate with diverse dancers & choreographers.
ZELIE HERMIDA-LOGAN
Zelie is a 17-year-old junior in her third year with the company. Zelie had loved to dance for as long as she can remember even just starting with dance parties in the living room. But her passion for dance grew as she started to take dance classes at her elementary school, then though 6th-8th grade where she danced with Sara martins at da Vinci arts middle school learning jazz, tap and had opportunities to work with guests artist learning other styles like afro-Brazilian and contemporary. She had always wanted to come to Jefferson middle college to become a JD ever since the second grade when they performed at her elementary school and she was amazed with their skill and performances abilities, since that she knew she wanted to become that herself. And now that she’s a part of the Jefferson dancers company it’s a dream come true. She couldn’t thank her family and support system more for all the support over the years. especially her mom Theresa Logan for always pushing her not to give up and go for the things she wants in life. She would also like to thank all of her past dance teachers for helping her to get where she is now.
WREN EDWARDS
Wren is a 16 year old junior and a second year member of the JDS. She started ballet at Oregon Ballet Theater but enrolled at Open Space Dance Studio, where she currently still dances, during COVID. There she was introduced to pointe technique, jazz, contemporary, and other styles of dance by her teachers Maeve Dougal , Charlene Hannibal, Maranda Jory, and Clair Olberding. During her freshman year she was a member of the Jefferson dancers second’s company where she learned jazz and tap from Bunky Williams. When she graduates she hopes to either further study ballet or pursue some other type of dance career and has loved her experience and training with the JDs so far!
AVA BRANDON
Ava Brandon is a 15-year-old sophomore, and this is her second year with the company. She started her dance career in 6th grade at Da Vinci Arts Middle School, learning tap, modern, and contemporary. Her love for dance started when she was very young, dancing at Matt Dishman with Sekou, learning African when she was around 4, and doing baby ballet when she was 5 and 6. This past year, through shows, classes, and changes in her dance and in herself, she continues to grow as a dancer and into a young adult. Her dream is to move to New York to major in psychology and minor in dance to hopefully dance with Alvin Ailey Company. She’s excited to keep dancing with the company.
ARIAH WINTER
Ariah is a fifteen-year-old Sophomore and this her second year with the company. Ariah started dancing at the age of six with Aspire dance doing ballet and modern. Once Aspire shut down during Covid, she started dancing at northwest dance project for 3 years. In 2022 Ariah was introduced to Open Space by another dancer and fell in love with the studio and educators immediately. At Open Space she was under the instruction of Maeve Dougal, Franco Nieto, Kylie Kilian, Maranda Jory, and Claire Olberding, teaching her ballet, pointe work Jazz, and contemporary. Since her time with Open Space she has noticed her own growth and dedication to dance. In the future, Ariah would love to continue her career in dancing and hope that the instructors at Jefferson can help her get there.
SCARLETT BEPPU-LAROCCO
Scarlett Beppu-LaRocco is 15 and a sophomore at Jefferson High School. Scarlett started dancing at the age of two at a community center in Washington DC for a year. She then started at Oregon Ballet Theater and was there for the next 10 years. In seventh grade, she started dancing at Da Vinci Arts Middle School with Sara, and now she is in her second year with the Jefferson Dancers.
ANOUK HUMPHRIES
Anouk is a fifteen-year-old freshman and this is her first year with the company. Anouk started dancing at age 11 with open space dance, learning ballet, pointe work, jazz, and contemporary under the instruction of Maeve Dougal, Charlene Hannibal, Franco Nieto, Maranda Jory, and Kylee Killian. While attending West Sylvan middle school, she danced under the instruction of Jessica Holyfield Melz who taught her various styles such as tap, hip hop, jazz, salsa, and lyrical.
TALLULAH WARD
Tallulah is a 14-year old freshman entering her first year in the Jefferson Dancers. She has been dancing for 11 years, primarily at Oregon Ballet Theatre learning ballet, modern, contemporary and pointework, additionally learning jazz and tap at da Vinci Arts Middle School. She also engaged in various summer intensives such as Oregon Ballet Theatre, Steps PDX, and Columbia Dance, becoming familiar with other styles such musical theatre and hip-hop. In her remaining time as a Jefferson Dancer, she hopes to continue her development in a professional setting, as she plans to continue dancing professionally after high school.