Alesia Michelle Young

Alesia Young has worked professionally as a Performer, Choreographer, and Dance Educator for more than two decades. She received her earliest dance training at The Performing Arts Center in New Jersey, New York's Steps and Broadway Dance Center, and throughout Europe, with a brief stay at Amsterdam's School for New Dance Development. As a Presidential Arts Scholar, she gained a B.A. in Dance and a B.A. in American Studies with a focus in Multiculturalism from The George Washington University. Young made the move to Los Angeles in 1998, shortly after completing her undergraduate studies, and later gained a M.F.A. in Dance from UCLA.

Alesia has danced professionally since she was 16, working as a principal dancer for an eclectic group of classic modern and contemporary touring companies, throughout her dance education and performance career working with artists like Doug Caldwell, Sean Curran, Katie Duck, Jodie Gates, Joe Goode, Finis Jhung, Liz Lerman, Steve Paxton, and David Rousseve to name a few.

She is a sought after modern teacher and choreographer working with such programs as American Ballet Theater’s Summer Intensive, Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, Orange County School of the Arts, and the California State University - Los Angeles. Alesia's work has been commissioned for the Skirball's Siteworks Series, the Latin-based contemporary company Contra-Tiempo's touring roster, and new works for FADAM Production's animation department. She also worked as Assistant to the Choreographer for Halle Berry's film "Frankie and Alice," and six original dance films have toured festivals throughout the US and Europe. Alesia, alongside Tina Berkett of BODYTRAFFIC and Alexa Kershner of Shen Wei Dance Arts, was also a founding member of the artist collective Your Huge Head, established to create more opportunities for new and innovative choreographers to produce work in alternative spaces. Throughout her career, Alesia has been nominated for a Lester Horton Dance Award for Outstanding Individual Performance and received Dance Magazine’s August Editor’s Choice Award for her solo Forward Drift. Alesia and fellow String Theory artists have been featured in the Scene in LA section of Angeleno Magazine and she has been profiled as an artist to watch by California Dance Network.

Currently, Alesia is the Windward School Performing Arts Department Advisor and the Program Lead for Dance. Under her directorship of the advanced level rep performance ensembles, Alesia has introduced students to accomplished artists like Norbert de la Cruz III, Christian Denice, James Gregg, Loni Landon, Barak Marshall, Yusha Sorzana, Micaela Taylor, and many more. Through her mentorship over the years, dance students have gone on to acceptance into some of the top conservatories and college level dance programs, including Ailey/Fordham, Boston Conservatory, LINES/Dominican University of California, Glorya Kaufman International School of Dance at USC, The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase and Arts Umbrella Canada.

In the larger arts community, Alesia also serves on the board of Ballet California and is thrilled to be a member of the new Advisory Council for Francisco Gella Danceworks.