Vanessa Martínez de Baños
Internationally recognized dancer, teacher, choreographer and co-artistic director of DoubleTake Dance. Vanessa has been trained in Contemporary, Ballet, Lyrical, Musical Theater, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Aerial Silks and Acting. Currently dances for Daniel Gwirtzman Company (now celebrating 10 years as a soloist. Some of her favorite shows include Lincoln Center Outdoors, Battery Dance, Rochester Fringe Festival…), Christy Walsh Company and DoubleTake Dance.
Recently seen as “The Queen” in the Contemporary Ballet production of “The Queen of Nöri” by Stoneworks Productions (performed in Oahu, Hawaii) and in the Fashion Magazine BAZAAR Indonesia, dancing/modeling for Fashion Designer Yinglun Zhang. And the shows “Planets” and "Seasons" as a dancer/choreographer produced by KDA (Oahu, Hawaii).
Honored with a professional development scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Culture Vanessa moved to NYC to pursue her dance career. Credits in Spain include choreographing “Tick Tick…BOOM!” and “I Love You, You’re Perfect …Now Change” produced by Tela-Katola as well as performing with the European show “Compradores de Sueños”.
Vanessa has produced, choreographed and directed several full length shows with her dance company DoubleTake Dance along with co-director Ashley Carter. Featured in Dance Informa Magazine; with shows in festivals & events such as SummerStage; Battery Dance, NY Half Marathon, Ailey Theater; Carnival, NYC Fashion Week, Higher Ground Festival, the ACLU’s 100th birthday celebration, United Palace, Webster Hall; Gerald Lynch Theater, Dixon Place, Teatro la Tea, JCE (NY),Teatro Madrid & SalaTriángulo (Spain). DTD is a proud recipient of commissions such as NY City Arts Grant, Rock that Rolls for Dancing Wheels (Cleveland, OH), HTChen New Steps (NYC); Next Step (JPAC NYC)
Other companies and choreographers include: LLMoves, BalaSole, Noir Tribe Media, Burnt Sugar, Ikada, Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions, Ryan Beck, Derek Mitchell, Guillém Alonso, Gabrielle Lasner, Alan Onickel, Lynn Schwab (Tap City -Symphony Space) and Tony Waag (Career Transition for Dancers Gala at City Center) Featured in “Steel City Rhythm” workshop by RSW & associates; “DIY Nutcracker” (NY), “Rabi Thakur: A ballet on the Life of Rabindranath Tagore” (NJPAC); “The jazz Hip Hop Nutcracker” by Momentum Dance Theater: (Washington D.C ). Other shows include “Mitridate” by The Little Opera Theater in NY; “The Golden Cockerel” & “Aurora’s Wedding” with ABT at the MET, “Arrival” (Theater 80), “LOVEartJAPAN” (Raising funds for Japan and “3 for 1” by DTD with AJR Brothers.
Vanessa is a versatile performer who has worked as an actress, model and dancer for international brands and commercials like: L ́OREAL, Heineken, Ameriprise, Athleta, NYRoadRunners, Tag Heuer, Netflix “Umbrella Academy”, Yahoo, Ursus Vodka, KDDance, Lush Cosmetics/Gorilla Perfumes, El Pais newspaper, channel Tele5, Fuse TV, X-Box/Kinect (Times Square with NeYo and Lady Sovereign) Fashion Center Arts Festival, One Truth, Dru Cutler, Guerilla Toss, The Rachel Ray Show, Dropps, Smartphone Users Guide to Etiquette by Mary John Frank with Ariana deBose. Film credits include “The Ryde of Tom & Valkyrie”, & “Friends With Benefits” with Justin Timberlake (IMDB 2011)
As a dance video director, editor and dancer her latest work “Piel” has successfully premiered in the Festival “Encuentros” (Ciapas, México.)
Currently on faculty at BAE (Adult Program), Ballet Hispanico (Adult, Summer Intensive and Pre and Professional Programs) and BeFit. Other teaching credits include: Peridance, Joffrey, Steps on Broadway, Nazareth Dance, Ithaca College, PMT, Bridge for dance in NY; Alonzo Lines in San Francisco; LeHigh Valley Alliance in Pennsylvania; Hawaii Univ, Punahou, Mid-Pac, Kailua Dance, Kroc Dance, Destination in Hawaii; Round Rock Rep, and Tarrytown Dance in Austin; V. Ullate, Arte de Bailar, Luthier, L'atelier, Ross in Spain; PAO Dance in Belgium, T- Stage in México…). Vanessa loves traveling as a teacher, judge and choreographer and is also a Pilates Mat Certified Trainer, with choreography featured in the YAGP finals.
Ashley Carter
Both internationally as well as in the U.S., Ashley is passionate about her work as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. Primarily trained in New York, she has studied and worked in many different styles from ballet to lyrical, modern, tap, hip-hop, contemporary, and musical theatre. She has had the opportunity to perform and/or choreograph at venues such as Jacob's Pillow, Teatro Madrid, The Gerald Lynch Theater, The Barrow Street Theater, SummerStage, The Highline Ballroom, Webster Hall, BB Kings and the Ailey Theatre. Ashley is also on faculty at Peridance in New York, various schools in Mexico and Spain; and has taught at Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, and Ballet Arts in New York City, Lines Dance Center in San Francisco, Tony Williams Dance Center and Green St Studios in Boston and Round Rock Repertory in Texas.
She can be seen working alongside artists such as Ricky Martin, NeYo, Lady Sovereign, Nicki Minaj, Cam'ron and Mila Kunis, for companies like Pilobolus, Derek Mitchell, Germaul Barnes/ Viewsic Expressions, Momentum Dance Company, Variations Theatre Group, the Little Opera Theatre of NY, Moochaloo and Balasole, and for brands such as Nike, Nokia, Ursus Vodka, Microsoft, Heineken, Yahoo, Ameriprise, and Lush Cosmetics. She has been seen off-Broadway in shows like West Side Story and 3 to 1. She was invited to Madrid to teach at the Association of Dance Professionals and choreograph for Spanish recording artist Nuria Elosegui. Ashley performed in Sia's music video "Soon We Will Be Found", in Central Park Summerstage, in a Boost Mobile commercial, danced in a feature film with Justin Timberlake, and is credited with choreographing independent feature film "The Ride of Tom and Valkyrie". She has toured with the European show "Compradores de Sueños", premiered the Legendary Dance Project at the Museo del Barrio and has completed her fourth season of New York City's Summerstage. This year Ashley was featured in the original dance film "Here We Go Again" (dir. Nathan Cohen).
!Ashley has choreographed several full-length shows for the company DoubleTake Dance (www.DoubleTakeDanceCo.com) that she co-directs with Vanessa Martínez de Baños, and is very proud of DoubleTake's performance in the City Parks Summerstage festival as well as Carnival Choreographer's Ball. Additionally, she can be seen dancing on the Rachel Ray show, co- directing/choreographing a benefit for Japan and the latest commercial for Fuse TV; and traveling to the west coast, Europe and Mexico to teach contemporary workshops. Recent credits include choreographic commissions for the world-renowned Dancing Wheels Company, HT Chen's NewSteps, JPAC's Next Stage Residency, and the Montclair Performing Arts program; choreography for the new musical "Dragula", and was also a choreography grant recipient from Eryc Taylor Dance.
Ashley Carter Vanessa Martínez de Baños
Photos by: Mario Alzate, Noir Tribe Media/ Wallace Flores
