Alex (aka Ally) has been creating and performing music and dance in Chicago since 2005. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, she co-founded the Laboratory Dancers with Emily Lukasewski, which has since evolved into the collective it is today with the help of its passionate members. Their shared desire to make modern dance more accessible has driven Lab Dance to perform all over Chicago at bars, art galleries, cafes, and theaters. Some of her favorite performances have been at Hamlin Park, Links Hall, The Athenaeum Theatre, The Ball Hall, The Burlington, the Den, and the Fulton Street Collective. When she isn’t immersed in Laboratory Dancer’s endeavors, she is the front woman for Chicago grunge band badcandy, back-up singer for Chicago blues/rock band Local Motive, personal trainer, kickboxer, and domestic violence support advocate.

Cheryl Cornacchione holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. Upon graduating, Cheryl moved to Chicago where she has performed with BONEdanse, CORE Dance Project, Hope Goldman, We Stand Sideways Dance, Erin Kilmurray, Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, and was an artistic collaborator with The Runaways Lab Theatre. Cheryl has been a company member of RE|dance Group Group since 2022, she has been a core company member of Kelly Anderson Dance Theater since 2014, and has been performing for and collaborating with Laboratory Dancers since 2013. Cheryl spends the rest of her free time on her other passion - helping others get strong and move better through personal training!

Erika Astrid Farkvam grew up dancing at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park, IL., where her love of dance began. She moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona, where she received her BFA in Dance. While in college, Erika had the privilege of studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and in Ghana, West Africa. Upon graduating, Erika danced and choreographed for New ARTiculations Dance Theater, engaging in work that was relevant to social and environmental issues within the Tucson community. Since returning to Chicago, Erika has performed for Momenta, Darling Shear, Kate Corby Dance, Laboratory Dancers, The Fly Honey Show, Erin Kilmurray, Duo Tandem, Daiva Bhandari, RE|dance Group, and Jessica Kondrath. In addition to working at Trader Joe's, Erika currently dances for RE|dance Group and Laboratory Dancers.

Haley is a founding member of Laboratory Dancers and has choreographed and performed in several projects since its conception in 2009. She has dabbled with other dance projects including Subconscious Development Motion Project and Trip the Dark. While residing in Portland, OR, she experimented with screen dance, collaborating with filmmakers and contributing choreography for local Portland music videos. Haley also studies and teaches Integral Yoga and works in Montessori education, guiding children to internalize a visceral experience of peacefulness.

Michael O’Neill graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Performance and Choreography from Ohio University’s School of Dance. He currently resides in Chicago, IL where he has danced over the past decade with companies such as We Stand Sideways, Mordine & Company Dance Theater, RE|dance Group, Kelly Anderson Dance Theatre and Same Planet Performance Project. Michael is very excited to be performing again with Laboratory Dancers and to share his own work amongst this talented collective of artists!

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photo by William Frederking 

Beth Berta is a Chicago-based dancer and dance/movement therapist. A founding member of Laboratory Dancers, she has studied with Susan Marshall & Company and worked with Kaitlin Fox Dance and CUBE Ensemble. She is awed by the creative process, collaboration, and improvisation-based dancemaking and the unique capacity of movement to promote healing, connection, and self-discovery. She enjoys supporting people to engage with their bodies in new ways, and she feels lucky for these opportunities to integrate dance into so many facets of her life.

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Zach Bird is a Chicago based performer, artist, and communist. He holds a B.F.A. in Dance Studies and Improvisation from the University of Iowa. While not reading Karl Marx, Zach enjoys long walks on the beach and collaborating with his Chicago compatriots. He has had the pleasure of dancing for/with Mordine and Company, Hedwig Dances, Kelly Anderson Dance Theater, RE|dance, The Evanston Dance Ensemble, The Fly Honey Show, AJA Talents, Earlyn Sherry-Whitehead, Monica Thomas, Brady VanPatten, Kitch Annette, Lauren Linder, and his mentor Jennifer Kayle. He's beyond excited to be joining the Laboratory Dancers. "The less you eat, drink, and read books, the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall; the less you think, love, theorize, sing and paint, the more you save your capital. The less you are, the more you have; the less you express your own life, the greater is the store of your estranged being." Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels.

Kait Dessoffy is super psyched to be dancing with Lab Dancers again this year! They've been really lucky to dance with a bunch of cool companies and choreographers in Chicago, most recently Sandra Kaufmann, Such Creatures, Nick Graves, Mandy Milligan, Lab Dance, and more! Kait also teaches dance for kids and adults and Kilbourn and Maplewood Parks! For more on that, check out their website: www.kaitdance.com

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photo by William Frederking 

Lisa Leszczewicz currently moves and shakes with Laboratory Dancers and El Bear Theater. She also plays a bunch of instruments and snuggles cats. If you want to know more about her artistic endeavors, come find her in the crowd! party on, dudes!

Stephanie Neuerburg is a Chicago-based actor, writer, and tour guide. Her poetry has been featured in dirt child, Okay Donkey, and Lazy Women literary magazines and her original play Science Night was a national finalist for the John Cauble Outstanding Short Play Award. Her acting and playwriting work has been featured at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, among others. When not performing, she works as a docent on the architecture boat tour on the Chicago river. www.stephanieneuerburg.com

Alaina Moore is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in the Chicago area. She is an ardent believer in the transformational power of beauty beyond traditional valuations, binaries, and judgements – a belief she carries into her work on the stage, screen, classroom, and page. She strives to keep curiosity and empathy at the core of both her work and life. Alaina received her MFA in Stage Design from Northwestern University and her BA in Art & Design from Columbia College Chicago. She is the primary costume designer for New Trier High School's theater department, and a frequent creative collaborator with The Chicago Academy for the Arts. Recent professional credits include Women Beware Women and The Tender Trap with Blue in the Right Way, and Grelley Duvall: Best Actress at the historic Chopin Theatre. Love to Chris, always! // alainamoore.com

Tianxuan Chen (Xuan) is a Chicago-based set and lighting designer holding an MFA in Stage Design from Northwestern University. Her work centers on activating the audience’s instinctive emotional responses and imagination through spatial composition, material language, and light. She's honored to work with Laboratory Dancers as a lighting designer. Since 2023, Xuan has collaborated with Northlight Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Porchlight Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Blue in the Right Way, The Story Theatre, etc. She is the recipient of the 2024 USITT Scenic Design Award and the co-designer of the PQ2027 USA Emerging Exhibit.

Caleb studied theater at Oklahoma State University before moving to Chicago. He has a background in performance but for the past decade has transitioned to more behind the scenes roles as well as pursuing his off stage passions. He moved to Chicago in 2016, and in recent years he has focused more on writing and working as a member of the site and stage crew at the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain as well as helping to build sets for the fly honey show here in Chicago. He continues to be an avid supporter of the arts and is delighted to be able to play a small part in Laboratory Dancers most recent production of Conveyor.

Chicago-based photographer, Matthew Gregory Hollis has been working in photography for almost thirty years. Matthew received his Bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and left Ohio in 2000 to get his Masters in Studio Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently a freelance photographer for multiple dance and theatre companies from around the city. 

In his personal work, Matthew merges his love of portraiture with his appreciation for minimalism - not as theory but as a practice. He often avoids the use of professional lighting, opting instead for more playful and creative tools to create a more dynamic portraiture.

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Note from Lab: All dance photography in this program and website were taken by Matthew, unless otherwise stated.