five two dance company is a women-led dance collective that shares highly physical contemporary movement. Working with early-career performers, the company seeks to create expressive, legible work that inspires conversation, imagination, and reflection among all viewers.
five two dance company is a nonprofit organization founded in 2021 by Olivia Passarelli and Sophie Gray-Gaillard. Their work has been featured at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Mark Morris Dance Center, Tufts University, Briggs Opera House, the Emelin Theater, Peridance’s KNJ Theater, Arts on Site, and more. five two was awarded the Directors’ Choice Award at the Spring for Spring Dance Festival and was selected twice for the SharedSpace Program at MMDG. In 2024, five two was in residence at the Dragon’s Egg where they produced their first ever dance film. Most recently, they performed an evening of work for a sold out audience at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. In addition to creating and performing their work, five two dance company is committed to offering affordable dance classes to movers of all experience.
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About us
In the press
There Is Strength in the Collective: a review of five two Dance Company’s repertoire showcase
Read our interview: “Conversations with Sophie Gray-Gaillard and Olivia Passarelli” in Voyage Dallas Magazine
Take a look at our Broadway World press release about five two Dance Company at the Mark O’Donnell Theater
Who we are
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Co-Artistic Director
Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Sophie Gray-Gaillard began her training at Dance Center Evanston at the age of three. She graduated from Swarthmore College with a double major in Neuroscience and Dance, and during the fall of 2018, she trained in the Victoria College of Arts’ BFA Dance Program in Melbourne, Australia. Sophie has had the privilege to perform works by Doug Varone, Florian Lochner and Alice Klock of FLOCK, Yuki Ishiguro, Olivia Sabee, Vivake Khamsingsavath, Chandra Moss-Thorne, and Amelia Estrada, among other talented artists. Additionally, she was selected to perform as a backup dancer for the feminist punk rock group, Pussy Riot. While overseas, she performed works by Rheannan Port and Rebecca Jensen and was selected to stage her original work, Throw Away, at the Strawberry Fields Music Festival in New South Wales, Australia. She has attended intensives at Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, Boston Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, Cambrians, Hubbard Street, Doug Varone and Dancers, American Dance Festival, and b12 research or die. Sophie was awarded the 2020 Melvin B. Troy Prize in Dance for her choreography as well as multiple grants from the Department of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College. Currently, she is co-founder and co-director of five two dance company. In addition to dancing, Sophie is pursuing a PhD in Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
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Co-Artistic Director
Olivia Passarelli graduated from Montclair State University with her BFA in Dance, where she performed works by Martha Graham, Bill T. Jones, Joshua Manculich, Earl Mosley, Christian Von Howard, and Stacey Tookey. Since graduating she has had the privilege of working with and performing works by Laura Halzack, Hope Boykin, Paul Taylor, and more, and has appeared in award-winning films, TV episodes, and immersive productions. In 2020 Olivia received the Choreographic Excellence Award as part of Montclair’s graduating class and was awarded 1st Place in Salt Contemporary Dance’s Shape Choreography Festival. In 2021 she founded five two Dance Company with co-director Sophie Gray-Gaillard, and they have since been featured in various festivals and showcases across the east coast, as well as self-producing multiple evening length performances. She has set their work on the Paul Taylor School Professional Division, as well as the Steffi Nossen Pre-Professional Division. Most recently, Olivia was the recipient of the 2024 Eryc Taylor New Choreographer Grant.
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Dancer
Rachel Ha-Eun Lee (she/her) graduated from New York University with a B.F.A. in dance and a minor in broadcast journalism. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Rachel attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She is currently a company dancer for five two dance company as well as Synchronous, and is a freelance artist in New York City, having performed in many different projects, festivals and workshops. She is represented by CESD and has performed works by Grace Yi-Li Tong, Olivia Passarelli, Sophie Gray-Gaillard, Mark Morris, Chuck Wilt of UNA Productions, Banning Bouldin of New Dialect, Patricia Hoffbauer, Shamel Pitts, Mike Esperanza, Peter Chu, and more. In 2018, Rachel was in the off-Broadway production of Oklahoma!, choreographed by John Heginbotham. Outside of dance, Rachel is an artist who choreographs, photographs, illustrates, and writes for other artists, films and art publications.
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Dancer
Currently based in NYC, Daniel Ricardo Rocha Cartagena (he/him/his) is an
enthusiastic investigator of the created universe. He graduated in May of 2021 with a BFA in Dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. A first generation child of Colombian parents, his cultural understanding of rhythm and movement deeply inform his practice. The movement forms he has accumulated in this practice include classical and contemporary ballet, experimental dance, hip-hop, breaking, contact improvisation, contemporary floorwork, Latin social dance forms, musical theater jazz, and a myriad of improvisational and compositional methods. He has performed works by Sunhi Willa Keller, Shamel Pitts, Olivia Passarelli, Sophie Gray-Gaillard, Rena Butler, Grace Yi-Li Tong, Catherine Messina, Nini Dongnier, and many more. In the Fall of 2021 he joined the Peridance Contemporary Dance Company as an apprentice, and in January of 2022 joined the Roxey Ballet Company as company member and Community Engagement Coordinator. As of 2023, he is a member of five two dance company and One Day Dance Company, and regularly collaborates with artists across NYC and beyond.
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Dancer
Vivianna DeSantiago (she/her) is originally from Yuma, Arizona. She graduated with a BFA in Dance from the University of Arizona where she performed works by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Larry Keigwin. Vivianna has performed with Convergence Ballet, Modern American Dance Company, The Taylor Outreach Ensemble, and is thrilled to be performing with five two dance company this season.
Artistic Statement
At the heart of our creative practice is the desire to evoke kinesthetic empathy—the ability of audiences to emotionally and physically connect with the movement they witness. five two dance company’s works draw on the audience’s capacity to relate to themes of love, care, and queerness, creating multiple entry points for viewers to connect to our work. We ground the creation process in striving to produce works that will leave the audience with resonating questions and curiosity.
Our artistic practice centers highly physical contemporary partnering movement through the lens of our queer, feminine perspectives. In collaboration with five two’s dancers, we focus on generating a movement language that challenges heteronormativity by featuring dynamic partnering between people of all gender identities. This disruption of traditional partnering roles reflects our mission to explore the fluidity of identity, connection, and relationships. Through this fusion of athleticism and technique, we work to craft movement that highlights the queer experience and the expressive possibilities of the human body. The movement language and company dynamic that we have cultivated for five two dance company invites viewers to experience dance as a shared human experience.
Moreover, five two dance company is a collective of early-career dance artists. In addition to dance works, we have engaged in mixed media projects that rely on collaborations with other emerging artists such as graphic designers, costume designers, photographers, videographers, musicians, and fashion designers. Through starting five two dance company, we wanted to create a space for emerging artists in New York City to engage in a creative process that centers our voices, our identities, and our experiences. Our commitment to collaboration with early-career artists stems from our belief in the inherent value of all voices and perspectives in the dance space. By fostering an environment of shared learning and exploration, we are working to build a community that reflects the dynamic, multifaceted nature of contemporary identities.
Past Collaborators
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Dancer
Emma Dulski (she/they) is a dancer, choreographer, and scribe based in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from San Francisco, Emma attended Swarthmore College where she studied Peace and Conflict Studies and danced, participating in choreographic residencies with Doug Varone and Christopher K. Morgan and creating her own original work. She also studied at SFCD, performing works by Ohad Naharin and Summer Lee Rhatigan. As a dancer and choreographer, Emma centers collaboration, joy, playfulness, and liberation as core threads of her creative practices. Currently, Emma dances with five two dance company and continues to collaborate on new works.
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Administrative assistant
Martina Dimitrova started her dance training at the Joffrey Ballet School when she was 12 years old. While attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School with a major in Drama, she trained at the Paul Taylor School, and was a member of the Taylor Teen Ensemble. She is currently pursuing a double major in Dance and English at Hunter College, and continues to train at Paul Taylor, where she is a scholarship student with the Taylor Outreach Ensemble. With a focus on modern and contemporary dance, Martina has attended intensives at Paul Taylor, Martha Graham, Limón, and Antonio Fini Dance; she is also a first-year member of the Peridance Ensemble. Martina is extremely excited to be working alongside five two dance company and to help bring the company's artistic vision to the stage.
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Graphic Designer
Nick Barbaria graduated from Roger Williams University with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design Communications in 2018. He is currently the lead graphic designer at the Lower East Side Partnership - a Business Improvement District that helps improve the commerce and highlights the culture of the Lower East Side. He works directly with Essex Market and NYCEDC’s Public Market brand, as well as other institutes of the neighborhood. In addition, he has worked as a freelance designer on a myriad of projects including environmental graphics, album covers and brand creation. Nick’s artwork is inspired by the outdoors, funky typography and vintage signs.
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Jalyn Gill, a Native New Yorker, is a teacher, choreographer, and performer. She began her training at Edge School of the Arts, Dance Theater of Harlem and Mark Morris as well as summer intensives at Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts and the Ailey School. Gill graduated Magna Cum Laude from Montclair State University in 2020, holding a B.F.A in Dance. As a teaching artist and choreographer, Jalyn has taught and choreographed at her high school alma mater, Brooklyn High School of the Arts where she taught Ballet, Modern and Contemporary. She has performed with up-and-coming companies such as Maliek Dance Theater as well as five two Dance Company. As an artist, Jalyn is passionate about creating a safe space for dancers, as well as projecting her inner voice through her work.
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Dancer
Aaron Smith, originally from Nashville, TN, began his dance training at his hometown studio. He received his BFA in Dance from Florida State University in 2021 and has now moved to New York City to pursue both choreography and performance. Aaron’s movement style is driven by very physical and technical movement that combines peculiar steps within imaginative structures. He has choreographed a duet called Relief in Tandem (2019), and an ensemble work For the sake of (2020) which included himself and seven other dancers. Both dances in their respective years were selected to be performed at the American College Dance Association’s Southeast Regional Conference. At FSU, he has performed in dances choreographed by faculty members such as Tim Glenn, Donna Uchinzono, and returning professional Franciso Graciano. Along with his training at FSU, he has attended summer and winter intensives at Paul Taylor American Modern Dance in New York. He was recently awarded the Anthony Morgan Undergraduate ChoreographicAward in Dance.
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Dancer
Khalid Dunton was born and raised in Washington, DC/ Maryland. He began his dance training at Ngoma Dance theatre at 18 year olds and continued his training at Montclair State University where he received his BFA in Dance and a minor in Business. He is an apprentice for Carolyn Dorfman Dance. He has also had the privilege of performing works by Stacey Tookey, Bill T. Jones, Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith, Maxine Steinman, Christian Von Howard, Earl Mosley, Daniel Padierna. Khalid has performed on numerous platforms like the Joyce Theater, Alexander Kasser Theater, Bryant Park, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).