Free Your Mind Performers L – Z – Factory International

Ariana Leon

Ariana Leon is a 21-year-old dancer who has been dancing for over a decade and has trained and competed in many styles. Ariana trained at a local dance school from the age of 10 and went on to study and continue her professional development at Rare Studio Liverpool. Her passion and love for dance came from watching old dance films like Step Up and Singin’ in the Rain, which led her to enter the world of street dance, freestyle battles and competitions. She also loves creating choreography and spreads her knowledge and love for dancing through teaching too. As a young performer, she has already been involved in tours and TV work including: Sean Paul’s UK Tour in 2022, The One Show with Will Young in 2019 and CBBC’s Mash-Up in 2021. Ariana’s dance career is only going to continue to grow and excel as she is a hardworking, talented, fierce dancer with bags of personality and creativity.

Photo by Joshua Anedoyin.

Antonia Lomas

Antonia Lomas (Toni) is a 21-year-old professional dancer from the North of England, based in Liverpool. She has been dancing for almost two decades and is completely obsessed with the freedom and challenges her career brings. Antonia strives to be incredibly versatile and driven whilst keeping to her authentic style. Her passion has allowed her to train in a variety of styles as well as travelling around the world dancing and choreographing. Whilst she has performed in various live shows and music videos for platforms such as BBC One and MTV, Antonia has also discovered a passion for teaching and choreographing, and hopes that being a part of this amazing piece of work will give her an insight into the creative process she hopes to lead one day.

Kyah Lomax

Kyah Lomax graduated from Shockout Arts with a BA (Hons) in Professional and Commercial Dance. Her credits include: Wizkid (More Love Less Ego tour at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium), National Television Awards, The X Factor: Celebrity, The X Factor: The Band, The Voice, The Voice Kids, BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Camila Cabello (MTV Europe Music Awards), Jonas Blue (Capital’s Summertime Ball), Jax Jones (Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball), You Can Dance: Po prostu tańcz!, Adidas’ Creativity is the Answer World Cup campaign, HRVY (UK tours, European tour, opening act for The Wanted Greatest Hits arena tour and The Vamps Four Corners Tour, HRVY x R3HAB Be Okaymusic video and worldwide performances), and more. Kyah is excited to be joining Free Your Mind alongside such a talented cast in her home town!

Brandon Mallipal

Brandon Mallipal is originally from Leeds. He grew up doing some breaking after going to a free community class at his school, but didn't follow dance properly until he decided to pursue it full-time at 16 years old. He has trained in various dance styles including jazz, ballet and contemporary, but now focuses on hip hop styles, mainly breaking. Having just completed a top-up course at Shockout Arts, training in popping, locking, breaking, house and hip hop freestyle, he has a passion for properly understanding these styles in detail and how to pass that information on correctly to the next generation. Having worked on numerous contracts since leaving education, he has seen many areas of this industry and tries to bring that experience into every job he goes into, in order to bridge the gap between the different genres in dance through freestyle, discussion and ideas. Brandon also enjoys other movement art forms such as tricking, Muay Thai and football. His dreams are to one day be a stuntman in films after finishing his dance career. He also has a passion for guiding young teens and adults in the right direction and teaching them good values and habits to achieve their goals. He is in the process of setting up an academy that focuses not just on becoming a great performer, but becoming a great person too.

Cara Marsh

Cara Marsh is a Northern-based performer from Manchester. Her journey started with her love for street and hip hop. She then started many different schools to grow this passion such as 0161 Studios, Element Dance UK and SOAR Kids, where she got to experience many opportunities such as: opening The Royal Family tour and performing on The Greatest Dancer (BBC One). In 2023, she graduated with a First Class accelerated degree in Professional and Commercial dance at Shockout Arts. Cara has opened T-Pain’s concert, performed for Emily Sandé at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, choreographed for Tallia Storm on CBBC and been an ensemble dancer for an I M Pact theatre performance. In the future, Cara aims to push as many boundaries in dance being fearless and see which route this could take her.

Kelsey ‘Hydro’ Miller

Kelsey has worked in the industry from the age of 16 and in the following styles: hip hop, popping, krump, house, breakin’, contemporary and more. He has worked commercially with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy, Little Mix, KSI, Anne Marie, Giggs, J Hus, Raye and more. He has performed for Olivier Award-winning hip hop company Boy Blue in REDD, Blak, White, Gray and Project R.E.B.E.L. He runs his own collective called Hydrogen UK, where he trains upcoming artists to achieve similar accomplishments and empower the next generation by being amazing artists.

Reon Nash

Reon Nash is a hip hop dancer and performer from Wales. Dancing since the age of 12, Reon developed a deep love and passion towards hip hop. Having graduated from Rare Studios and now currently training at Shockout Arts, he has performed and competed across the country in many shows and events. His professional career so far has seen him work with brands such as BoohooMAN, Sports Direct and many more. He is honoured to be a part of the production and cannot wait to finally have the opportunity to perform such an amazing show in Manchester.

Yolanda Newsome

Yolanda Newsome is a teacher, choreographer, lecturer and artist/performer. Starting her dance career at IRIE! Theatre studying contemporary, ballet, African and Caribbean dance. Also specialising in hip hop foundation and Waacking. As an artist of Emancipation of Expressionism (AQA GCSE Dance Specification), Yolanda continues her training with Boy Blue and over the years has become part of the teaching faculty expanding her role to rehearsals director, teaching assistant and assistant choreographer, assisting Kenrick Sandy with adults and the younger generation, Da Bluez and The Blueprint.

Her show credits include: Got to Dance semi-finalist 2010; StreetDance 3D (Vertigo Films); Thanks Tim(London Olympics 2012); San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest; Legacy: The Return(DanceEast/Theatre Royal Stratford East); Breakin’ Convention (Sadler’s Wells/Apollo Theater, New York); Nike; A Night With Boy Blue; Boadicea Bahrain; Eurovision Opening Ceremony, Liverpool; MOBO Awards; Latitude Festival; Wilderness Festival; Mood (BBC Three); and SNF Nostos.

Her assistant choreographer/rehearsal director/team leader credits include: Project R.E.B.E.L (Edinburgh International Festival); Guys and Dolls (Talawa Theatre Company); A Night with Boy Blue (Barbican Theatre); The Walk (Little Amal); and The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Her artist credits include Sugababes, Dizzee Rascal, Giggs, Emeli Sandé, Zara Larsson, Roxanne, Jesy Nelson, Black Sherif, and Alexandra Burke.

Nicole Nyemi-Tei

Nicole Nyemi-Tei is a dynamic and versatile dancer, performer, dance teacher and choreographer. She began her dance journey aged eight with the Olivier Award winning Boy Blue. She has trained in hip hop, popping, locking, house, waacking, Afro dance plus contemporary and ballet at the prestigious London Contemporary Dance School at The Place. In recent years, she has gone on to perform professionally with well-known brands, dance companies, establishments and shows, including Gucci, Land Rover, English National Opera and The Voice. In addition, she taught internationally at a newly established dance studio in Doha, Qatar for nearly three years from 2018 to 2021 and has choreographed for live performances including singer Asha Elia and Lex Tempus. Earlier this year she also finished performing in a dynamic multisensory dance experience with audience interaction celebrating jazz, soul and disco US artists in Waterloo, London. Her credits include Boy Blue, Alan Carr: Chatty Man (Channel 4), Adidas and ASOS, Gucci, Fuse ODG, Far From the Norm, Mista Silva, The Voice (ITV), The Queen’s Official Birthday (BBC), Salome (English National Opera), Uchenna Dance, Brava.

Corey Owens

Corey Owens is a Glasgow born dance artist from a freestyle and competition training background. Originally trained in a musical theatre setting, Corey made the move to a primarily hip hop foundation based school at the age of 12. Within this school and in his travels across the country, Corey began to develop a breadth of knowledge in foundational styles such as breaking, popping, locking and house, encouraging him to push into the battle scene. Corey took part in the creation and execution of multiple Scottish, British and World Championship titles in the competition circuit. More recently, he has been training in a more choreography driven world. He now works with multiple championship holding schools across Scotland and continues to widen his versatility with the likes of Rob Rich, Company Jinks and Shay Programme.

Photo by Kim Morgan Wheeler.

Joe Price

Joe Price is a dance teacher and choreographer from Manchester. His credits include: choreographer for Meekz Manny at Wireless and Leeds festivals, dance artist for Rita Ora on The X Factor, Snow Patrol’s Don’t Give In music video and JD Sports’ Christmas advert. He has taught at institutions such as Rare Studio Liverpool and Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts as well as internationally in studios in Germany and the Netherlands. He has been training in hip hop, street styles and choreography for the past 13 years through open classes and camps here in the UK as well as Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Poland, Austria and Germany. He currently runs his own dance company in Manchester called Home of the New Wave, which is a collective of youth dancers from the North of England who train and are mentored by him throughout their dance journey.

Miguel Semedo

Miguel Semedo is a professional dancer, originally from Leeds, who moved to Manchester to pursue his dance career. He’s had the greatest opportunities to work with the likes of Stormzy, Annie Mac, HRVY, Coca-Cola, Britain’s Got Talent and many more. He also does 3D/graphic design, has a clothing brand and choreographs. He likes to see himself as a creative rather than just a dancer because he feels like calling himself a dance doesn’t do him justice as it feel like he’s putting himself in a box; he’s never worked well in a box as he feels like it has limitations. He believes that all creatives are creative in all different ways, creatives have so many ways of being creative, it’s just up to you how you find that out.

Kieron Simms

Kieron Simms has an incredible portfolio, working with legends like Kendrick Lamar, Meekz Manny and J Hus as well as for TV, featuring in The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee broadcast and Hollyoaks. He has also worked with major brands like Adidas.

Katy Lea Smith

Katy Lea Smith is 23 years old and based in Manchester. She is the co-founder and owner of KXT Dance Elite, which provides versatile training for younger generations, running open classes, a company and competition teams. She started training in numerous dance styles at the age of four, progressing onto vocational training at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds City College and finally Shockout Arts, graduating with a first class BA (Hons) in Professional and Commercial Dance. Since then, she has been accepted into Company Jinks for around two years, performing with them at events such as MOVE IT and Upfront. Recently, she has worked with I M Pact as an ensemble dancer in the collective’s show Dance Lab at The Lowry. She loves to share her knowledge and passion teaching workshops across the country and also judging various dance competitions.

Penny Haskell Photography

Rita Spider

Rita Spider is an artist, dancer, choreographer, creative director and teacher. She was a dancer and aerialist for Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour from Cirque du Soleil. She has danced for Sonya Tayeh, Boy Blue, Ballet de Bim, Dance 2XS UK, Plague, ZooNation, Abstractin' Dance Company, and 3F-Funky for Fun. Rita has worked in Los Angeles, New York and London, among other capitals, as a dancer in various artistic and creative projects. In Portugal, she choreographed TV shows such as So You Think You Can Dance, Let’s Dance, Dancing with the Stars, and Got Talent Portugal (winner with Abstractin'). Rita also choreographed the Portuguese version of the musicalChicago for the Teatro da Trindade in Lisbon and has collaborated creatively with film and theatre directors across Portugal. Always passionate about the creative process, she has created countless shows throughout her career, most recently Smile, Time, Duel'Irtual, Emo'Irtual, Cegueira, Vortexxx and U_Realities. She holds a master’s degree in Choreographic Creation and Professional Practices from Escola Superior de Dança in Lisbon. She is studying Management and Economics at NOVA School of Business and Economics in Portugal.

Photo by Rodrigo Cabral.

Lauren Stewart

Lauren’s contemporary training started at the Swindon CAT scheme and continued onto Trinity Laban, graduating in 2016 with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. After graduating, she trained on the one-year BalletBoyz dancer's course and on training programmes with Far From The Norm, Avant Garde, and SIN Cru. Lauren toured with Hip Hop Theatre company Fly No Filter on The Glorious Tour, Only When Its Feathers Are Grown and Valoris and the Expansions. She toured with Uchenna Dance for Hansel & Gretel and has performed with Protein Dance, Grounded Movement, MÓTUS Dance, Meta4 Dance, Keneish Dance and for Sara Dos Santos. Lauren was rehearsal director for EQ Dance Co's production of Sanctuary. She was featured in Lanre Malaolu’s short dance film The Conversation, streamed on BFI, which won multiple awards at film festivals internationally. Recently she performed with Impact Dance at the Outrageous Behaviour festival and LiveVibe. 

Chad Taylor

Chad Taylor started dancing at the age of 11. He trained in the foundations of hip hop, and at 14 years of age started to widen his dance vocabulary, practicing styles such as ballet, tap, and jazz. His professional experience started at age 15, with appearances on Top of the Pops and CD:UK. At the age of 19, he graduated from The Hammond with a National Diploma in Dance on a full scholarship. He then went on to work in the professional world with artists such as Cheryl Cole, Paloma Faith, Sade, Take That, Meat Loaf, Joe McElderry, Little Mix and LMFAO. He has worked with choreographers including Fatima Robinson and has performed at The X Factor final at the O2 Arena, the BRIT Awards and the Royal Variety Performance. Creatively, Chad has shared his own work at venues such as HOME, Contact Theatre, The Lowry, The Curve in Leicester and Sadler’s Wells in London. Chad’s work has been featured as part of Let’s Dance International Frontiers, Refract, SICK! Festival and Breakin’ Convention.

Photo by Tae Dahunsi.

Masaiya Thomas

Masaiya is a young dancer who has been training in hip hop culture and street dance for a little over 10 years. He started his journey dancing in Boy Blue’s Mini Bluez at the age of seven and through the years has slowly worked his way into the adult company. Through his journey at Boy Blue he met Jordan ‘JFunk’, from whom he began to learn krump and who later became Masaiya’s mentor through dance and life, further challenging him, expanding his training, and guiding him in the right direction. This led to Masaiya becoming a core member of Y.O.U Collective, an international group of dancers that are versed in both performance and freestyle dance. Masaiya also went on to study for four years at the BRIT School, learning the foundations of contemporary, ballet and jazz, which he has taken on to further develop his movement and artistry. He has travelled to numerous countries to assist and teach and performed with artists such as Little Simz and has his eyes set on a big future.

Iona Turnbull

Iona is a Scottish creative, artist and dancer who has recently completed her bachelor’s degree in Professional and Commercial Dance at Shockout Arts. Iona began her dance journey as a member of hip hop crew Jack in the Box, founded by creative and choreographer Ashley Jack. Performing at Breakin’ Convention, Breakin’ Rules, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and many more, Iona has had lots of experience in Hip Hop Theatre. She is a well-rounded and versatile dancer who has studied and practiced various genres of dance including hip hop, locking, popping, jazz, ballet, Latin and contemporary. Iona has performed with artists including Becky Hill, Jax Jones, Raye, Aya Bleu and Annie Mac. She has also featured in various adverts, music videos and brand campaigns, as well as dancing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Mikey Ureta

Mikey Ureta is a dance artist based in London. He has been working professionally around the world for the past 11 years and has been active in the industry as a performer, choreographer, teacher and mentor. His theatre credits include: Groove on Down the Road, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, and Into the Hoods: Remixed (all ZooNation); Get Happy (Beijing Comedy Arts Festival and Barbican); Blaze The Show (Expo 2016, Turkey); Chase The Dream: The Reboot (Flawless); and Pied Piper (Boy Blue).

Other credits include: Finalist on Got To Dance with Boyband (Sky One); Finalist on Britain’s Got Talent with Boyband (ITV); appearances with Stormzy (Reading and Leeds, BRIT Awards, Glastonbury); and adverts for Google Pixel 4 and Gucci x GQ China.

Jules Valentine

Jules Valentine is from Glasgow, and attended a local dance school at the age of four years old. From a young age, it was clear to her family that she had a passion for dance and performance. She started her professional training at West College Scotland where she graduated with a National Certificate and Higher National Certificate in Dance. In 2019, Jules moved to Manchester to study at Shockout Arts, graduating with a first class honours degree in Professional and Commercial Dance in 2022. During her career in dance, Jules has performed as part of a dance and fire act and has also supported the dance and choreography of a Glasgow based theatre company for young people with additional needs. In the summer, she is the assistant head of the performing arts department at Independent Lake Camp in America. Jules is now looking forward to a varied career in dance and hoping to perform a variety of styles and genre.

Jack Webster

Jack Webster is a hip hop dance artist based in London. He trained as a part of IMD Legion and is currently with Boy Blue. His previous experience includes competing in crew competitions such as Hip Hop International, World of Dance (NBC), and Jump Off. These helped propel him into the world of Hip Hop Theatre including A Night with Boy Blue at the Barbican, Breakin’ Convention at Sadler’s Wells and many other performances across events and TV in a variety of different styles. His TV credits include The X Factor (ITV), Got To Dance (Sky) Michael McIntyre (BBC One), and a music video for Stefflon Don.

Samuel Wise

Samuel Wise is a Manchester based dancer from Blackpool. He’s a bubbly, easy-going person who loves all kinds of art and is very passionate about what he does. He is a beatmaker, loves DJing and sharing his music and has so much respect for hip hop culture. A few years back he felt pushed back and uninspired due to confusion about what path to take. He went to college, got his basic training, was heavily influenced by others and felt the need to match their expectations of what a ‘successful’ dancer is. This allowed him to find his passion for dance again and inspired his art. He recently found out that he has dyslexia and ADHD. So throughout his life, it's been a bit of a struggle. For the past two years, all he’s been doing is trying to understand himself more. It's all about discovery; his purpose in life is creating new things and to be unique, staying true to himself. He is so grateful for life and its ability to bring people together to share and create. He hopes this biography tells you a bit more about him and who he is as a person. Also, hip hop for life.

Gabriela Wołosik

Gabriela Wołosik is a recent Birmingham Ormiston Academy graduate, born in Poland and raised between London and Birmingham. Gabriela found Hip Hop Theatre through her role as a choreographer on the Xzibit Young Creatives programme. If it wasn’t for Free Your Mind, she’d currently be going on to study Performance: Design and Practice at Central Saint Martins. Her training began with rhythmic gymnastics during her childhood back in Białystok, Poland, and continued with Akademia Tańca Szał, with whom she entered Got to Dance aged nine. Gabriela credits the greatest amount of knowledge learned to the past five years with Marshon Dance Company , while the early days of her career include screen work with the World’s Biggest Panto and League of Legends x Mastercard. Aspiring to be involved in works that are raw and complex, as well as combining her loves for other art forms like music, poetry, pole, film, styling and philosophy, she wishes to continue with productions that push her generation forward.

Cameron Woolnough

After graduating from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance with a first-class honours degree in 2018, Cameron continued his studies into an apprenticeship with 2Faced Dance Company as part of the postgraduate MA course at Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Since graduating, Cameron has worked with companies such as 2Faced Dance Company, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and Company Chameleon, on large scale productions such as the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 Opening Ceremony, and toured with Southpaw Dance Company performing This Is Us for the 2023 Rugby League World Cup. Now based in Manchester alongside his performance work, Cameron is freelancing across the North West, teaching for the outreach team at The Lowry as part of the Centre for Advanced Training course and working with boys dance groups at Stockport Grammar School and Junior School.

Meet the Free Your Mind performers A – K →