THE COLLEGE SHOWCASE IS DCF’S LATEST VENTURE STARTED IN 2021 IN HOPES OF ATTRACTING MORE COLLEGE LEVEL DANCERS AND PROFESSORS TO PARTICIPATE. HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR SUMMER STAGE + COLLEGE FAIR, THIS IS A CHANCE FOR STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS, PROFESSORS AND GUESTS ARTISTS TO PRESENT THEIR NEWEST WORK.
Read about our 2025 College Showcase Artists!
Noelle Kayser - Western Dance Project
Noelle Kayser is an award-winning choreographer, director, and multi-disciplinary performer based in Chicago. She is the inaugural resident choreographer for Open Space, a Whim W’him Choreographic Shindig winner, the 2025 BalletX Choreographic Fellow, and a 2026 Ballet Collective Commission for Developing Choreographers recipient. Noelle has created work for companies including Dance Aspen, DanceWorks Chicago, MADCO, Visceral Dance Chicago, and SALT II among many others. She served as a guest Ballet Mistress at the Lyric Opera, was the founding rehearsal director and administrator for PARA.MAR Dance Theatre (2022 Dance Magazine Top 25 to Watch), and named one of NewCity Magazines, “The 50 People Who Really Perform for Chicago”. Noelle’s short dance film “dust”—produced by Open Space—was awarded Best Dance Film at both the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival and the Mannheim Arts and Film Festival, and is an Official Selection at the Swedish International Film Festival and ARTSinTANK Dance Festival in Korea.
In addition to her choreographic work, Noelle has performed works by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Ihsan Rustem, Wen Wei Wang, Danielle Agami, Robyn Mineko Williams, Kevin O’Day, and Alice Klock, among others. She has had the privilege of dancing with companies such as NW Dance Project, LED Boise, Open Space, and Visceral Dance Chicago among others. She has taught for organizations such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, and Visceral Dance Chicago. As an actor, Noelle has narrated 16 audiobooks for Audible, appeared in advertising campaigns, and performed in stage productions at The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and The Alliance Theatre among others. Most recently, she won the 2024 Jeff Award for Best Ensemble for her performance as Selene in The Penelopiad at The Goodman Theatre, and starred in Anna Long’s short film Death in the Desert (Best Actress in a Short at the Idyllwild Film Festival & Best Short Drama at the Breckenridge Film Festival).
Andi Salazar- Alma College
Andi is a Chilean Choreographer, Dance Educator, Performer, and Sociologist. She got her BA degree in Sociology at UC of Chile, the same place where she founded Kazé Dance, a Contemporary dance company where she was the Artistic Director and Choreographer for eight years. In 2017, Andi relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and obtained her MFA in Dance and Choreography from Mills College. There, she also had the opportunity to perform for choreographers such as Joe Landini and Molissa Fenley and showed her work with her Dance Company “A Pulso Dance Project" at many festivals around the State. During her years in the Bay, Andi also worked as a faculty member at the Bay Area Ballet Conservatory, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, and as a Teaching Artist at Alonzo King Lines Ballet Dance Center. In 2023, she relocated to New York to keep her studies and joined the Master’s degree “Teaching Dance in the Profession: ABT Ballet Pedagogy” at New York University while working as a Teaching Artist for ABT and as an assistant at the ABT JKO School. During her time in NYC, she also did an internship at Peridance Contemporary Dance Company with Igal Perry as an administrative assistant and worked as a Contemporary faculty member for Maria Kowroski’s New Jersey Ballet Summer Intensive. In 2024, she moved to Michigan where she has taught at UofM Dance Department, Western Michigan University, Alma College, and Grand Rapids Ballet, as well as choreographed for Eastern Michigan University and Grand Valley State University.
COLLEGE SHOWCASE MEMORIES
