ADFinCLE
ADF Faculty
Otto (Aquaboogy) Vazquez
Otto (Aquaboogy) Vazquez is an internationally acclaimed performer, instructor, choreographer, and street dancer that honed his craft in Miami and New York. Some of his credits include Pitt Bull, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, i-Luminate from America’s Got Talent, Diesel NYC, and Dr. Pepper’s “One in a Billion” national commercial. He’s toured the world with the off Broadway show Break, The Urban Funk Spectacular, Cirque Du Soliel, Donald Trump, Run-D.M.C., VH1, MTV, Latin Billboard Awards, Premios Juventud, The Miami Heat, Kilo (aka Down), Carnival Cruise Lines, and Rennie Harris’s Iladelph Legends. He recently was the only US soloist in the UK’s Breaking Convention 2015 tour. He’s toured over 20 countries and nearly every state in the US. Aquaboogy has learned from legendary dancers like Don Campbell and Fluky Luke (of the original Lockers), Skeeter Rabbit and Jazzy Jay (of the Electric Boogaloos), and many other pioneers of street dance.
Ronald K. Brown
RONALD K. BROWN
Artistic Director and Founder of Evidence, A Dance Company in1985. He has worked with Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Jennifer Muller/The Works and other choreographers and artists. Brown has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Philadanco, Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago and Ballet Hispanico.
He has collaborated with such artists as composer/designer Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya, the late writer Craig G. Harris, director Ernie McClintock’s Jazz Actors Theater, choreographers Patricia Hoffbauer and Rokiya Kone, and composers Robert Een, Oliver Lake, Bernadette Speech, David Simons, and Don Meissner
He choreographed Regina Taylor’s award-winning play, Crowns and won an AUDELCO Award for his work on that production. Brown has won a Fred & Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Tony winning The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, adapted by Suzan Lori Parks, arrangement by Diedre Murray & directed by Diane Paulus.
In addition, Brown was named Def Dance Jam Workshop Mentor of the Year in 2000 and has received; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship, and The Ailey Apex Award for teaching. Brown is a member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.
Leah Cox
Leah Cox is an educator, performer, choreographer, and administrator. Cox is Dean of the American Dance Festival and a Term Associate Professor at Bard College. She is currently working with Liz Lerman on her upcoming choreographic project and is a frequent adjudicator for the American College Dance Association. Leah was a member of the New York Dance and Performance Award Committee (the “Bessies”) from 2015-2018 and has also been a master teacher and adjudicator for YoungArts. Leah worked with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in various capacities from 2001 to 2014: she began as a Company dancer; was the Company’s rehearsal assistant; held the position of dancer representative, advocating for dancer’s rights; and became the Company’s first education director, launching its education programs. Cox regularly reconstructed the Company's works on student dance programs and professional companies nationwide. When the Company merged with Dance Theater Workshop to form New York Live Arts, Cox continued in her education capacity, developing Live Arts’ education programs. She oversaw the six-year partnership between Live Arts and Bard College and, in 2018, launched a new partnership between the American Dance Festival and the College. Her choreography has been presented in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, Dixon Place, the DUMBO Dance Festival, and the CoolNY Festival.