Ripple Effect Movement Lab

Amber Lucia Chabus (she/her) is a DC-based movement artist, choreographer, and educator. Amber graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2018 with degrees in Dance and Kinesiology. She has performed professionally with dance companies Heart Stück Bernie, ReVision dance company, darlingdance, J+C Dance Project, Light Switch Dance Theater, and Orange Grove Dance, as well as with independent artists Adriane Fang, Kristen Bolger, and Annika Dodrill. Amber’s work has previously been supported by and presented at Dance Place, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Amber is currently the Artist in Residence at Local Motion Project, and she is also one of Dance Place’s incoming 2025-2027 Double Jump Fellowship Artists.

Kamali Hill is the visionary Creative Artistic Director and Founder of The Creative Space, a dynamic company dedicated to fostering the creative excellence of professional and pre-professional dance artists. Her distinguished body of work has been commissioned and presented by notable institutions such as Dissonance Dance Theater, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Center for Civil and Human Rights, Athens Dance Video Project, and the Denton Black Film Festival. She has also had the honor of collaborating with esteemed artists and collectives, including T. Lang Dance, Okwae A. Miller and Artists, and Otis Sallid.

A passionate educator, Kamali has shared her expertise with organizations and academic institutions, including Texas Woman’s University, Coppin State University, Bowie State University, The University of Southern Mississippi, Baltimore Black Dance Festival, the International Association of Blacks in Dance, and the American College Dance Association. Her teaching extends to leading dance programs at The Dance Institute of Washington, CityDance (Atlanta, GA), Dance Place (Washington, DC), Broadway Dreams Foundation, and Moscow Ballet, among others, shaping the next generation of artists.

Kamali holds an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, grounding her practice in intellect through mastery.

Tariq Darrell O’Meally is an artist, choreographer, and cultural catalyst whose work explores the power of vulnerability within the African-American experience. As Artistic Director of Dance Place DC and creator of the BlackLight Summit, O’Meally uses movement to disrupt canonized narratives and amplify marginalized voices. He has presented work at the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and numerous festivals. A passionate educator and curator, O’Meally has received recognition as a Kennedy Center Commission Awardee, Rubys Artist Grantee, and Art Omi Resident Artist. He holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and continues to create socially relevant, empathetic art throughout the DMV region and beyond.

Ronya-Lee and the Light Factory (RTLF) names my commitment to creating work that illuminates and enlightens, and furthermore, points to the fact that I create in cooperation with many lights, including present collaborators, past ancestors and future witnesses. I am the daughter of Pauline and Roxroy Anderson; the granddaughter of Madge McLellan and of Mavis Lawrence. I spent my formative years moving between school plays, church services and bashment parties, then continued my education, obtaining a Master’s of Divinity from Duke University, an MFA in Dance from Maryland University and am pursuing a doctorate in Performance Studies. My interdisciplinary work has most recently been shown at Atlas Theater, The Lyric Opera House, Triskelion Arts, Arkansas Hall Studio Theater, Duke University Chapel, and Wa Na Wari. Recent awards and commissions include the Pola Nirenska Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance (2021), See Site National Endowment of the Arts Residency (2023), Kennedy Center REACH Office Hours (2024) and Dance Place Artist Residency (2022-24).

Camille Weanquoi, a freelance interdisciplinary artist from the Bronx, NY, is a force to be reckoned with. Holding a B.A. in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Winston Salem State University, and an MFA in Choreography from Wilson College, she is committed to driving the growth and preservation of dance, particularly those rooted in the African diaspora. Camille is the visionary director of Camille W. Dance, a culturally immersive dance consulting firm and pick-up performance company.

In addition to her role as the founder and Executive Director of the Baltimore Black Dance Collective and co-founder and co-director of the annual Baltimore Black Choreographers Festival, she is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Coppin State University. Currently in training as a candidate for Dunham Technique Teacher Certification, Camille creates, performs, and teaches African Diaspora dances rooted in tradition and culture alongside various other dance styles in the Baltimore/D.C. area and beyond. Beyond her professional accolades, Camille is a devoted wife, mother, sister, friend, and unwavering advocate for the arts.

Anastasia Johnson (she/her) is a dance artist, performer, educator, curator, and choreographer born and raised in Richmond, Virginia., Johnson has performed with companies and artists such as, VT Dance Company, dani tirrell and The Congregation,  Rae Luebbert, Juanita Maria Dance Company, Contra-Tiempo, Coyaba Dance Company, Liz Miller, Jamison Curcio& Shanice Mason, ReVision Dance Company, Soka Tribe, and New Growth Collective. Johnson has been developing her own movement based company called A.J. Collabs (AJC). AJC uses the vehicle of education, community engagement, collaboration, performance, and choreography to shed light on the black experience, including but not limited to: black love, black girl magic, black church, black artistry, black joy, and black oppression. Johnson has had the pleasure of being an alumni of the 202Creates Residency Program, a former Emerging Artist for the BlackLight Summit Emerging Artist Laboratory, has been featured in a DanceTeacher Magazine article, and holds a certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University.

Chitra Subramanian, an Indian American dancer, choreographer, and educator based in Washington, DC, blends Hip Hop and Bharathanatyam to create unique, non-mainstream dance works. She teaches and performs with chitra.MOVES, engaging diverse audiences through storytelling and artistic elevation. Her work, rooted in Hip Hop and influenced by her immigrant background, focuses on community themes and showcases how cultural movements come together. Chitra has taught and choreographed extensively, including creating the sold-out show “TEMPLE” and most recently premiering “LINKED” at the Atlas Theater. She also leads the Rooting the Dance Hip Hop Dance Class Series, emphasizing women’s stories in the DC street dance scene. Her performances have featured at prestigious venues like the John F. Kennedy Center, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and the Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival.