Brooklyn native Reggie ‘Regg Roc’ Gray is a dancer, choreographer, and pioneer of the multi-genre dance form flexn. As a child, Gray became fascinated by Michael Jackson, and as a teenager, he turned to the hyper-expressive styles of dance that originated in the Jamaican street culture of Brooklyn, such as bruk up and dancehall. Flexn is a combination of various styles from the local scene, such as bone breaking, pauzing (the style Gray evolutionized), gliding, get-low, connecting, and hat tricks. Flexn was named after the regional television program Flex-N-Brooklyn, where local dance groups showcased their latest moves. Gray has traveled all over the world with his award-winning dance crew RingMasters, and in 2011, he founded a new dance company, named The D.R.E.A.M. Ring (Dance Rules Everything Around Me). In 2015, Gray produced his first major work of choreography FLEXN and followed it with FLEXN EVOLUTION in 2017. He has toured both productions around the world. Gray is a regular feature on American television, appearing in the third season of America’s Best Dance Crew, various advertisements, and in music videos for Wayne Wonder, Sean Paul, Nicki Minaj, and other artists. Currently, Gray serves as an artistic director for FlexNYC, a social justice dance residency program that partners with schools and community centers around New York City (created by The Shed and The D.R.E.A.M. Ring).

Kaneza Schaal is a New York City-based theater artist. Her recent work Jack & showed in BAM’s 2018 Next Wave Festival, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and with its co-commissioners Walker Arts Center, REDCAT, On The Boards, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Schaal received a 2019 United States Artists Fellowship, 2018 Ford Foundation Art for Justice Bearing Witness Award, 2017 MAP Fund Award, 2016 Creative Capital Award, and was an Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage. Her last project, Go Forth, premiered at Performance Space 122 and then showed at the Genocide Memorial Amphitheater in Kigali, Rwanda; Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans; Cairo International Contemporary Theater Festival in Egypt; and at her alma mater Wesleyan University. Schaal’s piece Cartography premiered at the Kennedy Center in January 2019 and was workshopped through New Victory Theater Lab and NYU Abu Dhabi. Most recently, Schaal directed Bryce Dessner’s Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), which premiered at LA Philharmonic, the Power Center in Ann Arbor, MI, and will show at BAM Opera House and Holland Festival. Her work has also been supported by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Theater Communications Group, and a Princess Grace George C. Wolfe Award. Her work with the Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell / New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Jim Findlay, and Dean Moss has brought her to venues including Centre Pompidou, Royal Lyceum Theater Edinburgh, the Whitney Museum, and MoMA.

Swedish-born, Los Angeles-based lighting designer Tobias G. Rylander began his career on the technical side of the industry for several years as a lighting technician at local lighting companies and at the Swedish Royal Opera. In 2007, he begin to design and tour with European acts such as Lykke Li, Fever Ray, and Miike Snow. Within just a few years, he gained worldwide recognition as a highly innovative, daring, and accomplished lighting and live show conceptual design, working with acts such as The xx, Mark Ronson, Phoenix, and the Strokes.

Rylander has recently branched out into the fashion world, designing runway shows and events for clients like Balenciaga and Calvin Klein. He continues to create stage and lighting designs most recently for acts such as The 1975, Robyn, FKA Twigs, London Grammar, Little Dragon, and Skepta. His most recent work is an multisensory art installation in collaboration with Karen O and Danger Mouse at the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles. Rylander was awarded the prestigious Knights of Illumination 2016 award for his work with The 1975.

Experienced in a range of productions from intimate music arrangements to theater, dance, performance art, and their management, Andrew Lulling’s credits for live audio engineering include Robert Wilson’s Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter, David Gordon’s Schlemiel the First, The Builders Association, The Elements of Oz, and Robert Whitman’s Passport. Maze is Lulling’s debut as sound designer, but not his first collaboration with Reggie ‘Regg Roc’ Gray or The D.R.E.A.M Ring, as he tours actively with FLEXN EVOLUTION as production manager.

Born and raised in Brownsville, East New York, Epic B is a producer, DJ, vocalist, and visual artist. Initially known for his work as a hip hop producer—along with production for the likes of Vybz Kartel and Popcaan in 2009—he is now a fundamental member and pioneer of the Flex Dance Music scene. Epic is also the music director for FLEXN, a show which the New York Times called “part protest, part dance party, part collective autobiography.” Epic’s debut EP, Late Night FlexN, arrived via Manchester-based label Swing Ting in late 2017 to a positive reception. Its lead single “One Time” landed on FACT Magazine’s Top 50 Tracks of 2017, and additional coverage of the project came from Resident Advisor, Complex UK, and Mixmag.

Justin Hicks is a multidisciplinary artist and Drama Desk-nominated composer who investigates themes of identity and American Dream aesthetics. Hicks has worked as a writer and performer with various artists including Steffani Jemison, Abigail DeVille, Charlotte Brathwaite, Hilton Als, Meshell Ndegeocello, Cauleen Smith, Helga Davis, Lynn Nottage, and Ayesha Jordan. His work has been featured at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Public Theater, Festival Steirischer Herbst, Western Front Society, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nottingham Contemporary, and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, among other institutions.

Kenita Miller Hicks is a Drama Desk Award-winning actor and vocalist who has performed in such notable Broadway productions as The Color Purple and Xanadu. She was most recently seen as Mama Euralie in the Tony Award-winning, Grammy-nominated Once on This Island. Her regional work includes an AUDELCO Award-winning portrayal of Zora Neale Hurston in Urban Stages’ Langston in Harlem. She is also a member of the band The Hawtplates. Upcoming work includes Waterboy in a Mighty World, a piece based on the work of Odetta and the story of Bass Reeves that will be in residency this summer at Bushwick Starr.

Taiko Masala, based in Brooklyn, has thrilled audiences throughout the United States with performances of taiko, Japan’s traditional drumming, combining the training and discipline of Japanese martial arts with the precision and power of complex drumming. Taiko Masala’s arsenal of instruments—all handmade by the ensemble—range from small eight-inch hand-held drums to five-foot barrel drums, and features the giant 250-pound O-daiko.

Percussionist and composer Rasaan ‘Talu’ Green’s performances include ones with Fela! on Broadway, the Brooklyn Nets, Sousatzka the Musical, and Chop and Quench, along with band collaborations with artists Patti LaBelle, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Aloe Blacc, and Estelle. Green has performed globally in Africa, North America, Australia, and Europe. He is a resident musician with Resura Arkestra and provides musical arrangements for dance companies and master workshops throughout New York City. He holds a BFA in music from Long Island University.

Eisa Davis is a performer, composer, and writer working on stage and screen. A Herb Alpert Award recipient, Cave Canem fellow, and Obie Award winner for Sustained Excellence in Performance, Davis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Bulrusher, and wrote and starred in the stage memoir Angela’s Mixtape. Alongside her 12 full length plays, she has served as a story editor for the Spike Lee Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, penned the narration for Cirque du Soleil’s ice show Crystal, and released two albums of music. Performance work includes Carrie Mae Weems’s Grace Notes/Past Tense, The Looming Tower, House of Cards, The Wire, Passing Strange, and the new musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees.

Corey ‘Corey Ringmaster’ Batts is a pioneer of the flexn dance style. He has taught this style for over 20 years around the world and is known for his hat tricks and unorthodox connect dance moves. He is the originator of Ringmasters. His credits include BET’s 106 & Park, MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, and music videos for Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder, Elephant Man, Bunji Garlin, Skrillex, and Justin Timberlake.

Hazel Hernandez is a Salvadoran immigrant based in Brooklyn, New York. Hernandez is a theater director, playwright, and performer. They have worked with DC Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Brooklyn College, the Public Theater, Access Theater, Tierra Narrative, and Sundance Institute: Theatre Program. Their main objective is to curate, create, and facilitate works that serve immigrants, women of color, and the LGBTQIA+ communities. They strive to bring underrepresented communities to the forefront of American theater.