Lakey Evans-Peña

Lakey Evans-Peña is an educator, director, and creative leader. She was named associate director of the Ailey Horton Teacher Certification program in June 2023. In this role, she integrates her professional performance, educational and scholarly knowledge, and experience in the creation of the new Ailey Teacher Certification Program: Ailey Horton Technique. 

Evans-Peña received her BFA from the University of the Arts, her MFA from Montclair State University, and was a scholarship recipient at The Ailey School. As an embodied practitioner, Evans-Peña has performed the works of Alvin Ailey, Ronald K. Brown, Eleo Pomare, Hope Clarke, Milton Myers, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Kathryn Posin. She has toured with Donald Byrd’s The Harlem Nutcracker and with Ailey II under the direction of Sylvia Watersas well as with the New York City Opera and at New York’s SummerStage. Most recently, Evans-Peña restaged and performed Lester Horton’s The Beloved in Roots & Routes, her self-produced evening length work.  

As an artistic coach and creative leader, she served as assistant to Ronni Favors for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s New York City Center production of Memoria, as well as for the American Dance Festival. In her role as Ailey II’s rehearsal director, she has overseen works by Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, Francesca Harper, Andrea Miller, Robert Battle, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, and Yannick LeBrun. Evans-Peña teaches and lectures nationally and internationally. She has been the contemporary teacher at the Prix de Lausanne in 2023 and 2024, as well as at the 2023 Summer Intensive as both contemporary teacher and pre-selection judge. She continues to adjudicate for the Ailey/Fordham BFA program, the Certificate Program, and the Summer Intensive, conducting national auditions with Melanie Person as well as serving as a BFA advisor.  

As a pedagogue and movement maker, Evans-Peña centers empowerment through her teaching and creative practices. Her thesis work, Lineage and Legacy of Horton Through The Ailey Lens, Then and Nowexamines the ideologies of cultural relevance, equity, and inclusion through the Horton/Ailey lineage, as well as exploring the historical and contextual framework of the Horton technique at The Ailey School. 

Believing strongly in creating equitable spaces to share the power of dance and the performing arts, Evans-Peña founded and served as the executive and artistic director of the Williamsburg Movement & Arts Center in Brooklyn from 2009-21. Identifying a need for quality arts programming in the Brooklyn school sector, and with a robust after school enrollment at the WMAAC home studios, she developed public school, private school, and community partnerships which enabled 3,000 students a year to explore dance through daytime workshops and creative on-site residencies. In 2015, she co-curated, co-produced, and presented a performance series providing rehearsal and performance space for choreographers at different stages of their careers to present their work. Expanding additional opportunities for equitable arts education, Evans-Peña additionally founded WMAAC Residencies (now renamed WRArts), a 501(c)3 organization which continues to offer a rich array of creative arts community programming. She served as president until 2017. 

Evans-Peña has served as an adjunct and visiting professor at NYU Tisch School, Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University, and as artist-in-residence at Hollins University, teaching courses in technique and performance, Dance as an Art Form, and Dance Appreciation. Evans-Peña has engaged her pedagogical approaches as a guest at the Canada National Ballet Assemblée Internationale, Rockette Conservatory, STEPS, Peridance, Ballet Hispánico, and as a teaching artist for Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs. 

Featured News Releases

Ailey II - The Next Generation Of Dance - Returns To The Ailey Citigroup Theater For Two-Week Season March 22 - April 2

NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 23, 2023 — Ailey II, the renowned second company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will return to its home, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, for a highly anticipated two-week season—the second led by Artistic Director Francesca Harper—featuring 14 exhilarating performances from March 22- April 2. The gifted ensemble of rising stars will treat audiences to two dynamic programs, Poetic Motion and Empowered, spotlighting works by founder Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle, William Forsythe, Francesca Harper, Andrea Miller, and former Ailey Company member Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish.

Ailey II - The Next Generation Of Dance - Returns To The Ailey Citigroup Theater For Two-Week Season March 23 - April 3

NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 16, 2022 — Ailey II, the celebrated second company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, returns to its home, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, for a highly anticipated two-week season featuring 10 performances from March 23 - April 3. The gifted 12-member ensemble will treat New York audiences to three dynamic programs featuring works by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle, William Forsythe, Ailey II Artistic Director Francesca Harper, Ailey company member Yannick Lebrun, and Andrea Miller.

Ailey II, The Next Generation Of Dance, Returns To U.S. Stages Led By New Artistic Director Francesca Harper

NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 1, 2022 — Ailey II, merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best early-career dance talent with the passion and creative vision of outstanding emerging and established choreographers, returns to stages across the country this winter. Ailey II Artistic Director Francesca Harper—an internationally renowned performer, choreographer, director, and multi-disciplinary artist—is nurturing new creative voices and propelling the Company forward during her inaugural season. Trained at The Ailey School (and the daughter of the late Denise Jefferson, director of The Ailey School 1984-2010), Ms. Harper brings fresh perspectives to Mr. Ailey’s legacy. Program highlights from the repertory for the national tour and the New York City season featuring four new works and one world premiere include dances by Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle, William Forsythe, Francesca Harper, Ailey company member Yannick Lebrun, and Andrea Miller.

Featured Press Coverage

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The New York Beacon - Francesca Harper Is Changing The Trajectory Of The Ailey II Company New York

Francesca Harper, internationally renowned performer, choreographer, director, and multi-disciplinary artist, has changed the trajectory of The Ailey II Company New York after being tapped by Robert Battle, Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, to lead the renowned dance company in the 21st century. Harper assumed the duties of Artistic Director of Ailey II, the Ailey organization's acclaimed company of young dancers September 7, 2021, and immediately started preparing for Ailey II's return to the stage.

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New York Amsterdam News - Francesca Harper Named Artistic Director Of Ailey II

Ask Francesca Harper how she felt when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle announced her appointment as artistic director of Ailey II, that internationally renowned AAADT’s acclaimed troupe of young talented dancers and she gushes with excitement declaring, “It’s kind of surreal.” Yet, in many ways the appointment seems a natural step in a rather remarkable career, as well as a promising beginning of a critically acclaimed dance company’s next chapter, and last but not least, as a perfect example of the circle of life.