Dava Huesca ’19
Dava Huesca is a freelance performing artist and choreographer and was named “25 to Watch” for 2025 by DANCE magazine.
She began her dance training at Fiorello LaGuardia Arts High School in New York City before attending Purchase.
Dava’s professional performance career includes: CATS: The Jellicle Ball (Rumpleteazer, Assistant Dance Captain, U/S Victoria), Ogemdi Ude (Guest Artist), Yin Yue Dance Company (Guest Artist), VIM VIGOR (Company Member), Telfar, Jacolby Satterwhite (An Electric Dance to the Music and Time), Johannes Weiland (Dissolving Empire), Laja Martin (Guest Artist), Maxine Doyle (Brick Brack A Baby), Rena Butler (II. Second), Marla Phelan (The McKittrick Hotel), Stephanie Batten Bland (The McKittrick Hotel), Sidra Bell (Human Heroes), Christoph Wrinkler Company (We’re Going to Mars), and the Martha Graham Dance Company (Helios: Ritual to the Sun).
Dava’s passion for choreography emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting her to create opportunities for herself. In 2020, she co-founded LLAB RATS, an interdisciplinary arts collective focusing on art as activism for the benefit of the Black community. Through LLAB RATS, she has performed and choreographed for various venues, including Battery Dance Festival, CPR, Ciclo Dos, Purchase Dance Company, Arts on Site, The Craft NYC, and POP UP NYC.
As a freelance choreographer, she has received commissions from Whim Whim Dance Company, Dance Lab New York, Yale University’s Summer Drama Cabaret, Peridance Certificate Program Graduation Solo, and worked as an associate choreographer with Laja Martin for Gibney Pro.
Dava was honored as the first Springboard Danse Montreal nominated recipient of Jonah Bokaer’s Arts Foundation AIR Founder’s Residency in 2021 and was among the first round of choreographic artists for Gallim’s Moving Women residency in 2020.
As an educator, Dava offers a grounded contemporary floor work experience, emphasizing alignment, efficiency, and fluidity. Drawing inspiration from acrobatics, Graham technique, modern dance, and partnering, she prioritizes effective body alignment to ensure safety during high-risk movement. The floor will become a friend and will aid the dancer in strength, stability, and agility.
Dava’s contributions to dance education and teaching have been acknowledged through her roles as an adjunct professor here at Purchase, MOVE|NYC|, Barnard at Columbia, Gibney Pro, Peridance, Brickhouse, Broadway Dance Center, and other institutions.
She has been recognized for her impact in the dance world, including accolades from Desiree Kera’s from the Heart (2015), and mentions in The New York Times and Dance Spirit magazine for her viral dance fashion Instagram page, @issadancelook.