In 2024, the nonprofit NTC Foundation supporting the Arts District in Liberty Station selected three emerging youthful artists to hold space there.

The foundation has an initiative fostering emerging San Diego/Northern Baja Region dance makers and dance maker collaboratives via an Emerging Artists Program. That program offers them studio space and the chance to participate in a growing, creative environment. The initiative is designed to help artists build their careers in San Diego, engage with other artists, and grow their audience and patron base for future success.

“The NTC Foundation created the Emerging Artist Program as a way to support the new wave of up-and-coming artists in San Diego by providing them a studio space in the heart of Arts District Liberty Station where they can enrich their talents further,” said Lisa Johnson, president and CEO of the NTC Foundation. “Among the many talented artists considered, we are honored to present the studio space to four different dance makers. With each dance artist possessing unparalleled skills and creativity, we are excited to see their journey of growth throughout the new year!”

This year, the NTC Foundation received 20 submissions for the Emerging Artist Program and has awarded a space in the Dorothea Laub Dance Place building to three dancers from the San Diego/ Northern Baja region each from a culturally diverse background. The individuals will use this space to help build their careers in San Diego, engage with other artists, and grow their audience and patron base for future success.

San Diego Community Newspaper Group held a Q&A with all three emerging artists – Micah Parra, Joyce Lien Kushner, and Lexii Regina – to discuss their passion for dance and their career aspirations.

SDCNG: Tell us a little about yourselves, your preferred dance form, and what being an “emerging artist” has meant for you.

Micah Parra: I started gymnastics and dance as a toddler. I owe my love of movement, in part, to my older siblings. Everything they did I also wanted to do… we all competed and performed throughout our childhoods. As an adult, I perform professionally around San Diego, as well as teach high-level aerial/circus disciplines and various styles of dance, acrobatics, and functional movement. I am an amalgamation of styles and practices. I am forever grateful for my acrobatic background and all the versatility it has allowed me. I prioritize being a student and take advantage of any opportunity to pick up something new. I have traveled all over, in and out of the country, for training in dance, circus, and theater. I am most comfortable in contemporary, modern, soft acrobatics and improvisational practices.

Joyce Lien Kushner: I am a second-generation Taiwanese-American, born and raised in Southern California. I had always wanted to dance ever since I could remember. When I was 6 years old my mom enrolled me in a community center tap class. I loved it and wanted to dance more, but we couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t until high school when I joined the dance team that I was able to get serious about dance. I was lucky to have had a couple of great teachers who believed in me.
I primarily dance and choreograph in contemporary dance. My training consists mostly of modern, contemporary, jazz, and ballet. Ever since returning to dance in my mid-40s, I’ve been heavily influenced by more current contemporary techniques such as release technique, counter technique, and lots of contemporary floorwork. This influence is evident in both how I teach dance and in the work I do.

Lexii Regina: I am a multi-disciplinary movement artist from San Diego. I grew up doing gymnastics and I attribute my love of flipping and being upside down to that. I found my way to dance in high school when I started ballet and Argentine tango lessons and then started training more seriously in modern dance in college. I’ve balanced my artistic career with a professional career studying and practicing physical therapy. I feel being a physical therapist has allowed me to train my body smarter and allowed me to further my dance practice. I have learned from many schools of thought and try to integrate each one into my dance style. I’m interested in melding movement vocabularies to create new work, which is unique to my voice and that is greater than the sum of its parts. Beyond stage work, I am also interested in bringing dance to new audiences through dance films.

SDCNG: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in dance? Where do you go from here?

Micah Parra: Being an emerging artist has been a journey of discovering what it means to create things for myself. Dance pushes me to grow in all ways. It gives me a great purpose, connecting me to my humanity and to others. I hope to have a long and fruitful career gaining new pools of knowledge and experience, and discovering more of my voice as an artist. I hope to grow bolder, stronger, and more vulnerable, and that I positively impact anyone encountered along the way. I plan to take all that I’ve learned and jump back into training, traveling, teaching, choreographing, performing, etc… expansion! I have my sights set on a couple of dream companies and artists I’d love to work with. Fingers crossed.

Joyce Lien Kushner: Being an emerging artist resident has given me the space and opportunity to not only create work again, but also to offer my services, share space, and present my ideas to the dance community. Opportunities to collaborate with other artists and dance organizations are now starting to happen because of this residency.  I’m hoping that this residency will lead to future opportunities and collaborations. I’ll need to secure a place where I can continue to hold Open LAB for our dance community. I hope to get a fully realized Asian-American dance festival going, that will also include dance films, cultural dance, and workshops.

Lexii Regina: Being named an “emerging artist” has meant opportunity and belief in my vision as a creator. It is priceless to have a studio that is ours where I can have the space to create and explore. I am using the space to develop my choreographic voice further and explore the integration of other mediums including lighting and props into dance performance. I think dance is a universal language that connects us.

After this residency, the plan is to take the momentum and keep creating and growing. I would love to set up events that help develop new artists’ voices and give them the tools to create work as well. I hope to see the San Diego dance film scene continue to grow. I am hopeful that this is only one of the first steps in a fulfilling career as a dance creator.