About Chania Wilson

Artistic Director

Chania Wilson is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based choreographer, educator, and performer committed to creating movement spaces rooted in memory, collaboration, and embodied knowledge. She holds an MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis from Duke University and a BFA in Choreography and Performance with a minor in Arts Administration from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Her foundation includes eight years of competitive dance training, which she integrates into her modern dance pedagogy through a blend of precision, musicality, and athleticism.

Chania is the founder and Artistic Director of Nine Movement Collective, a professional modern dance company focused on community-based collaboration, and the creator of Ignite Dance Intensive, the first county-wide intensive of its kind, which received the United Arts Community Spotlight Award in 2024. Her choreography has been featured in Duke’s November Dances (2023, 2025), NC Dance Festival Mainstage Performance, and Tobacco Road Dance Productions. Her dance films have been screened in ADF’s Movies by Movers and the Greensboro Dance Film Festival, both where she has spoken as a panelist.

She was selected as a 2025 mentee in the Camille A. Brown Mentorship Program and is a recipient of both the Snapdragon Fund Grant and the Duke Dean’s Research Award. 

Currently, Chania serves as the Director of Dance at Saint Mary's School, an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina Central University, a Dance Instructor at Arts Together, and a Company Choreographer and Instructor for The Dance Attic, while continuing to build choreographic and interdisciplinary work through Nine Movement Collective.

insta: @chaniawilsondance

Director of Administration

Emma Little (she/they) was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and 

pays homage to the dance programs at Arts Together and Enloe High School that raised her. In addition to her studies in natural sciences and ecology, Emma graduated in 2022 with their BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Ohio University. A ravenous student of the world, Emma continues to expand her eclectic repertoire, dabbling in movement forms like contact improvisation, Muay Thai, Qigong, and breaking. Over the last year and a half, they have been an impassioned contributor to the creation and bolstering of the contact improvisation community in Ohio as a teacher and facilitator. Emma is currently in school to become a massage and bodywork therapist, where she hopes to be able to share with the world the deep healing she’s experienced through working in and with her own embodiment.

insta: @dancingbird99

Director of Community Practice

Stazia was raised in Apex, North Carolina, and trained pre-professionally for many years at the Academy for the Performing Arts, with a focus on contemporary dance. Since 2020, she has been a company member with the OM Grown Dancers under the direction of Courtney OM. After graduating high school in 2019, she began to explore her passion for teaching and choreographing at local studios and public schools. She is currently focused on mentoring and training dancers of all ages, mainly within the company program at APA and the TRAIN program at Threehouse Studios. Stazia is creatively driven through her personal exploration of intuitive and sensation-based movement. She encourages using tools like improvisation and yoga to develop body awareness and individualized artistry in her students. Her movement and choreography have been influenced through training and performing work by artists such as Emily Greenwell, Nancy Andrews Roque, Marcos Roque, Ashley Lindsay, Brooke Averette, and many more.

insta: @staziaritch

Andrea Dula is from Raleigh, NC and graduated from Meredith College with a major in Dance Education as well as a K-12 teaching licensure. She has danced for seventeen years and is trained in modern, ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, liturgical, and jazz. She served as a full company member of both the Meredith Dance Theater Company and the Meredith Jazz and Tap Company. She was also a member of the hip hip company called the Meredith College Dance Crew. 

 Jessica Holloway is a dancer, choreographer, and public school educator with a philosophy that everyone should have access to the arts. She is an East Carolina University Alumna and holds a BFA in Dance Education with a K-12 Teaching License. Jessica is passionate about all things related to dance, movement, mental health, and physical health. She combines ballet, modern, acro, contemporary, and jazz to translate feelings and emotions into a physical language.

Becca Gargiulo (she/her) is a dance artist based in Durham, NC. In May 2022, she graduated summa cum laude with her BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and received her teaching certification for Scott Putman’s Elemental Body Alignment System shortly thereafter. Since returning home to NC, Becca has reconnected with the local dance community in a variety of ways. She loves to teach and aims to cultivate a welcoming environment in her classes where each student has space to grow. She also continues her personal training and performs regularly with Footnotes Tap Ensemble and Nine Movement Collective. Outside of the dance studio, Becca loves to go thrifting and spend time with her cat, Lucky!

insta: @b.g.dance

Joyce Gaffney is a dancer, dance educator, and movement enthusiast based in Raleigh, NC. She earned a B.S. in dance from the University of Wisconsin - Madison (UW).  At UW, Joyce had the privilege to perform works by guest choreographers Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company as well as university faculty. Joyce taught and worked as a freelance dance artist in Chicago, working with Ardent Dance company, Jin-Wen Yu, and Marlene Skog, before relocating to Raleigh.

Danielle Anthony is a native of Dallas, Texas, who came to North Carolina to attend Meredith College, where she received a B.S in Biology with a double minor in Criminology and Forensic Science. She has been dancing for 23 years. She has trained in styles such as hip hop, jazz, contemporary, and ballet. She started at Amanda's Express Dance Company, then went to Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy for high school. Then, in college, she was part of the Meredith Dance Theater Company and the hip-hop group known as the Meredith College Dance Crew.