Jacqui DeFrança

Jacqui DeFrança is a Maine based dance artist originally from Massachusetts.  She is a graduate from Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles where she received a B.A. in Dance. She has had the pleasure of performing at venues such as: Ailey Citigroup Theater, St. Mark's Church, Joe's Pub, Milk Studios, Dixon Place, Lightbox, Engine and SPACE Gallery. Jacqui has also danced at various showcases including: ACDF, Western Arts Alliance Annual Conference, Reverb Dance Festival, APAP, and CFDA/Vogue presentation. As well as stage, she has experience with TV and Film, dancing in Video Music Awards performance with Rihanna, Oh Land's music video Renaissance Girls and acting and dancing in the short films Out of Zinc and Big Breakin'. Learning under artistic director Mike Esperanza, Jacqui was a member of Bare Dance Company from 2008-2015. She also has worked with New York City based, Flying Under The Radar (FUTR) with artistic director Marlon Taylor-Wiles since 2014. Alongside performing, Jacqui enjoys choreographing and has had the delight in creating movement for Illesteva’s fashion week presentation 2012, KOPPS’s music video Hott in 2018, The Bones of J.R.Jones' music video Stay Wild in 2020 and is continuously developing solo improvisation work. While dancing in Maine, Jacqui has had the honor of working with Subcircle, Michael Figueroa, Scott McPheeters, Liz Mulkey, Rose Hutchins, Kelsie Steil, Hannah Haines, Alison Chase, Ali Kenner Brodsky, and Satomi Itohara. She has been performing and training with contemporary ballet company Ballet Bloom Project since 2020. Jacqui also curated and performed in En Route, a two month curbside performance series at Engine in 2021 and co-curated the series second show in 2022. She is currently involved in project based work both in film and live performance.


Photo by Bekah Robertson Photography