ABOUT
PROFESSIONAL
TRAINING
Payge Lecakes graduated from SUNY Purchase College with dual degrees, a BFA in Dance with a concentration in composition from their Conservatory of Dance and a BA in Gender Studies. They currently work as a dance artist with JKing Dance Company (dir. Joyce King, ‘24 - Present) and was previously an apprentice with cat.astrophe! (dir. Cat Cogliandro, ‘23-’24). They have participated in training programs with such artists as MICHIYAYA Dance (May ‘24), Sidra Bell (MODULE, January ‘24), and Doug Varone (DEVICES, May ‘22) as well as multiple programs through Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance (‘18-’22).
PRIMARY
TRAINING
Payge began their training at Eleanor’s School of Dance (Albany, NY) at the age of three before joining Northeast Ballet Company (Schenectady, NY), under the direction of Darlene Myers, in 2014. After moving to New York City in 2016, they attended Manhattan Youth Ballet, under the direction of Erin Fogarty. Throughout their primary dance training, Payge attended summer programs with Joffrey Ballet NYC, American Ballet Theater, Houston Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts.
Despite focusing much of their primary training around classical and neo-classical ballet, Payge always felt a propensity for more contemporary forms of movement. This was only heightened when they came to terms with their genderqueer identity towards the end of high school, greatly impacting their comfort (or lack thereof) in ballet-centered spaces, many of which uphold and are intrinsically tied to binary understandings of gender.
OTHER
EXPERIENCE
Payge worked as the Digital Media and Communications Manager for Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance (‘21-’25) and has had experience acting as a Photographer (2024) and Guest Teacher (2020, 2022) for the organization. As a freelance dance instructor, they have guest-choreographed for Montclair High School Dance Company (‘26) and taught at such institutions as New York Theatre Ballet (Substitute, ‘25-’26), CARBON THE COLLECTIVE (Guest Teacher, ‘24) and Manhattan Youth Ballet (Student Teacher, ‘18; Substitute ‘25). Outside of the dance world, Payge has worked in professional administrative and tutoring roles and is a crafting hobbyist, primarily working with textiles and crochet.