Ranardo-Domeico Grays (Founder/Artistic Director)

Ranardo-Domeico Grays (Founder/Artistic Director), native of Detroit, is an alumnus of The Juilliard School, California Institute of the Arts (BFA), the Alvin Ailey School and Interlochen Arts Academy. He has performed with Sensedance, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Urban Wash Dance Company, the La Toya Jackson Tour, Garth Fagan, Zack Morris, and Celebrity Cruises, throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. He is a member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, and has acted in film (Slow Jam King, Shortcut to Happiness and State Property 2) and television (Law & Order, Gossip Girl, Canterbury’s Law and The Nanny), and was choreographer/co-host of VH-1’s Rock of Ages. He also was assistant choreographer in the Off Broadway musical, Hitgirls. He taught Master Class workshops in Contemporary Ballet at Marygrove College; Chicago, Sweet Charity and A Chorus Line workshops at New York Sports Clubs; Urban Fusion at Equinox and Ripley Grier Studios; and Afro-Latin-Funk at American Express' NY Corporate headquarters. As Dance Director of Morris High School, he staged/choreographed Bye Bye Birdie, West Side Story and Little Shop of Horrors. He was a panelist in “Queer Butoh – Transcending the Identity of Sex” presented by Howl Arts, the NY Butoh Institute and Vangeline Theater. Ranardo is a brain cancer survivor! http://www.ranardo-domeico.com

Laura DeRubeis-Byrne (Principal Dancer)

Laura DeRubeis-Byrne (Principal Dancer) has been with VISIONS Contemporary Ballet since 2009. Originally from Philadelphia, PA, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in Narberth, PA; at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia under the mentorship of former PAB directors/co-founders, Margarita de Saa and John White, and character dance teacher, Tatiana Kudrjavcev; and at University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. Laura has danced as an apprentice with New York Theatre Ballet; was a company dancer at New Generation Dance Company, which fused Argentine tango with neoclassical dance, and Neville Dance Theatre; and has free-lanced with other companies. She has also danced for television and a Lebanese pop music video. As a choreographer she has created two works, “Homage to Wood” and “Overshadow,” which were both performed in New York City. She has taught dance in New York City for Bridge for Dance, Hamilton Dance Studio, and for choreographer David Fernandez. She received her Yoga Alliance 200-hour RYT certification through ISHTA Yoga in the summer of 2015 and teaches yoga in the greater New York City area.

Shannon Maynor (Principal Dancer)

Shannon Maynor (Principal Dancer) has been with VISIONS since 2009. Originally from Los Angeles, she was trained at California Dance Theatre. Prior to moving east, she performed with San Francisco Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theatre. In addition to dancing with VISIONS she also currently works with Nomad Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Inc and CelloPointe and is a guest artist with Neglia Ballet Artists. When not dancing, she enjoys practicing Gyrotonics and traveling.