Excerpt from ABOVE/below: The Devil & The Tower
Choreography: Alexander Jones
Performers: Heidi Brewer, Justin Brock, Talia Demps, Esophia Higgins-Wilkins, Alexander Jones, Sam Kendziora, Jonah Perez-Lopez, Kirsten Standridge
Lighting Design: Christopher Spatafora
Costume Design: Iky Standridge
Music: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
ABOVE/below is a dance+photography collaboration with resident artist Joey Clay, rooted in Artistic Director Alexander Jones’s personal tarot practice. Centered on shadow work, the piece physicalizes the confrontation and integration of the hidden self. For BEACON26, projectALCHEMY shares excerpts from The Devil and The Tower.
The Devil explores compulsion, seduction, and attachment—an intimate, charged tension where the shadow clings to what feels heavy yet familiar.
The Tower embodies rupture and sudden upheaval—fracture as revelation, collapse as the catalyst for transformation.
Together, these sections trace a passage from entanglement to electrified change.
Experience the full immersive ABOVE/below March 27–28 at the Murray Studio Theatre at Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Alexander Jones
Alexander Jones is the founder and artistic director of projectALCHEMY, an international nonprofit dance+ company based in downtown St. Pete. A native Floridian, he trained in the LINES Ballet BFA Program and holds degrees from the University of South Florida and an MFA from Hollins University. While in college, he worked with Alonzo King, Bill T. Jones (Serenade/The Proposition), and Doug Varone (The Rite of Spring). His choreography draws from personal experience, ancestral memory, and tarot as a source of movement and metaphor. Jones creates work that sparks conversation and reflects what he is actively navigating in his own life. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity and performs at Walt Disney World. He teaches at the University of Tampa, choreographs for Next Generation Ballet and the Marcia P. Hoffman School of the Arts, and serves as resident choreographer with Jobsite Theater. Community and collaboration ground his artistic process.
Heidi Brewer
Heidi Brewer, born + raised in the Pacific Northwest and University of Washington alum, has worked as a dance artist in Seattle, NYC, Los Angeles and St. Petersburg since 2001. She is touring The Invitation Situation, a collaboration with choreographer Jeanine Durning and performers Clare Croft, Andee Scott and Mary Williford-Shade and has performed in Sarasota, Chicago, Detroit, Denton and Houston and L.A. in August ‘26. She performs regularly with projectALCHEMY in St. Petersburg, and presents her own work throughout Tampa Bay each year. She is a Certified Pilates teacher through the Kane School & kinected in NYC, where she also works as the Communications Director. She is a Pilates Instructor, Oov instructor & Kane School teacher trainer at Body Center St. Pete.
Justin Brock
Justin Brock is a Florida-based dancer and choreographer, graduated from Harrison School for the Arts. He began his formal dance training at Highland School of Dance under Hayley Stewart and Alexander Jones in Lakeland, Florida. Justin is a current company artist with projectAlchemy, his project based performances includes Sound-hi as part of BEACON and The Good Peaches with American Stage and The Florida Orchestra. His choreographic works include Effeminate, Arboreal Cover, Travelers, and Undergrowth Implosion, which was featured as part of Momentum at the Dalí Museum. In addition to his company work, Justin has performed a solo, Schimacy, with Atlas Modern Ballet and participated in DELVE with Stewart/Owen Dance, where he received a full scholarship. His training also includes instruction from Christina Acosta and Richard Ploch at Hillsborough Community College.
Talia Demps
Talia Demps, originally from Davenport, Florida, began her dance training in 6th grade at Davenport School of the Arts. She continued her training through high school, attending The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Lakeland, Florida. In spring of 2022, Talia graduated from the Univeristy of South Florida, earning a BFA in Dance Performance with a concentration in modern dance. Talia has been a company member and artist with ProjectALCHEMY dance since 2022. She recently joined REVolutions dance earlier this year. Talia Demps is also a youth and adult dance instructor throughout the Tampa Bay Area.
Esophia Higgins-Wilkins
Esophia Higgins-Wilkins, a Florida native, earned her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of South Florida and an MBA in Sports Business from St. Leo University. She is a curent artist with projectALCHEMY, founded by executive creative director, Alexander Jones and The Parks Institute, founded by John Parks . Her passion for dance and travel led her to India, where she performed with SHIAMAK Davar’s Bollywood company and she continues exploring cultural dance as a company member of the Spinning Canvas Bollywood troupe founded by Shivali Vyas. Her most cherished role, however, is her residency with her toddler—where their living room performances blend dance and music, with an abundance of love and joy (occasional monster truck)!
Sam Kandziora
Sam Kedziora began her training as a competitive dancer, a foundation that led her to earn a BFA in Modern Dance Studies with a minor in Psychology from the University of South Florida. She has trained in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, Gaga, Pom, heels, and more. After graduating in 2022, she continued her studies abroad before moving to Chicago to perform and train with Solarium Dance Company and Trifecta Dance Collective. While in Chicago, she began her yoga certification and expanded her practice through a wide range of teachers and styles. Sam has also traveled to Paris, Berlin, Helsinki, Kraków, Amsterdam, and Northern Israel to further her artistic development. She is now based in Tampa Bay, dancing with projectALCHEMY and REVolutions Dance Company, and remains committed to exploring and growing in her artistry both locally and internationally.
Jonah Perez-Lopez
Jonah Perez-Lopez is an artist originally from Orlando, Florida and graduated with a BFA from the University of South Florida. He is a company member of projectAlchemy in St. Pete and he aims to stay grounded in his values; continuing to show the community the dance as inspired by everything around him. Jonah will be performing in two separate works this evening.
Kirsten Standridge
Originally from Lakeland, Florida, Kirsten Standridge’s training began at the age of six at a local studio called Highlands School for Dance under the instruction of Hayley Amis Stewart. On top of taking classes at the studio, she had also been accepted to dance at a local arts High School named Harrison School for The Arts where she had the opportunity to learn from Susan Olsen, Gloria Haigler, and Shelley Bourgeois. After graduating from Harrison, she was accepted to the dance program at The University of South Florida. While attending USF, she had been given the privilege to perform in the works of many professors and guest choreographers such as Bliss Kholmyer, Paula Nunez, Michael Foley, Yaniv Abraham with Batcheva dance company, and Alonzo King with Lines Ballet. She went on to begin her professional career with Collective Soles Dance Company in Tampa and is now a company member with projectALCHEMY working with founder/artistic director Alex Jones. Kirsten is excited to have the opportunity to continue working with Alex and looks forward to continuing her training with the company.
