Winners Revealed for The Joffrey Ballet's 16th Annual Winning Works

​The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet will present five world premieres in the culmination of Joffrey's national call for emerging artists to submit applications for the Winning Works Choreographic Competition.

This year's Competition winners—Fran Diaz, Julia Feldman, DaYoung Jung, Daniel Ojeda, and Alexandra Schooling (Recipient of the Zach Lazar Winning Works Fellowship) — each will choreograph an original work created for the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet Conservatory, Trainees, and Joffrey Studio Company.

Winning Works will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Edlis Neeson Theater in nine performances on Friday, March 13 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, March 14 at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM, Sunday, March 15 at 2:00 PM, Thursday, March 19 at 7:30 PM, Friday, March 20 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, March 21 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM, and Sunday, March 22 at 2:00 PM. 

A mission-driven, access-oriented initiative, Winning Works upholds The Joffrey Ballet's core values of Joffrey for All, providing opportunities for everyone, regardless of background, to experience, support, and participate in dance. The goal of the award is to recognize talented, emerging choreographers whose unique perspectives will inspire creativity in the form of original works of dance. Through Winning Works, the Joffrey aims to broaden access for artists who have been historically excluded from the art form and empower those who embody its values to shape the future of dance.

The Joffrey Ballet gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Winning Works Sponsors Robert & Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc., Nancy Koltun, and the Pritzker Foundation.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Fran Diaz works as a choreographer based in Berlin. His work, frequently manifested in multidisciplinary projects, often explores themes related to collectivity: the notion of community, the need for a sense of belonging, or the reconfiguration of one's physical spaces and boundaries. Using a formally clinical style, fast execution, and an almost sculptural choreographic approach, his often multidisciplinary projects aim to exist at the intersection between queer culture and the design of institutional structures.

In 2020, his choreography, Toothpicks, won third prize at the International Choreography Competition in Hannover, and in 2021, he was a finalist at the International Choreography Competition in Copenhagen with his choreography, I'll do the talking. In 2023, he premiered The Habit, a new piece for the Bavarian State Ballet, and two new pieces in the free dance scene, Born by the sea and Scheme, the latter exploring the challenges of structural change by examining complaint processes in dance institutions. In 2024, he was named one of the “20 Most Promising European Choreographers for the Year” by the prestigious dance platform Aerowaves for his piece Born by the sea and premiered The Mass Ornament, a new commission for 15 dancers at the Hessisches Staatsballett (Wiesbaden, Germany).

His upcoming commissions are a recreation of Orpheus, a new full-length production for the Leipzig Ballet for the 2025/2026 season for 40 dancers, a new creation in collaboration with (LA) HORDE / Ballet National de Marseille with premiere in October 2026, and a restaging of his piece The Mass Ornament for Sydney Dance Company with premiere at the Sydney Opera House in June 2026.

Julia Feldman received her training under Pamela Hayes of Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet and began her professional career with the Sacramento Ballet in 2011, where she is currently a Company Artist. She discovered her passion for choreography through the company's annual Beer and Ballet program, creating a new work each year since 2012. In 2019, she was selected for the National Choreographers' Initiative in Irvine, CA, under the direction of Molly Lynch. In 2021, Feldman was one of three choreographers commissioned to co-create a new Nutcracker for the Sacramento Ballet, led by Artistic Director Anthony Krutzkamp. The following year, she was selected for the New York Choreographic Institute's Spring Session, directed by Adrian Danchig-Waring. Her first full-length commission for the Sacramento Ballet, Hearts, premiered in April 2022.

Her second commission, Pockets of Light, debuted in March 2025 and will be followed by a third work premiering in Fall 2025. In February 2026, Feldman will premiere a new work with Smuin Contemporary Ballet, led by Artistic Director Amy Seiwert. In 2015, Feldman co-founded Capital Dance Project (CDP), a collective of professional dancers based in Sacramento. The company focuses on creating world premiere works in collaboration with local visual artists and musicians. Feldman has created ten works for CDP to date and plays an integral role in shaping the organization's mission, management, and creative vision behind its annual Behind the Barre and Digital Series productions.

DaYoung Jung is an award-winning choreographer, dance educator, and former principal dancer. Originally from South Korea, she trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, graduating with honors and earning a master's degree in Ballet Pedagogy. In 2006, she was a semifinalist at the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Jung joined Oklahoma City Ballet in 2012, was promoted to soloist in 2014, and to principal dancer in 2017. Throughout her career, she performed principal roles in several classical works, including Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake, The Firebird, Cinderella, and The Sleeping Beauty. She also performed works by renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián, Twyla Tharp, Stanton Welch, Septime Weber, Michael Pink, Robert Mills, and many others. Her final performance with Oklahoma City Ballet was in May 2022 as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, after which she transitioned into her current role as a Rehearsal Director.

Jung's choreographic works have been commissioned by companies and projects across the United States, including the Oklahoma City Ballet, National Choreographers Initiative, Milwaukee Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, and PointeWorks, among others. Her work, Vignettes, created in 2022, was chosen as the audience favorite at the Milwaukee Ballet's Genesis: International Choreographic Competition.

Daniel Ojeda is a freelance choreographer and dancer based in New York City, originally from Queens. After starting in musical theater at the age of 3 under the direction of Teresa and Mark Aubel, Daniel transitioned to ballet at the age of 12. His training includes the School of American Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Ballet Academy East, and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, all of which he received a full scholarship. His training also includes coaching from Barbara Walczak, and Northwest Dance Project's LAUNCH Program.

Throughout his career as a dancer, Daniel has been featured in works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch, Craig Davidson, Danielle Rowe, Lauren Edson, Alejandro Cerrudo, Penny Saunders, Wen Wei Wang, Robyn Mineko Williams, Joseph Hernandez, Edwaard Liang, Alex Ketley, FLOCK, and Juliano Nunes. Daniel was promoted to soloist with Ballet Idaho in 2022 before retiring in 2024 after a thirteen-year career. As a choreographer, Daniel has made over fifteen original works for Ballet Idaho and has been choreographing for the company since his first season in 2011.

Daniel's work has also premiered in cities all over the US, including Seattle, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, and New York City. His work, The Unnatural Pattern, was selected as the audience favorite in 2020 as part of the Men In Dance Festival in Seattle. In 2024, Daniel was a recipient of the $10,000 Alexa Rose Light of Day Award. Later that summer, he choreographed, directed, and self-produced his first-ever evening-length show, BY & BYE: an unsustainable art show, which included collaborations with fifteen-plus Boise-based artists. In 2025, Daniel was selected to be a choreographic fellow for the Carmel Dance Festival.

Alex Schooling is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and studied at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She then earned a BFA in Dance Performance, with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies, from Butler University, where she studied choreography under Susan McGuire. Afterward, Alex freelanced in Portland, Oregon, collaborating with Push/Fold and working on dance films with The Holding Project. She was an original member of PDX Contemporary Ballet and was commissioned by the company in 2015.

In 2016, Alex joined Oklahoma City Ballet, performing a diverse repertoire by choreographers such as Alexander Ekman, Twyla Tharp, and Jessica Lang. She has contributed to the creation of original works by artists like Rena Butler, Nicolo Fonte, Dayoung Jung, Larry Keigwin, and Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye. Alex's choreography has been featured in several showcases, including Oklahoma City Ballet's Future Voices and CURE8, presented by Race Dance Collective. She has been commissioned by Central Oklahoma Ballet Theatre since 2022 to create original works for their summer season. Alex has been a finalist at the Red Rock Dance Festival and Palm Desert Choreography Festival. In 2025, Alex was nominated as a Kirkpatrick Foundation Emerging Artist Fellow. Alex is awed by the process of artistic creation and endlessly inspired by the clouds.

Former winners of the Winning Works competition include Jeffrey Cirio (2016), current Lead Principal Dancer with Boston Ballet; Chanel DaSilva (2020), who choreographed two world premieres for the Joffrey, Wabash & You and colōrem; Houston Thomas (2024), who returned to the Grainger Academy to choreograph For Mr. Ramsey Lewis, presented at Ravinia Festival; Amy Hall Garner (2011), the choreographer of the free touring work for families Rita Finds Home, co-produced by The Joffrey Ballet and Miami City Ballet; and Stephanie Martinez (2015), a featured choreographer on the Joffrey's winter program The Times Are Racing. 

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