Ruchama Son (New Jersey, born in Haiti) began her dance training at Orange High school and has been dancing ever since...As a teenager, Ruchama witnessed harassment, intimidation, and bullying throughout her community. She was a committed advocate, urging and encouraging any type of urgent emotional aid the young ladies and gentlemen hungered for within the community of Orange. This aspired to her long-term goal of becoming a dance educator while using dance as a tool to help teenagers find a positive creative outlet to deal with social emotions and make a change within her community. Ruchama graduated from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)where she completed a BFA in Dance. Ruchama experienced great dancing opportunities while working with amazing choreographers such as Julie Bour, Douglas Neilson, Julie D Lane. Julie Bour is a native French choreographer. Julie is the co-founder of The Flying Mammoth, a dance company designed to bridge the gap between artistic disciplines. Douglas Nielsen founded The Guangdong Dance Company, Mainland China’s first modern dance company, in 1988. Nielsen was the recipient of the Lester Horton Dance Educator Award in 2003 and founded The Guangdong Dance Company, Mainland China’s first modern dance company, in 1988. Julie D Lane was the first local independent Black choreographer to be commissioned by the Atlanta Ballet and was recently selected to participate in the 2015-2016 Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab. She is also a company member of Camille A. Brown & Dancers as well as a teacher, choreographer, and film director. Ruchama is an occurring & seasonal company member of Tosha Brown Dance Company located in Livingston, New Jersey. Presently, Ruchama continues to mentor students at OHS while advising young seniors in Virtual mode, plus choreographing featured Alumni Dance Projects as a means to build, encourage, reconstruct, and continue growing the amazing OHS dancers that pass through the program while contributing to the Orange Community.