As soon as she traveled to New York City for the first time, Casey LaVres knew she wanted to move there and dance professionally. After all, she has been dancing practically her entire life.

“Dance has been everything to me my whole life,” she says. “I’ve been dancing since I was 2 years old.”

She danced competitively in Mobile with the Centre for the Performing Arts and Broadway South Dance.

Casey attended Daphne High School and graduated in 2010, then attended Troy University until graduation in spring 2014.

“I majored in foreign language with a concentration in Spanish, and I double minored in dance and speech communication,” Casey says,

During her college years, Casey studied abroad summer 2013 to Madrid and trained at the Madrid Dance Center. She also was a member of the Troy Dance Repertory Ensemble and Troy Dance Theatre.

Casey traveled to New York City for the first time during her senior year and knew she would be making the move after graduation to pursue her passion.

During that first visit, she auditioned for the iLuminate show “Artist of Light,” although they weren’t casting any female roles.

The week before Casey moved in June, she got a call from a friend, Adrienne Hicks. Hicks was in the show and called to ask it Casey would be interested in being the female swing — an understudy who learns several different tracks.

“Of course I said ‘yes,’” Casey says. “After I started performing, a cast member injured herself, so I was performing everyday.”

In August, Casey was asked to join the cast full time.

“The show I'm in is called iLuminate and we perform at New World Stages,” Casey says. “The character I play is a crony, which is one of Jacob’s magical creatures.”

Casey says if the show closes, she plans to stay in New York and audition for other shows and companies.

About iLuminate

iLuminate takes you a journey in the latest production of their New York show, “Artist of Light,” which tells the story of Jacob, a talented young artist who struggles to connect with the real world. He takes comfort in his magical paintbrush, which grants him the power to turn the characters of his imagination into living, breathing creatures.

When a jealous bully steals the paintbrush and uses it for evil, turning Jacob’s sweet creations into horrifying monsters, Jacob must face danger without the help of his miraculous tool. He fights to save his town and friends, all while knowing the paintbrush that brought him so much joy is now a weapon in the hands of a villain bent on destruction.