This Isn’t Ballet. This Is projectALCHEMY.

Inside St. Pete’s only professional dance company and its most expansive season yet

By Avery Anderson

Let’s get this out of the way: projectALCHEMY is not your tutu-and-twinkle-lights kind of dance company. Founded and led by the visionary (and occasionally god-mic fantasizing) Alexander Jones, it’s the only professional dance company in St. Pete—and it’s making that fact count.

This season? It’s big. It’s brave. And above all, it’s collaborative.

“I didn't realize that this was going to be as big of a collaborative season until we had a bunch of collaborations,” Jones said with a laugh. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, I guess that’s what we’re doing now.’”

The Year of Showing Up—and Showing Out

This fall kicks off with The Good Peaches, a massive co-production with American Stage and The Florida Orchestra. The scale alone would be impressive. But it’s not just the size—it’s the synergy.

“We're talking actors, dancers, live music from a full orchestra,” Jones said. “Like… I’m screaming. That was like a ten-year dream for me. That wasn't 2025.”

Jones isn’t kidding. The Good Peaches brings together three of the region’s top cultural institutions in a rare, multidisciplinary show at the Mahaffey Theater. That’s right: projectALCHEMY, the indie, community-first disruptor, is staging a piece on one of the largest performing arts stages in the city.

“I was at the Mahaffey and I was like, whoa. Like… we’re going to be doing stuff on this stage,” Jones said. “And then I had this whole fantasy of being that old choreographer in the shades and the mink coat yelling, ‘Dancers, to the left!’ in a god mic.”

We’re hoping that fantasy becomes reality.

From Murals to Movement to Mahaffey

The season doesn’t stop there. If The Good Peaches is projectALCHEMY’s mainstage debutante ball, the rest of the season is its radical field trip across St. Pete’s creative ecosystem.

There’s Momentum, an incubator program that empowers emerging dance artists to develop work after a five-month mentorship. This year, the culminating performances are inspired by murals created through SHINE Mural Festival’s Outside In partnership with the Dalí Museum.

Then comes mixed, a site-specific performance series that asks: What if dance happened where you didn’t expect it?

“For a week, there will be different performances around St. Pete at different spots, at different times,” Jones said. “We’re trying to figure out whether or not we fully advertise them or if it’s something that, if you’re in the area at the time, you see it. And if you don’t… you don’t.”

Don’t be surprised if you stumble across a dancer mid-phrase outside your favorite bodega.

Shadow Work, Shared Space, and a Season of Realness

Later in the season comes Above Below, a collaboration with filmmaker Joey Clay, known for capturing movement like it’s painted in slow-motion brush strokes. The piece draws on tarot, dualities, and what Jones calls “shadow work”—his own journey this year of confronting the intersections between darkness and light, visibility and vulnerability.

“My shadow self and my light self are not necessarily separate,” he said. “The above is of the below and the below is of the above.”

The piece will premiere in a gallery space, surrounded by Clay’s photography capturing dancers’ light and dark. From those images, Jones will create choreography.

“I’m taking the shapes that come from the improv to make phrase work to then make this thing,” he said. “And the goal is to actually take what he's capturing and make movement from that.”

Why It Matters That This Exists in St. Pete

Jones is blunt: St. Pete is bursting at the seams with visual art. It has several professional theaters. But when it comes to dance?

“We’re the only professional dance company in St. Pete,” he said. “And the city doesn’t fully have the infrastructure to support more. We don’t have enough review coverage. We don’t have spaces being built big enough for dance to happen. And a lot of the existing spaces are, frankly, too small to do real movement.”

Despite this, projectALCHEMY persists. Thrives, even. And maybe that’s because it was never built to exist only inside a theater.

“We need more than one,” Jones said. “We need more dance companies. More working artists. More spaces. More support. More dance all over St. Pete.”

Until then? projectALCHEMY is here, god mic optional, doing the work.

“I can't require the community to just come to where I am. I have to go to the community,” Jones said. “Sometimes people don’t want to buy a ticket to dance because they don’t understand what it is. And the only way they’re going to understand is if I show them.”

For Jones, that means collaborating with muralists. Staging spontaneous performances. Teaching $10 open classes. Inviting artists into the fold through movement, not résumés.

“There is no audition process for the company,” he said. “I learn about you in class. Not from a 30-second audition.”

Why Now: A Mahaffey Moment and a Movement

This season, projectALCHEMY’s not just on the map—it’s on the Mahaffey stage, the Dalí walls, and the city streets.

“We’re still a baby company,” Jones said. “But maybe… not that much of a baby anymore.”

🎟 projectALCHEMY Season Passes are available through August and include six events ranging from large-scale collaborations to experimental dance installations. Passes start at $60. Learn more at projectalchemy.dance.

📍Follow @projectalchemy.dance on Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes rehearsal clips, and, if you're lucky, a glimpse of Alex in choreographer drag.