Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s spring arts issue features more than a dozen artists to watch this year and beyond. Meet Justin Brock.
His talent got noticed early: Hayley Amis-Stewart, a faculty member at Highland School of Dance in Lakeland, spotted Justin’s talent in elementary school musicals and offered him a dance scholarship when he was 10.
He was skeptical at first: “Being raised in Polk County, it was not really the biggest thing for a boy to be dancing.” But supportive parents and teachers like Amis-Stewart and Alexander Jones (now the artistic director of projectAlchemy) encouraged him to continue.
Too small? Or too big? At 20 years old, he’s just 5’6”, but a growth spurt in high school (Lakeland’s Harrison School for the Arts) led some to say he was too bulky to do ballet. “Going to classes every night at Highland with Miss Hayley and Alex kept me going.”
The training paid off: He won a state dance title and a full scholarship to Delve (stylized in all-caps), a summer intensive with Asheville, North Carolina-based Stewart/Owen Dance.
And now he’s a projectAlchemy company member: His appearances with pA have included “The Good Peaches” with American Stage and The Florida Orchestra; last year’s “soundHI” for the Beacon (stylized in all-caps) dance series; and “MIXed: Across St. Pete,” during which the company danced in parks and other public places.
What’s next? He’s creating and starring in a piece for the March 6 edition of Beacon based on an anime about a boy with chainsaw hands. He’ll also be dancing in works for two other companies, including Atlas (stylized in all-caps) Modern Ballet.
Where does he want to be in five years? “Starting my own company.”
SPRING ARTS 2026
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This article appears in Jan. 29 – Feb. 04.