Jean Michael Rubingu grew up in Congo and France and began studying dance with his mother as a young child.  He moved to Rochester as a refugee as a teenager and graduated from School of the Arts with a dance major.  He has studied with Garth Fagan and has performed with Present Tense Dance Company, Cheryl Johnson and Ethan Beckwith-Cohen. He started dancing with BIODANCE in 2016 with a project at Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall in collaboration with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.  He has also appeared in Dances at MUCCC and Labyrinth with the company, as well as Heidi Latsky’s On Display in collaboration with the UR Program of Dance and Movement/Missy Pfohl Smith.