Cody Cox
Cody Cox is a Vancouver based dance artist from Victoria BC where he primarily began his training in most styles at Allegro Performing Arts Centre. Afterwards Cody moved to Vancouver to attend the Simon Fraser University School for the Contemporary Arts dance program which he graduated from in 2014 with his Bachelor of Fine Arts.
Since graduation Cody has had the opportunity to show his own work at 12 Minutes Max and the To.Be.Announced dance festival. As a dancer Cody has worked for local artists such as Carolyn Schmidt Jenn Edwards, Desireé Dunbar, Rob Kitsos and has apprenticed for Vanessa Goodman.
Cody is continuing to create work and seeking opportunities to showcase his creations in and outside of Vancouver.
Rachel Helten
Rachel Helten is a Vancouver based dance artist, choreographer, and teacher. In 2016, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Simon Fraser University. Since then she has traveled to Ecuador where she taught dance at an art therapy centre as well as trained in Florence, Italy in a process facilitated by illustrious dance creatives from around the globe.
Following her travels, she has been teaching, working as an independent artist in various avenues as a performer and choreographer. In recent past, Rachel finished a process with the Lovers Cabaret as well as The East Vancouver Opera. She has been blessed to be a part of processes under the leadership of a vast array of artists such as Crystal Pite, The Plastic Orchid Factory, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Vanessa Goodman, Judith Garay, Rob Kitsos, Desirée Dunbar, Emmalena Fredriksson, Gioconda Barbuto, Wen Wei Wang, Sarah Chase, Heather Myers and Dorotea Saykaly.
Moreover, she has an affinity for collaborative and interdisciplinary methods and has had the pleasure of producing her own work. She is enormously grateful to be a part of the “There’s No Place Like Home” process and to be amidst the unifying and inspiring energy of Dezza Dance. Rachel would like to thank Desirée Dunbar and all of her collaborators for enriching the space with their generosity, sensitivity, bravery, and brilliance.
Finally, she would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support and for all those who have helped shape who she is today.
Jenna Kraychy
Jenna began her dance training at age four in Calgary, AB where she extensively studied ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, and acrobatics. She has completed her R.A.D Advance 1 Ballet Exam, performed and trained across North America and Europe, and has done promotional work for Cirque du Soleil. Performing with The Young Canadians School of Performing Arts gave Jenna the opportunity to perform in the Calgary Stampede in front of crowds exceeding 18,000 people, for royalty, and in various television events including the Gemini Awards.
Jenna recently completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance at Simon Fraser University. During her time at SFU, she performed works created by many esteemed artists including Lesley Telford, Yossi Berg & Oded Graf Dance Theatre (Israel), Judith Garay (Martha Graham Company), Wen Wei Wang, and Crystal Pite. At the Arts Umbrella International Summer Dance Intensive where Jenna was awarded a full scholarship (2015/2016), she had the opportunity to study internationally renowned repertoire including works by Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, and Mats Ek.
In July 2017, Jenna travelled to Florence, Italy where she participated in the OpenFLR Summer Dance Intensive where she gained exposure to the European dance community, learning from many esteemed choreographers and emerging dance artists. She had the opportunity to take part in a creative process with Christopher Evans (Hofesh Shechter Company, Gecko Physical Theatre Company) and take classes from other artists including: Jenia Kasatkina (Countertechnique), Shumpei Nemoto , Dorotea Saykaly, and Jasmine Ellis.
Juan Villegas
Juan Villegas is a Colombian Canadian dance artist, he works in dance, performance art, and video. He works with improvisation and collaboration, exploring themes such as identity, equality and pushing boundaries of physicality. He is also interested in traditional and nontraditional performance spaces. He is drawn to full bodied movement that is fused with emotional connectedness. He believes in performing with the highest level of sensory awareness and uses improvisation as a tool to discovering honest movement states. His background in Latin American dance and culture, films, contemporary music, ceramics, traveling, the state of the world, western science and the Yoga system influence his dance. Juan has a post-baccalaureate diploma in contemporary dance from Simon Fraser University and a degree in industrial design from Emily Carr University. Juan has been dancing professionally since 2012 when he joined Paras Terezakis' company Kinesis Dance Somatheatro in Vancouver. He performed with the company for two seasons before moving to Toronto in September of 2013. In 2016 he toured in Ontario with Chartier Danse and performed in Marie-Josée Chartier's work 'petites danses'. This year, he relocated back to BC and he looks forward to continuing his artistic endeavours in Vancouver, a city with a dance thriving scene. Professionally, Juan has also collaborated with Desirèe Dunbar (Dezza Dance), D.A Hoskins (The Dietrich Group), Allison Cumings (Sore for Punching You), Darryl Tracy and Jillian Peever. Juan also teaches Yoga and Pilates locally and Yoga teacher trainings abroad.