Bios

Jenelle Garerlan is a young dancer, choreographer and teacher from Portland, Oregon. She has danced with BodyVox’s Junior Artist Generator since the program began in 2013, training on full-scholarship for the past 5 years. In eighth grade Jenelle began finding her artistic voice through choreography, submitting pieces to local young choreographer competitions.

Andrés Peraza is a graduate of Arts and Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) in Beaverton, where he discovered his love for dance. He continued his studies at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, under the direction of Seán Curran. Additional training includes: Nashville Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

Emily Schultz began her formal dance education at age 16 in Oregon. In 2010, she joined Portland Festival Ballet under the artistic direction of John Magnus where she danced principal roles in the Nutcracker, Raymonda, Le Corsaire, and Alice In Wonderland. John Magnus chose her choreography to be performed by the company for two consecutive years.

Brent fell in love with dance at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in Vancouver, Washington, and worked with BodyVox for a year before he went on to attend Point Park University, where he graduated with a BFA in Modern Dance. While in college, Brent performed in works which include “Minus 16” by Ohad Naharin and “The Constant Shift of Pulse” by Doug Varone, among many other pieces and performances.

Jenelle Garerlan is a young dancer, choreographer and teacher from Portland, Oregon. She has danced with BodyVox’s Junior Artist Generator since the program began in 2013, training on full-scholarship for the past 5 years. In eighth grade Jenelle began finding her artistic voice through choreography, submitting pieces to local young choreographer competitions.

Born & raised in Northern Michigan, Jillian works as both a dancer and circus artist. She has had the opportunity to perform with such companies as Ballet NY, Urban Ballet Theatre, AntiGravity Entertainment, Ballet Theatre of Boston, Quixotic Fusion, Boston Ballet, AcroBack Productions, Aerial Artistry, NYC Tranzformerz Breakdance Crew, AcroArts Productions, Rockit Aerials, & Rebecca Rice Dance amongst others.

Elizabeth (Elle) Crowley was born and raised in Kailua, Hawaii where she began her dance training at a young age with Dance Spectrum Hawaii and Hawaii State Ballet. She attended Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts, where she was in the International Bachelorette Program in Dance, graduating with a diploma in 2009.

Jeff George trained with Ballet Arts of Minnesota and Broadway Dance Center in New York. He performed on the East Coast Tour of Sesame Street Live and then moved on to travel the world for the next six years performing on various Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line ships.

Elizabeth trained at the Princeton Ballet School and in New York at the School of American Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and with Maggie Black and David Howard. She was one of the first recipients to win the Presidential Scholar in the Arts awards in 1980, going on to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC as part of the awards ceremony.

Olivia Ancona was born in San Francisco, however grew up in Berkeley, London, and predominately Portland, Oregon. She trained with the Northwest Dance Project, Jefferson Dancers, and the Portland Ballet, and is an alumnus of the Juilliard School.

Paris studied dance in Santa Cruz, California with small local studios and trained with the Santa Cruz and San Jose Ballet. By junior and high school, she was varsity captain of the cheer team and a competition dancer. Training continued with the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance until moving to Portland in 2010 where she continued her training at BodyVox and Northwest Dance Project.

Lisa Buchmiller began dancing at an early age at Tri-Cities Academy of Ballet in Richland, WA. Classically trained in ballet, tap and jazz she performed with Mid-Columbia Ballet under the artistic direction of Debra Pearse Rogo. In college, Lisa discovered her true passion - teaching movement.

Rachel Slater is a dancer, choreographer and teacher in Portland, Oregon. She holds a BFA from the University of the Arts in Modern Dance Performance. In Portland she has performed for Tracey Durbin, Carla Mann, Franco Nieto of NW Dance Project,Tere Mathern, and Sara Parker, among others. Rachel's previous work included performance engagements across the U.S. and Southern France.

Shaun Keylock is a performance-based artist, dancer, and educator born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He began his formal dance training at Pacific University, where he received his B.A. in Dance and Art History. While at Pacific, Shaun was a member of the Pacific Dance Ensemble and performed original works by many faculty and guest artists, including Jennifer Camp, Mary Hunt, Lauren Edson, Josie Moseley, and Rachel Slater.

Dar Vejon holds a B.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography as well as a Minor degree in Japanese Language from San Francisco State University. While achieving his degrees, he concurrently received scholarships from the SFSU dance department that allowed him to continue his studies at Alonzo King Lines Ballet (San Francisco Dance Center).

Sara Parker holds an MFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City (2015) where she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a recipient of the Dee Winterton Award (2015). Additionally, she holds a B.S. in Dance from the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR (2009). Sara has most recently performed in works with artists such as Tere Mathern (PDX), Netta Yerushalmy (NYC), Pamela Geber-Handman (SLC), and Sharee Lane (SLC).

Heather trained on scholarship at Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet and at 14 became a Ballet Major at the University of Utah where she earned her BFA. Heather has danced with Utah Ballet and Ballet West performing classic ballets as well as works by George Balanchine and Paul Taylor. Before leaving Salt Lake, Heather was an administrator and instructor at the School of Ballet West.

Vanessa Thiessen is originally from Portland, OR, and trained at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. She has danced for ODC Dance, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Smuin Ballet, Skinner/Kirk Dance Ensemble, Amy Seiwert¹s Imagery, Tanya Bello's Project b. and Opera Parallele. She has most recently taught repertory for ODC Dance, Imagery and Smuin Ballet, and has frequently been Choreographic Collaborator for KT Nelson.

Sarah Fuhrman is originally from Portland, OR, and trained with The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre under Haydee Gutierrez and James Canfield. She spent time in St. Petersburg, RU for additional training with the Mussogrsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. Sarah joined Oregon Ballet Theatre as a company member and danced corps and principle roles.

 Zachary began his training with the legendary dancer George Zoritch in his native Tucson, Arizona. He continued his training as a full scholarship student with The National Ballet School in Toronto, Ontario. He has performed a wide variety of principal roles as a dancer in Oregon Ballet Theater, Minnesota Dance Theater, and Ballet West. His repertoire includes works by Balanchine, Taylor, Van Manen, Tudor, and many others.

Tracey Durbin - After studying years of piano, theater and ballet at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, Tracey moved to Los Angeles. In LA, Tracey studied ballet with Stanely Holden, jazz with Luigi (the innovator of the worlds first jazz technique), and assisted Hama, Luigi's protege.