Paul Jochico
Born and raised in NY, Paul began dancing in high school with hip hop showcases and ballroom performances at cotillion celebrations. Inspired by the city's hip hop culture, Paul continued to explore avenues of dance as a commercial and competitive hip hop dancer. Along with Monique Moses, Paul served as a founding Co-Artistic Director of RiSE Dance Company. In their debut competition season, the team finished as the top New York team in the overall Upper Division at WODNY 2013.
While pursuing his passion for dance, Paul also focused on his education. Paul has an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University with a specialty in talent and organizational development. As House of Movement's CEO, Paul combines his passion for dance with talent development best practices to provide a home for New York's dance community.
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Kaily Buemi
An evolving choreographer and dancer and from Cleveland, Ohio, Kaily began dancing at the young age of 3, studying tap, jazz, and ballet for a local dance company. She continued to dance as a teenager as the head of her high school dance team. Kaily went on to choreograph and perform in the pre- and half-time show at Ralph Wilson Stadium-- home of the Buffalo Bills-- 3 years in a row.
Now in NYC, Kaily continues to pursue her passion for dance by dancing on crews and taking classes in and around the city. She has been lucky enough to train with and learn from renowned choreographers such as Ellen Kim, Laura Edwards, and Lyle Beniga. Kaily is CMO of House of Movement and hopes that this will be a place for dancers to follow their dreams, and expand their skills and creativity in an atmosphere that is encouraging and boundless.
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Robespierre Dornagon
A born and raised Queens, New York native, Robespierre began his journey with dance in his college years. He was reluctant to audition having no prior dance experience until some of the members on the college team pushed him to try it. From there, he trained with the Urban Beats Crew of the University of Scranton and eventually directed and lead the team in his Senior Year as President. It was his four years with this team, where he began to build his passion for dance, specifically focusing on hip hop dance.
After graduating and relocating back to New York, Rob learned about a newly formed team in New York called RISE Dance Company. Joining, training and competing with RISE in their first season was the driving force Rob took into taking dance more seriously. He is currently the Executive Director of Mint Dance Company. Rob is also CFO of House of Movement and hopes that this company will be an outlet for all dancers in the community where they can dance, learn and grow.
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Pear was born in the U.S., but raised in Bangkok, Thailand. She started dancing at a very young age with ballet and jazz. Then as she grew up, she had learned other different styles such as hip hop, contemporary, belly dance, salsa, and a lot more, from both classes and videos. Pear has joined many competitions both locally and internationally, and won prizes both on a team and as solo dancer. Some of her achievements are the 3rd place for Neo-classical Solo Novice in 2005, and for Neo-classical Solo Open in 2007 (both at CSTD Dance Competition in Perth, Australia), and the 2nd place at Seacon Street Challenge, the biggest street dance competition in Thailand in 2009.
Pear took a big step in her dance career in 2008 working as a backup dancer for Thailand's Top Artists in their concerts, tours, and music videos, while pursuing a bachelor's degree in accounting. Both before and after her graduation, she has been a choreographer for event shows, a dance instructor, and a concert backup singer, and she has played some roles in Thai musicals too. Pear recently came to New York in 2012, and she is also a choreographer for Mint Dance Company.
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Bo has been in the NJ dance community since 2006 when he first danced on FR3SH. He continued to dance with the company, while directing their junior team - Fr3sh Jrs, for 3 years.
During this time, Bo also danced on teams such as RDT, Balls to the Wall, and has made numerous appearances on Ven15 and to do projects with Jake Pesquira as well as Dennis Caindec. With his passion for teaching and directing, he led small projects with some of his friends for UFP's carnivals - Ladies w/ Guns, and If you want you are can. In the many years of dancing, teaching and directing, Bo has been privileged enough to teach in numerous places around the United States, including California, Las Vegas, New York, Boston, Rhode Island, as well as in New Jersey. This past year, Bo had the opportunity to teach a weekly open hip hop class for Rise Dance, in New York City and is now back teaching for House of Movement. Now in his 5th year teaching for Arts in Motion Dance Academy, and 5th year directing UFP/ UFPx, Bo hopes to continue to grow in his craft and to inspire the rest of the community. He couldn't be happier with the way things are with both UFP and UFPx and is excited for the rest of this season.
Bo loves teaching and hopes that anyone taking his classes has fun and keeps their mind open to exploring new movement.
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Raised in Old Bridge, New Jersey, Jewel, also known as Mush, found her passion in dance in high school at the age of 15 when she did her first Asian Pacific showcase. Later on, she started to train more seriously with RDT at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. It took a few tries but she did not give up. Jewel was also studying Visual Arts in Mason Gross where she found a love for both art and dance. She then became artistic director of RDT. Jewel joined a 90-day rigorous program called D.A.N.C.E. where Jewel's growth evolved as she was mentored by Jake Pesquira. She also performed in San Francisco for Sockhop Dance Competition hosted by Funkanometry SF. She was a part of East Coast Dance Project led by Michael Estaban, Leslie Hubilla, and Adrian Causing from FR3SH on America's Best Dance Crew Season 4. Later on, Alonzo Williams discovered her and invited her to train with Rhythm City who also featured on ABDC 4 and BET. She performed and traveled through major cities in China with RC and Domo from The Voice.
Currently, Jewel is exploring what it is like to be in front of the camera for her own production "Unapologetic" which is a video series she directed and choreographed to unravel her wild concepts on film. Jewel is filled with passion and adventure. She loves touching her students with inspiration, empowerment, and exploration. She will open up a world of art and entertainment to her students sharing her experiences and humbled mindset. Her style of dance is a fusion of street jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. Jewel continues to grow as a dancer, artist, risk taker, and human to touch, move and inspire others.
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Guest Faculty
Youran Lee
Youran Lee is a dancer from San Diego, California, who began her dance career in the genres of jazz, tap, and contemporary back in 2005. However, under the guidance of teachers such as KJ Gonzales and Keone Madrid, she decided to train primarily as a hip hop dancer during her sophomore year of high school. She joined well-known San Diego junior teams (Syde Fx and Ill Habits) and eventually became one of the founders and captains of her school’s co-ed hip hop team.
Once she started her first year at NYU in 2014, Youran auditioned for the Neighbors, and later had the opportunity to choreograph for both of their sets. For the current season, she has been given the honor to serve as Artistic Director. Her goal and hope as director is to help the Neighbors continue to grow and make a name for themselves throughout the East Coast. Outside of the Neighbors, Youran studies psychology, and is a member of NYU’s Pulse Dance Project.
Justin Marin
Justin Marin, a New Jersey native, was first introduced to Hip Hop culture at 13 when a close friend and classmate showed him a "Baby Freeze"and, awestruck, he began training in Breakdancing. Throughout middle school and high school Justin simultaneously performed across New Jersey in the Hip Hop duo "Panda Crew" and was also an active dancer in a number of musical productions including "The Wiz," "Thoroughly Modern Millie," and "Seussical." In 2010, Justin entered the competitive and exhibition dance scene and has danced with teams like Defined Movement, UFPx, E.P.I.C Motion Dance Company, IFA Dance Team and The Neighbors. His talent has given him the opportunity to perform at Funkanometry SF's Sockhop 5, teach classes both in New York and California, and most recently, dance for up-and-coming rapper Goldlink. Today, Justin continues to dabble and experiment with new styles of dance through both choreography and freestyle
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