MEET YOUR TEACHERS

JENECA TODD FREDERIKSEN

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

At five years old, Jeneca was enrolled in her first Ballet class, and a lifetime love of dance began. First through 13 years of technical Ballet and pointe training at Clytie Adams School of Ballet, and enhanced by Modern and Jazz instruction through the Davis High Dance Company. Not able to let go of her childhood passion, Jeneca graduated in 2012 with a degree in Dance Education at Brigham Young University. At BYU, in addition to getting certification and training for both elementary and secondary education, Jeneca ran the university's Beverley Taylor Sorenson ArtsBridge program, which focused on integrating arts into elementary school curriculum. During this time, Jeneca also performed on Kinnect, dancEnsemble, and Contemporary Dance Theater, leading her to perform and teach in New York City, Germany, Jamaica, India, and all over the western United States. 

After graduation, Jeneca spent almost ten years living in Minnesota and Indiana, teaching and helping to develop studios in both locations. In Minnesota, Jeneca was an Instructor and School Principal of CREO Arts and Dance Conservatory. It was here she began the development and implementation of her school curriculum in Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, and young children’s movement classes. While in Minnesota, Jeneca also enjoyed performing with Refractions Dance Project and choreographing local and school musical theater productions. In Indiana, Jeneca became the School Director of Windfall Dancers, helping to grow the studio in addition to running a dance in schools program, integrating dance into educational subjects. 

Feeling the pull to move closer to home, Jeneca and her family moved back to Utah in 2021 where Jeneca spent two years getting back into the local dance community. Jeneca taught and performed with Illume Dance Company, helped to put on Davis Performing Arts Collective’s annual Christmas show, Scrooge, choreographed on Viewmont High School’s Dance Company, and taught creative movement classes at local elementary schools. After years of dreaming and waiting for the right location, Jeneca is excited to be opening the doors to Elevé Arts Academy! 

When not at the studio, Jeneca is enjoying her time with her husband Kyle, and their two children, Rosalie and Kaden. Jeneca also enjoys camping, hiking, traveling, and learning all about food from gardening to cooking and baking.

RACHEL BLACKFORD

DANCE EDUCATOR

Rachel is a Utah native who completed her modern dance training with an emphasis in education at Utah Valley University, where she excelled as a performer, choreographer, educator, and dance scholar. In her time at UVU she notable acted as a director’s assistant for Synergy Dance Company, worked as a dancer with RDT on their 2019 restageing of Doris Humphrey’s work Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, and received the department’s Dance Education Award of Merit and the Outstanding Student Award upon graduating. She set several works on UVU’s performing companies, had multiple works selected for adjudication at the ACDA’s Western Regional Conference, and has since created several award winning works on various professional & pre-professional companies throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Rachel spent two years in the Saint George, Utah area as an assistant director for dance companies at both Crimson Cliffs and Desert Hills high schools, and worked with Saint George Dance Company for three seasons as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and artistic director. Until her recent return to the Utah area, Rachel lived in Jackson WY, working with the local dance community as an administrator, teacher, and artist. She continues to work as a teacher, choreographer, and arts administrator throughout Utah & Wyoming, and is passionate about bringing access to the arts for the many populations she serves.

KAYLEY HASHIMOTO

DANCE EDUCATOR

Kayley was born and raised in Southern California where she trained at Pacific Dance in Irvine from the age of 6. She danced competitively for 12 years with Pacific Dance at various regional and national competitions including KAR, Countdown, Showstoppers and more while she won various overall awards for solos, duets, and group competition dances. She has had the opportunity to dance at Disneyland several times and also performed in the Nutcracker for 8 years with various roles which have also included many lead roles. She is trained in Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, Modern, Jazz, Latin Jazz, Contemporary & Hip Hop.

In 2015, Kayley started her teaching career and found a passion for teaching dance to her students. In 2018, Kayley was a dance nominee for the Orange County Register “Artist of the Year”. Also, in 2018, She co-directed Artegy Dance Academy’s production of the Nutcracker. Kayley was one of the founding company members of “The Asylum Project” with dance engagements bringing awareness to mental health through artistry. Kayley continued to further her education at Orange Coast College and Golden West College through their dance department while being able to choreograph for their shows and also attended ACDA’s Western Regional Conference. Kayley took some time and earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Management from Grand Canyon University. After Graduation she moved to West Haven, UT to settle down with her husband. She is extremely excited and ready to get back into teaching. Kayley’s goal is to challenge and inspire her students as her teachers did for her.

ANGELEA HANSEN

DANCE EDUCATOR

Angelea Hansen has been studying classical ballet since she was 11 years old. She's trained with many companies/schools including Excel Dance Studios, Imagine Ballet Theatre, Clytie Adam's School of Ballet, Snow College, The Bountiful School of Ballet, and Weber State University. She's also attended summer intensives/master classes/etc. at Ballet West, Ballet Austin, and the University of Utah, to name a few. She recently graduated with her Associate of Arts and is currently working on her Bachelors in Dance/Dance Education at Weber State. 

JOVAN MENDOZA

DANCE EDUCATOR

Jovan found that she had a love for dance at a very young age, but wasn't able to take an official dance class until she was in High School. She worked hard and quickly learned from her teacher and fellow sudents. She became the President of her High School dance team her senior year. In California, where she is originally from she took jazz, performance jazz, lyrical and modern dance classes in college. She has a great love for people and has had the chance to teach all ages from 18 months to adults in Hip Hop, Jazz, and Lyrical. She was also the coach of a performance team, that would perform around the community.

Jovan has 9 children and loves spending time with her family doing anything from dancing, hiking, paddle boarding, playing family games, and watching movies. She loves date nights with her husband doing almost anything as long as they are together. She loves holidays and decorating and creating fun things to do as a family. She has two daughters on the Davis High School dance company, one of them is also in Musical Theater, two children in soccer, one on Davis High Swim team, and one in Junior High Orchestra. She also has a special needs son who is 22 years old who loves to dance anytime anywhere. Needless to say she feels blessed to be able to have so many people to love and be loved by.