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FACULTY

Meet The Founders

Roberta Bierman

Roberta Bierman is a passionate performer and instructor known for innovative choreography, great musicality and an energetic teaching style. Born in Victoria BC and dancing since the age of five, Roberta has studied many different styles of dance such as tap, jazz, modern and ballet but once introduced to Hip-Hop, it captured her heart and quickly became her main focus.

Roberta's Hip-Hop crews and choreography are continually recognized at competitions and festivals throughout Canada. Roberta is one of the most sought after choreographers and teachers in British Columbia.

Roberta has trained extensively throughout the US including New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas and Seattle. While training in Los Angeles she has the opportunity to dance in the Silly Walks for Hunger Charity event choreographed by Rich and Tone Talauega. Roberta was invited to perform in Montreal at Danse Encore Festival with Tri-Tone Productions based out of Austin, Texas. Roberta's choreography was featuring in the music video 'Teacher's Pet' by Death to Sexy. Roberta can be seen in music videos such as SonReal's 'For The Town', Taliwhoah's 'Love Soldier' and Julz' 'Crosswords'. Roberta recently co-choreographed for the University of Cincinnati dance team who brought home a national title.

Roberta's choreography is becoming recognized around the world, which has given her the opportunity to travel and teach throughout Canada, Seattle, Texas, Hawaii, Colorado, Cincinnati, Belgium, Amsterdam and Switzerland. Roberta is a member and choreographer for the elite, all female dance crew, Diamonds in the Rough. She is also a Co-Director of the reputable Canadian mega crew, TwoFourSeven Company.

Jane Marlinga

Jane Marlinga is a dancer, choreographer, producer & event co-ordinator. Born & raised on the small island of Victoria, BC, she began her dance training at the young age of 3. From humble beginnings, she started with Filipino folk dancing and moved on to study Ballet (R.A.D.), Tap (I.S.T.D.), Jazz, Modern, Lyrical & Musical Theater. After high school, Jane moved to Vancouver where she found and fell in love with the Hip Hop culture and dance. She switched her focus in discipline and never looked back.

Jane is a versatile dancer, which has allowed her to dance professionally in the industry. Some of her credits include: K-OS, 2010 Closing Ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Coca-Cola, CFL: Grey Cup, City TV-Breakfast Television, XBOX: Just Dance & has appeared in music videos for Swollen Members & SonReal. For years, Jane was casted to perform in the Alberta Ballet & Royal Winnipeg Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She was also fortunate enough to be a featured dancer with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. From 2005 - 2009, Jane landed various dancing roles at the Pacific National Exhibition under the direction of PRP Productions. In the fall of 2009, Jane along with her crew mates, were the 1st ever in Western Canada chosen to represent at an elite show called Carnival: Choreographers Ball in Los Angeles, California. In the summer of 2012, Jane danced for the Academy of Swag Company in West Covina, California who competed & won 1st place to become the United States Hip Hop International Champions.

In 2012, Jane was brought onto the World of Dance Tour, which travels throughout the year globally. Her role as tour producer allowed her to expand her creativity & learn the corporate side of the industry from a backstage perspective on such a large scale. Recently, Jane has been brought on as event manager to the first ever destination competition; Dancers Paradise in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

As a choreographer & teacher, Jane not only has the privilege to coach and mentor children, but has also been given the chance to work with international superstars on their music videos & concerts. Her award winning choreography has given her the opportunity to teach across Canada & the USA. Most recently, she had the honour of co-choreographing for the Cincinnati Bearcats Dance Team who went on to win both National & World titles. She also dances and choreographs for her dance crew Diamonds in the Rough, which enlists some of the top female dancers in Western Canada.

Our Faculty

Elwin Alpuerto

Coming from a family of entertainers, it comes as no surprise that Elwin Cervantes Alpuerto spent the majority of his life honing his craft as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Having started his 8 years of training at Dream Dance Studio, doors of opportunity were opened for Elwin to travel the world and experience working with world-renowned choreographers. Elwin has learned from industry professionals such as Gil Duldulao, Misha Gabriel, and Marc Marvelous, and has trained under international choreographers Brian Puspos, Shingo Okamoto, April Rodriguez, and Candace Brown.

His training has given him the opportunity to compete at Norway's Got Talent with The Vibe Team in 2011, as well as teach at local studios in Oslo, Norway, including The Vibe International Dance Studio. Elwin uses his international training and experience to develop his own style of teaching, having spent a total of 7.5 months living and training in Norway, as well as travelling back and forth between LA to develop his dance vocabulary.

Elwin takes pride in creating an open environment for his students to explore different concepts and approaches in their own personal development. His proudest moments as a teacher come from seeing the light bulb turn on in a student's mind, and from watching them mature as dancers, and as people. Bringing his energetic, loud, passionate, and positive vibes to every class, Elwin creates an atmosphere for his students to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable, and takes ultimate pride in cultivating the growth of the dancers around him. Elwin is currently a Captain and choreographer for the internationally competitive company, TwoFourSeven.

JB Bongato

Jon "JB" Bongato is a passionate performer from Vancouver, B.C., known for his intricate musicality and textured style of movement. At the age of 12, he began taking drop-in classes at Fresh Groove Productions under the direction of Cezar Tantoco. There, he became a part of the energetic Xtreme Soul Style dance crew, who had the privilege of representing Canada at the World Hip Hop Championships (2007-2009) and performing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics closing ceremonies.

While on an internship for school in Toronto in 2011, he trained in their dance community allowing him to expand his movement vocabulary. As a result, his unique style has developed to fuse both the high energy and intricacy of the west with the flavour and groove of the east. JB previously co-directed TwoFourSeven dance company and was a member of The Faculty, two of Vancouver's top award winning crews.

Currently, he is pursuing endeavours that bridge the technology and dance worlds. He aims to find ways to improve and augment dancers' day-to-day with carefully thought-out design, while continuing to connect with dancers and innovate in this space.

Erik Perena

From the Philippines, Erik moved with his family to Canada where he was introduced to the hip hop dance culture in high school. He quickly fell in love with the scene and began training extensively. Erik then made it to the Sullivan Heights hip-hop program and continued his training, eventually becoming the coach for the school's Senior Team. He also lead a team called ENTI (Express Not to Impress), which won multiple competitions throughout the Lower Mainland. After his highschool graduation, Erik auditioned and joined Praise Team Senior Showcase and Twofourseven Company, where he competed at the World Hip Hop International competition in Las Vegas and San Diego for five years consecutive years.

Trained under Jerome Esplana, Erik was inspired to direct his own team and later went back to coach his highschool team for another three years. Now, Erik teaches weekly drop-in classes at A3 District and coaches two teams in the studio, Infamous and E.P Ryderz.

Fundamentally, Erik goes by the saying to his students and teams: "family first before everything".



Carlo Atienza

Carlo was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta where he took his first dance class at the late age of 19. He quickly pushed his career forward by moving to Vancouver in 2010 where he founded "The Faculty" who won 8 consecutive titles at Artists Emerge and World of Dance Vancouver and Seattle. The Faculty was also the first Canadian team to be invited to the prestigious Body Rock Competition in San Diego where they placed 3rd in 2013 and 2nd in 2014 among the best in the world. Carlo is now one of the directors of TwoFourSeven Company who are 4 time back to back Canadian Hip Hop Champions and Body Rock 2017 Champions.

Carlo's classes offer a variety of styles that take inspiration from dance hall, vogueing/waacking, house, hiphop and even contemporary and lyrical. Carlo is a strong advocate for musicality and textures which is something he pushes to demonstrate within his choreography. You can now find him travelling the world teaching and pursuing his passion in dance as he is currently one of the most in demand choreographers in the Canadian dance scene.

Raveinal Lescano

Raveinal Lescano began his dance training at Fresh Groove Productions in 2008. From then on, his love for dance continued to grow. Since then, he has trained with many groups such as The Bakery, TwoFourSeven Co. & PraiseTEAM. Raveinal is also trained in many different styles such as Hip-Hop, Waacking, Popping, Contemporary, Tap & Musical Theatre. A major role in his dance career was being a Creative Team Member of PraiseTEAM's elite group Senior Showcase where he was able to exercise his creativity, leadership & staging skills. Through this team, he was able to experience many prestigious competitions like Hip Hop International, World of Dance, VIBE Dance Competition & Body Rock Dance Competition.

Raveinal currently co-directs the group Style & Grace, an elite all female group from PraiseTEAM that competes locally and internationally. Dance has been such a huge part of Raveinal's life that it's become a main source of his joy. He believes that dance is a God given talent and he is thankful to share his passion with the world!

Julia Bose

Julia Bose is a passionate dancer and teacher, born and raised in Victoria, BC. She began her life of dance at the age of 3, and instantly fell in love. Throughout her childhood she explored many different genres such as Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Tap. However, Hip Hop quickly stole the show, and has since taken her to new heights both locally and internationally. In 2015, Julia was invited onto Team Canada for Hip Hop, and later travelled to Rimini, Italy to compete in the IDO World Championships. She performed as a solo dancer, in a smaller select group, and took home and impressive 4th Place with the full adult team. This was her first brush with international competitions, and it was only the beginning. In 2016, while training under Roberta Bierman, Julia and her crew, GTX, flew to Las Vegas to compete in the Semi-Finals for the world renowned competition, Hip Hop International. She has since performed and competed at many Hip Hop events such as Urban Alchemy, Artists Emerge, Vibe, and eventually BodyRock 2017 where she won 1st Place with TwoFourSeven Co., under the direction of Carlo Atienza, Roberta Bierman, and Jon Bongato.

Julia also has an intense love for teaching. She began her career choreographing for her middle and high school dance programs, local studios, and solo projects. This is where she developed her high energy, positive, and nurturing teaching style. She has since directed several competitive crews, whom have had the pleasure of competing in competitions such as Artist Emerge in Edmonton, Alberta. Today Julia teaches a variety of street styles, in a range of skill levels and age groups.

Julia continues to expand her Hip Hop repertoire by training under many highly respected choreographers, with TwoFourSeven Co., as well as with an up and coming, all female Hip Hop crew, Ruffnecks, directed by Roberta Bierman.





Chris Bonus

Chris Bonus is a dancer, choreographer, instructor, and director from Vancouver, Canada. Chris's accomplishments started early in his career, earning a scholarship after taking his very first dance class! Since then, he's been training, teaching, creating, and competing year after year at a professional level. Chris is currently a captain and choreographer off the well-known Canadian mega-crew, TwoFourSeven Company. He has competed at Hip-Hop International, World Of Dance, Artists Emerge, VIBE, and recently took first place at Body Rock 2017 with TwoFourSeven.

Chris currently teaches weekly drop-in classes in Vancouver and contracts as a guest choreographer. In the course of a year, Chris co-directed two shows under Your Artistry Productions titled "Art Saved My Life". Recently, Chris started a training program called The Corner to help develop dancers' freestyle abilities and hopefully expand his vision into something much bigger for the community.