2022-23 Guest Artists
CocoSPA Dance invites guest artist dancers throughout the school year to engage with students and share different perspectives and experiences. Guest artist Edgar Aguirre is a visiting instructor at SPA this year, and we are fortunate to have two amazing dancers teaching at the 2023 high school winter retreat, Héctor Jaime and JanpiStar.
Héctor Jaime
Héctor was born and raised in Mexicali, Baja California, México. They began their training with Manuel Torres in El Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART) and attended a couple of summer intensives in the US throughout high school. They were one of the recipients of The Herb Alpert Foundation Scholarship when they attended the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) in 2015. Héctor graduated from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet BFA Program in San Francisco affiliated with Dominican University of California. Post graduation, they had the opportunity to be a member of Sean Dorsey Dance, Dawson Dance SF, and have an appearance in the dance film titled “Falling Up” directed with Detour Dance Company. Héctor has always been inclined to teaching and became a teaching artist with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s HeART with LINES program.
Héctor is now a ballet and contemporary instructor at Stapleton School of the Performing Arts. In 2022, Héctor became part of the LatinXtensions Cohort, a 12-month program advising emerging Latinx dance artists in developing their professional artistic practice. This encouraged them to start their own company “Xochipilli Dance Company'' based in the Bay Area. XDC has now premiered work in different residencies since its foundation including Deborah Slater Dance Theater summer residency in studio 210, Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers (FLACC) and Stapleton School of the Performing Arts Choreographic Residency.
JanpiStar
JanpiStar was born and raised in Puerto Rico. JanpiStar began a bachelor's degree in Drama at the University of Puerto Rico—Río Piedras in 2012, working with notable performers, directors, and choreographers such as Viveca Vázquez, Carola García, and Petra Bravo before taking up dance in 2013.
They have participated in workshops in writing, movement, acting, and semiotics with the group Malayerba in Ecuador and with the London-based Candoco Dance Company. In 2016, they worked with Bravo in her Instalaciones coreográficas at the Santurce Fine Arts Center in Puerto Rico. From 2016 to 2018, they worked with the theater group Jóvenes del 98, directed by Maritza Pérez, until moving to Oakland, CA, to join AXIS Dance Company, working with choreographers Robert Dekkers, Arthur Pita, and Jennifer Archibald.
Their most recent solo work was commissioned for 2019's inaugural "FROLIC" Queering Dance Festival. In January 2020, they participated in the Holland Dance Festival with AXIS. They are an integrated dance instructor who has practiced the art of Drag Queen. JanpiStar's mission is to empower people to believe in themselves and follow their dreams.
Edgar Aguirre
Edgar Aguirre is originally from Guatemala City, Guatemala, and grew up most of his life in Redwood City, California. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2019 with a BFA in Dance Performance.
Edgar is most honored to have danced in Donald McKayle's Étude Ensemble while at UC Irvine and was awarded the Donald McKayle Scholarship in 2019. Post-graduation, Edgar danced with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble in Denver, Colorado (2019 - 2021). Edgar is now based in California and is currently a guest artist with Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company and RMK.
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