Dancer and Choreographer Myra Joy Veluz Leads Academy Wide Workshop

One of our incredible academy-wide workshops was our Dance Workshop, led by the very talented dancer and choreographer Myra Joy Veluz (known as Joy to her dancers). During this time Joy worked to bring to life some incredible hip-hop choreography alongside teaching our students technique that was able to be differentiated to meet any dancer's level of comfort; this is essential because no matter the students declared discipline, they participated in this workshop.

Our Dance Director, Andrea Franco reflected on this workshop by saying, "Working with Ms. Joy taught our academy students the importance of culture and backstory of popular dances that we see now. Since her profession is around commercial dance, she gave our students an inside of what directors and people in the industry look for and what dance style they work with."

Joy brought so much enthusiasm and excitement to the workshop and our students walked away with a better understanding of how to tell a story through any dance genre. Performing Arts Academy Student, Grace Torres (C/o 2025) expressed, "Knowing that hip hop is one of the most popular dance genres today it has inspired me to learn more hip hop history and techniques for future performances". Torres continued, "Working with Joy was a fantastic experience"!

We are grateful that Myra Joy Veluz is one of our Teaching Artist at the West Covina High School Performing Arts Academy and was able to lead such an insightful and engaging workshop for our students! We can't wait to see what our students will do with all the new knowledge and skills they've learned.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in finding out more about the West Covina High School Performing Arts Academy and the opportunities it can provide to high school aged students, feel free to visit our website at WCHSpaa.org or you can email us at WCHSpaa@wcusd.org.

Check out below a simple warm up that was used that was accessible by all levels of dancer.