STAFF

DayZee Barajas began dance at the age of  7 years old taking hip hop classes at a local community center.
Realizing how much she enjoyed performing, she started taking acting classes at Canaris Program and
auditioned for commercials landing her first role in a Kit Kat commercial. She went on to participate in school
musicals such as Once on This Island, Guys & Dolls and A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To The Forum.
While still acting and singing she joined her high school dance company, which featured many different styles
of dance such as; jazz, tango, swing, and hip hop.  She later went to Lincoln high school, a local performing
arts school where she continued to train and pursue dance. After high school she joined a local Dance Studio
and trained extensively in Jazz and Lyrical for a few more years under the instruction of Keith Banks. She later
moved on to Hip Hop workshops under the instruction of Krisuan Rosalejos and joined a Competitive Hip Hop
Crew in San Francisco called Aftermath, where they went on to compete in competitions such as Battlefest 360
and Collaboration. Wanting to gain new experiences she started back up dancing for Artists such as Cristian
Castro, Xavier Toscano & Los Recoditos just to name a few. Currently she is still back up dancing and is teaching many different
styles of Dance, She is trained in Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Ballet and Swing and plans to teach and spread dance to a
nyone who is willing to learn.

Jessica Bettencourt started dancing at only 18 months old, and took the stage for the first
time at the age of five. At seven years old she was asked to be a part of a performance and
competition team where she furthered her training in styles such as: ballet, lyrical, jazz, tap,
and hip hop. At the age of ten Jessica was asked to perform in “ 42^nd Street ” for a banquet
dinner put on by the New York Talent Agency. Jessica Bettencourt continued competing for
different teams for a total of nine years winning soloist awards such as “Best commitment to the
choreography” and the Company Dance leadership scholarship for three consecutive years.
As a junior in high school she auditioned and was accepted to be a part of the Archbishop Mitty
Royals dance team. As a senior she served as one of the team’s lieutenants helping build team
unity, and assisting in choreography. Jessica Bettencourt is now entering her second year at
San Jose State University where she is studying dance. She is very passionate about dance and loves
teaching and passing along everything she has learned.

Krista has been dancing for 19 years. She has trained in Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, Pointe, Lyrical
and Modern. Krista’s dance education began at the age of two at a local studio here in the bay area
where she received the majority of her dance education. At the age of ten Krista began competing with dance
teams and since then has attended many competitions and conventions where her teams have
received high recognition. Krista continued her education of dance while attending Monta Vista
High School in Cupertino where she was a proud member of the Nationally ranked Marquesas
Dance Team. Krista has worked with artists/choreographers such as Nick Lazzarini, Cindy Welik,
Sonya Tayeh and Chris Jacobson. Currently Krista is a Senior at San Jose State University working on her undergraduate studies in Child Adolescent Development. She is looking forward to graduating in a year
and continuing her studies to receive her Masters in Child Development. When there is free time Krista
still enjoys taking dance classes and continues her training. Krista loves that she is able to work and share her
passion for dance with others as well as work with a variety of age groups here at the friendly environment
of The Dance Zone.

Daniel Arizmendi, an international martial arts champion, began his classical training at the Redding Ballet Academie's Pre-Professional program; and he also was privately coached by Natasha Morken. For six years, he was a leading male dancer and choreographer for the Redding City Ballet and Redding Ballet Academie. In 2008, he founded the Belariz Ballet school, performed for FACT/SF's Home Season 3.0, and was a founding member of Artesan Dance Company. As a choreographer and teacher, he creates original works and teaches master classes for dance companies, schools, and universities.