Elena Gimenez was born and raised in Madison, Alabama where she started dance at the age of three. She trained extensively in all styles and danced competitively for the majority of her life. Elena then went on to receive her BFA in Contemporary Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). There, she performed works by Aszure Barton, Robert Battle, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Larry Keigwin, and Yin Yue, among others. She has attended summer intensives with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Northwest Dance Project, the Limón Company at Perry-Mansfield, and The Cambrians. In these programs, she worked closely alongside people such as Dante Puleio, Ihsan Rustem, and FLOCK. Elena also has a passion for musical theatre, commercial dance, and choreography, winning numerous awards for her choreography of musicals and competitive pieces. She was a teacher at The Dance Company, Inc. in Alabama for over five years before moving to Utah. This is Elena’s first year as a member of the Contemporary Dance company, SALT2.
Meet Other Trainers
Working from home meant we could vary snack and coffee breaks, change our desks or view, goof off, drink on the job, even spend the day in pajamas
Duncan was born and raised in Utah and has been dancing for 14 years. He started taking hip hop lessons and later started taking Latin ballroom, jazz, ballet, and contemporary. Duncan has danced on Mos A.I.C. Dance company for three seasons and is currently on the Utah Jazz dance team. He has been teaching and choreographing for 8 years and is so happy to be teaching at Danceology.
Brittany has been a dance teacher for over 15 years. Brittany started dance young and trained at Revolution, a competitive studio till 18 years old. In high school, while still training at Revolution, Brittany was on the Alta High School Dance Company. She choreographed pieces for the dance company and her senior year she was the president of the team. In college she danced and choreographed for the Utah Flash Basketball’s Dance Team for 3 years. After those 3 year she danced on the Utah Dance Team at the University of Utah for 3 Years, 2 of those years she was captain. Then after graduating from college she became the assistant coach of the Utah Dance Team at the University of Utah for 5 years. She received a Masters Degree in Human development from the University of Utah in 2017. Brittany has been teaching with Danceology since 2011 and enjoys teaching all ages and many genres. She loves being a part of this wonderful Danceology family.
Rachel Hansen is originally from Draper Utah. She trained at The Dance Club in Orem where her and her teammates took home several regional and national titles. In 2012, Rachel earned the title of Junior National Dancer of the Year at Hollywood Vibe Nationals. She was also offered a role in the Broadway show, Billy Elliot when she was just 12 years old. The last four years, Rachel has spent dancing and competing as a BYU Cougarette. She has helped the Cougarettes win three national titles, 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal when the Cougarettes were chosen to represent team USA at Worlds. Rachel is into her Senior year as a BYU Cougarette where she is excited to serve as the Vice President and officer. Rachel prides herself in extensive training in all types of dance and her leadership skills. She got married in 2020 to her husband Ryan and the live in Provo as they finish up school at BYU.