DustBunny
Welcome to my dance academy! I'm Dusty, a passionate dancer with over a decade of experience in various dance styles. Sharing my love for dance, I began teaching belly dance professionally in 2010. I discovered VRChat at the end of 2018 and fell in love with performing and teaching dance in VR. In January 2022, in response to the pandemic-induced closures of numerous dance studios, and my desire to run my own dance studio, I founded the VR Dance Academy, providing an immersive and welcoming community for dancers to learn and connect in the virtual world. Join me on this exciting journey as we explore VR dance together!
VRDA Founder + Dance Instructor
8Spark
I'm a programmer, 3D artist, and world creator who walked into my first IRL Salsa class about 4 years ago and instantly fell in love with the community, the culture, and the style. Since then, I've explored IRL Bachata, Argentine Tango, Kizomba, and about 20-30 other styles in VR. Despite distance, latency, and lack of touch, I've found it's possible to translate complex ballroom dancing into a VR form that very closely matches IRL. When not dancing in VR, you'll find me out IRL dancing at ballroom events and I also work with a private ballroom instructor twice a week. You may also notice my name on many of the worlds the VRDA uses. I've worked hard to make sure the worlds run well on both Quest & PC. Please let me know if you run into any issues. See you in class!
Latin Ballroom Instructor
MiscellaneousBowl
I am a physiotherapist and certified personal trainer as well as a dance enthusiast. I was a professional athlete for 8 years before an injury which made me pursue physiotherapy in university. Got my degree in 2018 in Physiotherapy from Faculty of Medicine and another degree in Applied kinesiology from Faculty of Sports Studies in 2021. I have experience in working with people after injuries and joint replacements as well as teaching classes like yoga, pilates, body weight exercises but also exercising with different equipment (e.g. gym balls, overballs, resistance bands, etc.). I also did personal lessons on working out in gym and working out with weights. I started VRC because of Dusty's dancing streams and got inspired to try dancing in VR. Since I joined VRDA I learned many things. The community is wholesome, amazing and very supporting! I am proud to be a member of VRDA! I care about VRDA members and I wanna make sure you enjoy the classes and dancing injury free. So, making a class on stretching and strengthening is my way of giving something back to you and saying thank you!
Stretching + Strengthening Instructor
Niqkun
NiqKun is an experienced dancer with expertise from Hip Hop, Contemporary, Popping, Locking, Tutting and even the niche “Wotagei/Cyalume”Light Stick Dance! He has over 15 years of dance experience, dancing since the age of 7, been on multiple stages worldwide, even competing in several competitions locally and worldwide, such as World of Dance in 2015, and Super 24 in 2017 . He has performed with several notable artists on their live concerts, music videos and choreographies! He has been teaching Hip Hop dance for beginners and Intermediates at his local Dance Studio in his country for about 3 years before leaving due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. NiqKun is always eager to share his dance knowledge, experience and is always open for new things and advice. He always believes dance is a never ending learning journey and everyone has something new to learn. His patient nature allows him to teach even the absolute beginners who are new to dance! He hopes to keep motivating and teaching individuals of all walks of life that are keen to start dancing!
KPop + Wotagei Instructor
Mycana
Mycana, she/her, is super excited to be a part of the VR Dance Academy team teaching Comedic Movement! She has over 20 years of experience of being a theatre practitioner, including improv and sketch comedy, and has been performing in XR since 2021. With an interest in how comedy translates in the virtual space, she uses both stand alone VR headsets and full body tracking for exploration. Though mainly focused on theatre, she has also been trained in dance with tap, hip hop, and jazz being her favorite styles. Her work in XR has been performed in OnBoardXR 4, the Phoenix Improv Festival, Active Replica’s Constellation Project, FIVARS, and Raindance Film Festival. She has been interviewed at SF Design Week and Raindance Immersive Festival and completed an artist residency at the Open Online Theatre in London.
Improv Instructor
ChocolateWilly
Aside from being a goof in VRC, ChocolateWilly (goes by Willy or Chocolate) is a dancer with 20+ years of experience. He started with classical ballet at the age of 5 and has expanded his dance styles to include contemporary/modern, lyrical, tap, and hip hop. Additionally, he has 5+ years of experience as a choreographer and strives to create meaningful pieces that are enjoyable not only for the audience but also for the dancers. Outside of VR he is still a goof, but works in the film industry. He keeps his VRC dancing a secret, but hopes to one day blend his work and hobby. “Anybody wanna make a music video?