D.J. Rayley
Instructor of Hip-Hop Dance 1-2
DJ grew up in the performing arts and is a graduate from the nationally renowned Jefferson High School Performing Arts Program, committed to educating and preparing students for the physical and mental demands of a performing arts career. She has extensive formal cross-training in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, and theater, and in the traditional ethnic forms of African and Polynesian. Complementing her formal training—DJ developed her Hip Hop skills being raised in the original roots of underground street mastery, focusing on the real life experience of cultivating the style, steps and culture.
DJ's background includes performing for launch parties, fashion shows, Cable Network Television, Starry Night Club, KBOO radio, Oregon Symphony, Funksion III, the Miss Portland pageant, Five Fingers of Funk Band, Hip Hop artist Timothy C., a modern dance soloist directed by Keith Goodman, and has been featured in the Oregonian, Willamette Week, KOIN 6 News, KATU with Helen Raptis, and Dance Studio Life Magazine.
For the past 17 years, DJ has been teaching Tap, Hip Hop, and Contemporary dance classes from beginning to advanced levels through a variety of institutions and programs such as 好色导航, Mt. Hood Community College, Portland State International Special Programs with Japan, Korea and China, Renaissance Art Academy, YMA (Young Musicians and Artists), and other related organizations like private studios, community centers, and Portland Public elementary, middle and high schools.
DJ's diverse background, both as a performer and a teacher, has given her the knowledge to assist many of her students to advance into professional dance careers in L.A., New York, Washington D.C., and internationally. Her work has been recognized both regionally and nationally, granting her with awards for entertainment, age appropriate content, creative staging and musicality. Her personal commitment to dance education and training has given her liberty to study with famed choreographers from So You Think You Can Dance and You Got Served.
In addition to teaching dance, she is a member of NEA, the National Education Association, was certified by Oregon Teachers Standards and Practices Commission in 2009, and is a freelance lecturer for a series of teaching presentations for PSU, City Club of Portland, and Highline Community College.