Devon Chen grew up in the Bay Area and started dancing balletat the age of 3 to fix her pigeon-toes although, that didn’t work out quite like she had planned; she fell in love with dance anyway. She went on to attend Vassar College where she was exposed to modern dance where her love affair with dance grew stronger. She graduated with a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior and went on to become a Physical Therapist and enjoys getting dancers and athletes back to what they love. Devon enjoys eating delicious pastries and trains for triathlons in her spare time to remedy her pastry habit.

Amanda Ferrer was born and raised in the Sacramento area. She started taking dance lessons at a young age where she was first introduced to ballet, tap, and jazz. She later studied other styles of dance such as contemporary, modern, hip-hop, and Filipino folkdancing. She holds a BA in Dance in Performance and Choreography from San Francisco State University (SFSU). Amanda was part of the SFSU performing company, University Dance Theatre, for 3 consecutive seasons. When she is not performing with local Bay Area artists, she is an enrichment instructor teaching children dance/creative movement, yoga and music classes. On her down time, you can also find Amanda in the kitchen cooking and baking up delicious concoctions. You can say she is a bit of a foodie.

Raquel Florentine grew up taking ballet in the East Bay, and continued to dance at San Francisco State University, which is where she connected and danced with Martha and Kao. After earning her BA in Liberal Studies and a minor in Dance, Raquel directed the Dance department at Northgate High School and continued to teach ballet at a local dance studio. Raquel holds a MA in Education from UCSC and currently teaches 4th grade at a charter school in Oakland where she also teaches dance. In her free time Raquel loves to trail run, bike and have dance parties to Mariah Carey!

Kao Vey Saephanh received his MFA in dance at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts in 2009. During his time at NYU, he had the privilege to study with well established choreographers and educators Cherylyn Lavagnino, Gus Solomons Jr., and Gerald Casel just to name a few. He has a Bachelor of Arts in dance from San Francisco State University. In the spring of 2010, he had the opportunity to teach a Master Class at SFSU, which then granted him the opportunity to be one of SFSU’s Guest Artist during the 2010/2011 Season as well as Guest Artist at the Orinda Academy. Kao has choreographed work for the Youth Ensemble at the Shawl-Anderson Dance Studio in Berkeley, which the company performed throughout the 2009/2010 Season.

His choreography was invited to the American College Dance Festival in 2007 and SFSU Dance Theater in 2006. His credits include dancing for PUSH Dance, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, UNUM Dance, Cathleen McCarthy, Annie Rosenthal Parr, Booke Notary, Nguyen Dance Company, SFSU Dance Theater, Serene Dance Collective, and has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Kao has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as a dancer who, “moved with sinuous grace through the staging” in his performance in the Oakland Opera—playing the lead role of Paul in Les Enfants Terribles.

Besides being Co—Artistic Director of LV Dance Collective, Kao owns his own hair salon: Salon KaoVey. He also enjoys watching reruns of Sex and the City in his free time and loves inspirational quotes: "When you know better, you do better.” - Maya Angelou

Martha L. Zepeda earned her MFA in Dance from UCI in 2010 and her BA in Dance and a Minor in Kinesiology from SFSU in 2006. Zepeda has served as dance faculty at The Wooden Floor; UCI; Fullerton Junior Community College; Images Dance Company; Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center; Elite Dance Studio; Mariner’s Square, College of Alameda, SFSU and more, teaching: Modern, Jazz, Afro-Caribbean, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Latin-Fusion, Contemporary, Middle Eastern, Choreography,Tumbling, etc. She has toured internationally teaching, performing, and showcasing her rich and diverse repertoire throughout the South of Chile, Vietnam, Spain, and Ghana. 

Zepeda has worked with Layla and the Lotus International Dance Company, Epiphany Dance Company, DTM2 Improvisation Ensemble, Nguyen Dance Company, the Rainbow Arts Theatre, Donald McKayle, Jodie Gates, Sheron Wray, Jennifer Fisher, Loretta Livingston, Pavel Zustiak, Lisa Naugle, John Crawford, Chris Yon, Grete Gryzwana, Lee Wei Chao, Stacy Printz, Jose “Hollywood” Ramos, Alicia Pierce, Dr. Albirda Rose, Paco Gomes, Susie Whipp, Wendy Diamond, Cathleen McCarthy, Dawn James, and Baindu Conte-Coomber. Zepeda also teaches fitness classes—Zumba, Ballet Barre, H2O Aerobics, Boot Camp, and Swimming. Currently, Zepeda is the Program Director of Cultural Arts at the East Oakland Sports Center (EOSC) (Oakland, CA) and Artistic Director and founder of the EOSC Introductory School of Dance.

Outside of Martha’s passion for dance, Martha loves to run long distance, swim, paint, and cook, and is obsessed with chocolate, coffee, Hello Kitty, and earrings.