ayden elder

Coming from a family of dancers, Ayden Elder started dancing at the young age of 3. Before falling in love with Hip-Hop he took classes in Jazz, Tap, Modern, and Ballet. His parents, Vanessa Carmichael-Elder and Anthony Elder, met and danced together at Motion Mania and continued to Joy of Motion. During his early childhood through preteen years, he performed, choreographed, and rehearsed at Joy of Motion under the direction of Esperonto Bean “Rhythmix”, and Alana Hill “Groove Elements”. In 2014 he auditioned for Future Shock DC directed by Nat Blanco and Raph Villacrusis. Danced on FSDC for 3.5 years, before joining Culture Shock for a year in 2018. During that transitional period, Ayden became a co-director for the Future Shock Freestyle team with two other former teammates.

  

After high school, Ayden continued to pursue his love for dance by following in his parents footsteps as a teacher educating students, studios, and companies in the DMV, East Coast, LA, and in Canada — specifically at Urbana Dance, Dance Institute of Washington, and Studio 360. From performance to collegiate to competitive, he has been a part of Future Shock Ottawa, University of Maryland’s Phunktions and Dynamic, and B. Funk.

 

Ayden Elder is currently the founder/director of new teen company VLTGE Dance Co., Future Shock Freestyle, and Co-Director for Future Shock DC and teaching at Elements Urban Arts Collective, Séber Method Academy, and throughout the DMV.  He wants to continue to plant seeds and inspire others through their own vision not just in the DMV dance community, but the global dance community.