Devan Cochell grew up in Vancouver, WA, and trained at Dance Fusion for most of her youth. She started with ballet, and her love for dance grew as she broadened her training, to tap, jazz, contemporary, and modern. She began teaching dance at 16 and fell in love with it.

Devan moved to Pittsburgh, PA to pursue her passion for dance and attend the prestigious Point Park University in a well-rounded and rigorous program of ballet, jazz, and modern (mainly Horton and Graham techniques). She trained under some of the most accomplished teachers in the country, including Kiki Lucas, Jason McDole, Jesse Factor, and Judith Leifer-Bentz. She graduated with a BA in dance, a concentration in Modern, and a minor in psychology.

While in Pittsburgh, she performed with Prime Stage Theater and danced and choreographed a piece for a musical artist as a part of the Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Center’s New Year performance at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Devan also continued teaching in Pittsburgh, working for Michelle Dawson, Yanlai Wu, and others.

Devan has recently moved back to Vancouver, WA and is looking forward to growing in her passion of teaching. She aims to cultivate spaces in dance educational settings that serve as a secure base for complete authenticity to emerge. Seeing her students grow is possibly the most rewarding process she can imagine. She hopes to continue to foster healthy relationships between dancers and dance itself, as she understands that building dancers is more than just building beautiful movers. It’s just as much about fostering the growth of beautiful humans.