ALEA "DIDI" DE CASTRO
Specializes in Hip Hop, Waacking, & House
BScN, Registered Nurse
CPR/BSLS Certified | Level 3 - Vulnerable Sector Check
At a young age, Alea knew she was a unique girl who used Art as her primary way of expression. Alea began her dance journey at the age of 7 where she was enrolled at the Canadian School of Dance in Ottawa where she trained in Ballet, Jazz and Lyrical. Aside from her classical training and 10+ years of playing basketball, Alea has been a part of many organizations such as Youth for Christ Dance Team, 2 the Roots Charity Dance Foundation and Boss Dance Crew. Alea spent her late teens & early 20's focusing on choreography training but eventually found her artistic home within the Street and Club Dance styles of Hip Hop, Waacking, House and social partner dances. With 15+ years of traveling to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal, Alea has built her North American repertoire through training, battling, choreographing, traveling and teaching.
Alea has had the pleasure to showcase her work trough Capital Pride 2018, Canada 150, The Grey Cup Festival, The NAC - National Art Centre, NHL's Ottawa Senators and recent at Indonesia's International Dance Festival. Aside from performing, Alea also competes often in North America, placing 1st at Under Pressure Street Dance Festival in Montreal, 2nd at the Ting Pinoy’s Got Talent in Ottawa and Top 8 at Ladies of Hip Hop in New York to name a few. She was also a recent invited Battle guest to Montreal’s WaackBazzar.
As a leader in the community, she is one of the only active BIPOC female Street Dancers curating events in the city, has judged numerous competitions, and has organized several highly successful events such as Th3rd Fridays, Summer Sweat at The Asian Night Market and Fair Play at The Capital Fair
Alea is leading Moov Ottawa Dance, where she recently choreographed "The Underground", her first major theatre show for Series Danse #10, performing, teaching and working with her community to make Street Dance accessible and upheld in the city. With her unique dance projects, she has won the Tontine Award, Awesome Ottawa Grant, Capital Pride Community Fund, L'Art D'etre, The Seed Award from The City of Ottawa and has written successful grants up to 21,000$. in 2021, Alea also provided free dance classes for BIPOC women in the Ottawa/Gatineau area through A.R.T. in Action.
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Today, Alea is teaching and performing throughout Canada and internationally with her partner, Effect.
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ARNALDO "EFFECT" BETANCOURT SILVA
Specializes in Breaking House, Hip Hop, Popping & Latin Dances
Level 3 - Vulnerable Sector Check
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Arnaldo, well known as "Effect", was born in Havana, Cuba and eventually immigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1999 with his father. Effect loved playing basketball in his youth but knew he needed more in his life after living through many hardships. He started his dance journey at Urban Element where he first was introduced to Hip Hop culture through Breaking. At the time, 18 years young and living on his own, he was unable to pay for classes, so he learnt by imitating movements he saw on television. Eventually he was able to learn from some peers at the studio and trained heavily in his 20's through Breaking, House, Hip Hop, and Popping.
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In 2007, Effect was then recruited by well respected Hip Hop cultural keeper and fellow dancer, BBoy Afternoon, to his current crews "Deadly Venoms" and "Mix'd Mafia". With his crew, Effect was able to travel to and compete in France, Hollande, Belgium, all over North America and Hong Kong. Some of the major events he joined were Juste Debut, IBE, The Breakdown and Top Wanted, to name a few. Through these experiences, Arnaldo has created a well respected name in the Street Dance community.
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Arnaldo has also worked with major companies such as Cirque de Soil at the Pan-Am Games, Cirque Eloise in Damam and currently with Bboyizm in Montreal with BBoy Crazy Smooth,
Today, Effect is the Co-Founder of Moov Ottawa Dance where he is teaching, choreographing, performing, judging and still winning battles on a regular basis. Overall, he has won over 100+ battles nation wide.
To briefly speak on his teaching, his method is unique and hard to duplicate as he focuses on musicality, battle tactics, floorwork exercise and body conditioning. He uses these teaching skills to empower BIPOC youth in underserved Ottawa communities, hungry dancers and new folk joining the community.
