Devon Near-Hill

Devon Near-Hill

Devon grew up in Mendocino County learning with and teaching for SPACE School of Performing Arts and Cultural Education using the Building Emotional Understanding Through the Arts curriculum as her guide. She studied singing and many styles of dance from capoeira to modern and ballroom. At 15, she was a skilled Bellydancer, teaching and touring professionally with Troupe Sattya.

After earning her BFA in acting at the University of Southern California, Devon went on to invest her time in studying Brazilian Zouk & Lambada. She trained with original creators of the dance, Braz Dos Santos, Renata Pecanha and Gilson Damasco and made a dance pilgrimage to Brazil. Before the pandemic, she was teaching and traveling internationally, appearing at Latin dance congresses teaching Zouk with her dance partner Jerry Lai. 

In 2020 Devon moved back to Mendocino to build her widely-attended online dance program Efficient Follow. There she also continued to work with youth in dance at SPACE. In social dance instruction, she is known for interweaving themes of boundaries, consent, and safety along with highly specific anatomically sound cues. Devon's teaching style acknowledges the challenge presented for many when connecting to bodily sensation and movement based on our adaptations to collective and individual trauma. She strives to create safe spaces for self- inquiry, community, and expression through dance!