Jaja Vaňková

Džajna Vaňková^[1] (born 21 March 1992 in Děčín, Czech Republic), better known by her nickname Jaja, is a Czech dancer and choreographer.

Life and career

Vaňková started dancing at age 14, doing freestyle dancing and battling, then later began teaching choreography.

Vaňková's dance career began in 2006 with the dance crew Out of Bounds, where she learned to dance hip hop, and as an individual, learned popping and locking techniques, among other styles. Out of Bounds became semi-finalists of Czech Got Talent 2010. She has also choreographed theater shows and performed in commercials.

In 2010, Vaňková auditioned to join a dance crew based in Houston, Texas. Phillip Chbeeb, Di Zhang and Brandon Harrell, previously of the crew Marvelous Motion, were looking for dancers to join a new group, and Vaňková, along with Chachi Gonzales and Emilio Dosal, were chosen, and the dance crew I.aM.mE was formed. I.aM.mE went on to win America's Best Dance Crew: Season 6 in 2011.^[2] They have appeared on Paramount's The LXD Season 3, and also in the AXI series, directed by Shawn Welling and released by Welling Films. In 2013, Vaňková joined the dance crew Street Kingdom,^[3] where she became known as 'Lady Tight Eyez'.

In 2014, she auditioned for the 11th season of the reality dance competition So You Think You Can Dance,^[4] failing to reach the Top 20 finalists. However, she participated a year later for the show's 12th season, where she emerged as runner-up overall. She also appeared in the fifth installment of the Step Up film series, Step Up: All In.

References