Candace Vann (she/her) was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She discovered her passion for dance at an early age, watching her mother teach from the comfort of her baby carrier. What began as fascination soon blossomed into a deep love for the arts—expanding beyond dance to include music, theatre, and visual art. She learned to sing, play piano, act, and write original plays while building a foundation in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, liturgical, and hip-hop at her mother’s studio, The Freedom Center for the Creative Arts.
In 2018, Candace deepened her training at Penn Griffin School for the Arts under the guidance of Amelia Byrd, where she discovered her passion for choreography and first became interested in the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). The following year, she attended the UNCSA Contemporary Summer Intensive. After finishing high school early, she took a gap year to attend Millenium Trade Academy, earning her license in Natural Hair.
Now completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance at UNCSA, Candace has trained extensively in Cunningham, Limón, Horton, Release, West African, Groundwork, and Countertechnique. During her time at UNCSA, she has performed works by renowned choreographers including Darrell Grand Moultrie, Robert Gosnell, Ashley Lindsey, Juel D. Lane, Gaspard Louis, Pascal Rioult, Endalyn Taylor, Kayla Farrish, Chalvar Monteiro, and Gavin and Vanessa Stewart.
Candace continues to explore who she is as an artist, grounding her creative journey in her faith and commitment to authentic expression.