Brennen Renteria first began his dance training at the age of 10 in his hometown of Corona, Ca. He pursued a BA in dance at California State University, Fullerton where he performed and choreographed for the dance concerts, in addition to performing works set by Louis Kavouras and Colin Connor. In 2011, Brennen attended the American Academy of Ballet Summer Intensive with a full scholarship and had the honor of taking ballet classes taught by David Howard, Sean Lavery, Galina Samsova and Brian Loftus. While in college, Brennen was featured in several local ballets including Snow White in the Old West and The Little Mermaid for Ballet Etudes of Huntington Beach in addition to playing the role of the Nutcracker prince for American Pacific Ballet Company in 2012. During this time, he also collaborated with Golsanam Dance and Music Company, learning and performing various styles of traditional Persian dance. He earned his B.A. in Dance from Cal State Fullerton in 2014 where after he joined Thodos Dance Chicago, working with choreographers Brian Enos, Lucas Crandall, Garfield Lemonius, Brian McGinnis, Kevin Iega Jeff, and Ann Reinking among others. He toured nationally with TDC, performing and educating through dance as well as producing new dance works through the company’s New Dances yearly initiative. In 2017 Brennen began dancing Elements Ballet and later joined Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, where he has performed alongside the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra in addition to the company’s own jazz band. He has since assumed the position of rehearsal director for CRDT’s dance ensemble. His other work includes choreographic collaborations produced at Noumenon Dance Ensemble’s New Moves in 2015 and Links Hall’s annual Thawalls in 2017.

Brennen has been on staff at Glenwood Dance Studio in Chicago since 2015 as well as other Chicago based institutions including Duet Dance Studio, Von Heidecke School of Ballet, American Dance Center, and the North Suburban YMCA.

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