Elena Hollenhorst is an independent choreographer and dancer currently based in San José, Costa Rica and originally from St. Paul, MN. Elena holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she performed repertory by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Bill T. Jones, Shapiro & Smith, and Marciano Silva dos Santos. She furthered her education internationally at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, performing works by Jacopo Godani, Crystal Pite, Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak, Barak Marshall, and Ohad Naharin; Henny Jurriëns (Amsterdam); and The Ailey School. Between 2019–2020 she studied Gaga intensively as part of the Gaga Teacher Training Program alongside Batsheva Dance Company and at the invitation of Ohad Naharin.

As a performer, Elena has collaborated with a range of artists and companies. She is currently dancing with Erick Rodriguez in San José, Costa Rica and recently joined Lil’luke Dance Co. in Mannheim, Germany where she premiered the duet, Faces of Lilith (2024), by Luches Huddleston Jr. and Giovanni de Buono. Under the direction of Berit Ahlgren of HoneyWorks, Elena has performed in a wide range of works such as At Least, At Last; 2 x 2/Makers (musical collaboration with Alex Proctor); BoleroBolero (Honeyworks & Hatch Dance); Au (Honeyworks & Hatch Dance); and Essential (a theater and dance work, Honeyworks & Randy Reyes). She was in the original cast of Invisible Cities by Ashwini Ramaswamy and Kevork Mourad, which premiered at the Great Northern Festival. Elena has performed with Black Label Movement, in works such as Carl Flink’s Canary, Mambo, Wreck, and Whack-a-Mole, and in 2024, she joined The Mother, a musical and collaborative production with Sod House Theater. Early in her career, she joined Jerusalem Dance Theater, where she worked with choreographers such as Eyal Dadon, Neta Halperin, and Liat Tamar Waysbort. Her performance history also includes appearances at the New Griots Festival (Vie Boheme), The Target Center (John Mark Creative), and Eaux Claires Festival (John Mark Creative), among others. She has worked in video, commercial, site-specific, and multidisciplinary settings.

Her choreographic work includes pieces that have been presented across the U.S. and internationally. Notable works include Searching for Giants (2023), a duet created in collaboration with Amanda Sachs and awarded a Creative Individuals Grant (FY2024) from the Minnesota State Arts Board and premiered at MN Orchestra’s International Day of Music (2023); Betelgeuse (2024) created for Reflections Dance Company in collaboration with Amanda Sachs; 3 Fates (2022), which premiered at Au and was presented at the MN Dance Festival; Shadowed Lullaby (2021), which premiered at the Tek Box in Minneapolis, MN; and When We Met Under the Juniper Tree (2017), which was performed at the Southern Theater and premiered at MN Opera’s Bemis Rehearsal Hall. Her choreography has been featured at venues and festivals, such as Tofte Lake Center, Givat Haviva Peace Campus, Arts in the Park (Ely, MN), Dances at the Lake Festival (Minneapolis, MN), Dances on the Lakewalk Festival (Duluth, MN), MN Dance Festival, the Jerusalem Art Festival, and Bryant Lake Bowl’s 9 x 22, and more.She choreographed Romeo and Juliet and A Tale of Two Cities for the Twin Cities-based Theater company, CB Productions.