João Ducci

João Ducci is a Brazilian choreographer, dancer, and educator based in Southern California. João began his dance training at Santa Monica College in 2014 and attended Yuri Grigoriev School of Ballet on full scholarship. He earned BFAs in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of California, Irvine in 2020, receiving the Excellence in Dance Choreography Award. João has studied under Charlotte Griffin, Dante Puleio, Kate Skarpetowska, Molly Lynch, Tong Wang, Diane Diefenderfer and Seda Aybay and has performed works by Lar Lubovitch, Donald McKayle, Jennifer Backhaus, and Tommie-Waheed Evans, among others. João danced with Backhausdance for two seasons and was a guest artist with Ballet Project OC, C. Eule Dance, and Fuse Dance Company. He is certified in Pilates through Studio du Corps' Teacher Training Program, for which he has served as an assistant to Diane Diefenderfer for several years. In 2023, João co-founded SCOPIXdance, with fellow UCI alumna Emma Andres, and received his MFA in Dance from UCI in 2025. His teaching currently focuses on contemporary partnering, ballet, and contemporary modern, which he has taught in educational outreach programs and summer intensives with Backhausdance and as a Graduate Teaching Associate at UCI.