uan Carlos Díaz Vélez began his dance training in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he studied under several teachers including Carmen Sandoval, Lucila Arce, Helen Hoth, and Alex Zybin. He later studied at the San Francisco and Pacific Northwest Ballet schools and was offered an apprenticeship with the American Festival Ballet at age 17. He then returned to Guadalajara where he danced with Ballet de Cámara de Jalisco before joining the Spokane Ballet as a soloist. In 1989, he joined the Eugene Ballet Company as a soloist and rose through the ranks to become a principal dancer. He has also performed as a principal dancer with Charleston Ballet Theater, and Ballet Idaho. He has toured internationally throughout Mexico, United States, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and Taiwan. Juan Carlos has worked with renown artists including Christopher Aponte, Toni Pimble, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Lisa de Ribere, Elisa Monte, Beth Corning, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, David Berkey, Pascal Riult, and Martin Løfsnes.

In 1997, Juan Carlos returned to college to study physics and computer science at Boise State University while performing with Idaho Dance Theater. He later earned a Ph.D. in physics from University of Guadalajara and currently works for the Wisconsin IceCube Particle and Astrophysics Center at UW-Madison. 

In 2007, Juan Carlos returned to the stage, exploring modern dance, including works by Martha Graham with Kanopy Dance, and flamenco with Tania Tandias Flamenco & Spanish Dance. Juan Carlos has danced in several productions by the Madison Opera including their most recent staging of La Traviata.