Jenn began dancing in childhood, and has performed with Mountain Moving Company in Fort Collins, CO, as well as Varoom! in Minneapolis, MN. Locally, she has shown work at the Hi-Desert Fringe Festival, The Firehouse JT, Red Light Lit at The Palms, and has performed in the Inland Empire Dance Center's Nutcracker. During the pandemic, she has been lucky to continue her dance education from her kitchen with streaming classes from American Liberty Ballet and Alvin Ailey in New York, NY. Locally, she enjoys attending Lauren Slivosky’s contemporary dance class, adult ballet at Nickerson-Rossi in Palm Springs, ballet with 11th Hour Dance Project in La Quinta, and company ballet classes at IEDC. She joined Copper Mountain College as dance faculty in Spring Semester 2024. She is grateful to have worked with producer Mercedes Garcia of Stray Cat Productions on two dance films: the award-winning “Mannequin’s Waltz” (2023) and “Ghost Ballet” (2024). 

Jenn teaches ballet for adults and children as well as barre fitness. She strongly believes that every body can dance. Her philosophy is that adult beginners deserve high quality instruction every bit as much as aspiring professionals. She is a warm, positive, passionate instructor committed to sharing her love of dance, creating a welcoming classroom community, and developing ample performance opportunities for her students. As a choreographer, she creates gently irreverent (but hopefully relatable) works. She makes dance for stage and site-specific spaces.

Melissa Daniels is a writer and digital media expert based in the High Desert who has volunteered for Dance Mojave since its inception. In addition to leading marketing efforts for the collective, she helps run operations for auditions and performances, including advertising Dance Mojave’s productions. She has reported for national newsrooms and led dozens of digital storytelling campaigns, including at The Desert Sun and the Associated Press. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper journalism and music history. In 2022, she completed a master’s degree in digital audience strategies from Arizona State University.

On the dance side, Melissa trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance as part of the inaugural class of the Odasz Dance Theatre. She trained under founder Jessica Odasz and appeared in soloist roles for multiple productions including “The Nutcracker” and “Peter and the Wolf.” She is thrilled to be back in the dance communtiy via Dance Mojave where she performed as the Chuckwalla and a Desert Primrose in “The Desert Nutcracker.”