Check Out Jenna Jones’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Jones.

Jenna, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
https://mainstreetmediatn.com/articles/lifestyles-thewilsonpost/woman-of-wilson-jenna-jones/

https://goodnewsmags.com/lebanon/jenna-jones-made-to-dance/

I have been training in dance as soon as I turned 3 and was allowed to step into my own class! My 2 older siblings were put in dance (brother for baseball, and sister to help her tendon and muscle strengthening from an in utero accident) and I fell in love with watching them and could not wait for my turn! I would wear my older sister’s dance outfits, pull some chairs up to the viewing window in the dance studio lobby, and climb up to watch and copy the other kids in class!

Around age 4, my health began to take a turn more than the “bad allergies” we had assumed it all was, which began the next 3 years of sickness, bed rests, medical tests and personalized doctors notes from every specialist in town. Finally around 7, I was officially diagnosed with a rare form of Lupus (all three types, all severe: systemic, discoidal, and cerebral) Although doctor’s all told my parents that through the auto-immune, asthma, allergies, chronic issues, etc, I wouldn’t make it past another several months (again and again), and to either let me live the rest of my short life however I wanted, or stick me in a bubble to make me last longer, I KNEW I was going to be just fine! (Me & God had our own conversation about it) and I had a drive to prove everyone wrong! Me and Jesus were going to show them, IN SPITE of what everyone said I would be able to do.

*side note* auto-immune is triggered by stress and hormones, which is why it is so rare to “TRIGGER” at such a young age. However, I was being raised in a home filled with violence, discourse, and differing abuses. If you have more questions about this part of my story, I am happy to answer. I’m simply sparing you the details for now for sake of your own time and efforts*

Despite the practical health challenges, I continued my performing arts training, and living life to the fullest!

While managing the physical illness aspect of things, I chose to continue my training in classical ballet extensively. I also trained in jazz, tap, hip hop, musical theater, stage & screen, modeling, and any other performing art I could get into, landing me a gold medal in dance, silver medal in vocals, and the “most marketable” award in stage and screen at the World Championships of Performing arts by the time I was 12-13 years old.

Because of this, I was awarded many wonderful opportunities to bring my career, “pro” with a bidding war between Nickelodeon and Disney. Being immersed in the business, even at such a young age, I witnessed so many unbiblical and unhealthy practices that I knew would not be what God wanted for me. So, after a few meetings and edited contracts, I told my mom that I would not be going down that route with my career and would return back to finish my education and pursue more of a classical dance training career instead. Luckily, she respected my young, but mature decision and agreed.

With a strong faith in the Lord, a deep passion for dance, I went back to focusing on my academic and classical accomplishments. When a travelling NY director moved to our area, looking to begin his own production company and visited my home training academy, he asked my director’s permission to “borrow me” for his own Nutcracker production set to premier that year. I couldn’t believe someone of his caliber would have seen something in me good enough at the time, let alone invite me in…and then how I even got a role!? It was the start of a beautiful dream coming to life for me! Thus begun my years training with a Semi-Professional Classical Ballet Company at the age of 14.

After pushing myself to work so hard in the semi-professional company, in spite of the less than conducive home life and physical health aspects, my body began to scream “uncle!” and on came the “permanent” tissue damage. (Not enough sleep, overworked body, auto-immune deficiencies, high stress environment, and a director who cares more about the production than the long term career and health of the dancers will do that to you) After several months to a year of PT I still could not return to dance, my body claiming “life long” or “chronic” injury.

After being told I’d never be able to dance seriously again, I still finished out what performing artist commitments I had (attending a leadership in performing arts magnet, choreographing for several different programs, still teaching dance at my old “home” dance school–I had begun assisting at 10, so I was leading classes by 16–, leading the dance program in the state champion winning showchoir groups I was member of, and choreographing/ teaching with a street crew that repped for Tampa, Fl) while finishing out my final academics. (started dual enrollment at 15 so I could graduate college by 18)
By age 18, and my dream opportunities with TISCH @ NYU, Juilliard, or Cali schools now dashed, I reached out to some old personal contacts in the music and production arts (I began writing music, myself, around age 10) who asked me to go ahead and send some of my stuff in.

About a couple of years travelling back and forth from FL to Nashville, TN, for some music production pieces, I finally made the decision to pack up my car and move out to TN!!

Once here, I worked on my music, and began taking some community classes at Nashville Ballet, simply for fun and to keep in health. I ended up meeting my husband, who moved quickly to tie me down (haha! 😉 ) I had my first child in 2016 and my second in 2017!

God had been putting in my heart more and more, a passion to return back to dance more seriously again. I made excuses, “I’m considered old and washed up now! My kids and spouse need me here! What about my permanent tissue damage!?” Then one day, in the middle of my kitchen, as I was praying with him and talking to him about it all, he spoke deep into my spirit and said, “I am the restorer of age, time, and health! If it’s me sending you to do this, it will not forsake your family but bless them!” and that very afternoon an opportunity to begin teaching at a local Christian ballet studio opened up….I knew it was just for me!

I taught at that local school, building their programs, and helping them begin some of their own amateur productions, until God kept telling me my time there was coming to an end. I thought he was NUTS! I loved it there! I loved the people! But he kept telling me something was coming and I needed to leave. Little by little things began adding up (or not adding up, rather) and I could see that I could no longer do any good there with God and notified the owner of my need to bow out.

I thought for sure that I was done in the industry at that point! I should have known God had other plans! He continued to put on my heart the need in our area for a true classical program with high level teaching and technique accountability to protect the student’s training and performance safety that ALSO glorified God. I looked and looked and sure enough, none yet in our area. I didn’t think he meant for little ol me to start one though!

While teaching at the other local school, I had created my own ballet character that would visit children’s parties and birthdays just for fun and to bless others. After I left, not only were many people still looking to train with me, but several folks were still trying to find me to book the ballerina character I had created! So I thought, “I’ll refer those looking to train with me to the place I used to teach, and I’ll do this ballerina party thing for fun on the side.

I continued to sub in or help out seasonally some other local schools looking to clean their classical technique or bring a higher value to their ballet program while I ran the ballerina parties on the side of being a mother and wife. Until so many folks kept coming back around only asking for me. I tried to convince them that I would be no good and to train “here” or “here” and that I didn’t have a facility or a base to even put a show on for and it wouldn’t work. And they still kept at it! (especially my husband, who is my biggest fan and supporter <3)

So to “shut them up” I thought I could do a quick summer course out the back of a community center somewhere, they would see how right I was, and they would all stop….God laughed at that one.

We went from 9 to 72 students in our first 9 months! Within our first 5 months we has outgrown the space we were in and had to move into our own facility!

I had been holding my own self back thinking things like, “I don’t have a business degree. I am no ‘leader’. Who would I be to start anything from the ground up!?”
But, after the first summer course, everyone was asking to make it year round, and I finally gave in to God and said, “Ok dad, let’s do this!” In that very moment, he downloaded everything I would ever need to get things moving into my brain! He brought all my years of training and experience in the industry back to my foremind and off we went!

This August will make that 3 years ago now, and in those three years we have built a beautiful higher level dance training & leadership Academy where we, “train up leaders through classical dance technique and character development with biblical principle” in ages 2 through adult. (We currently hold the largest adult dance program in Wilson County) We’ve written our very own Christian dance leadership curriculums with genre and age/level appropriate activity sheets and practices, an instructing artist training curriculum, a working scholarship program, internship program, and a student leadership team that travels around the community with the Belamour Staff to practice giving back to the community through performance, feeding the unhoused, distributing with the storehouse, visiting the elderly, etc. (at the end of this season, we will officially finalize our AOBI certifications with Master Runquio Du as well! –That’s “Art of Ballet Institute” and is a pretty big deal in our industry!, also the only one in Middle TN so far that is certified!)

The past two student showcases alone have raised thousands of dollars to the Wilson County Schools Overdue Lunch Accounts….and we are just getting started!

Our first original amateur production is set to premier this coming December (written and composed by us!) and we are laying the foundation to extend ourselves into further community programs like therapies for spectrum starts and ptsd, and opportunities for foster children!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Abusive childhood,

Was “supposed to die” about 5 times and if I did survive by any chance, I’m supposed to be decrepit and unable to move…yet here I am alive, healthy, and dancing and leaping around!!

industry injuries

being placed in inappropriate positions by former work places/dance studios

God turns all for good! What trauma from abuse? What health problems!? What industry injuries!?

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We run things differently. We train year round with healthily paced breaks, we accept working scholarships, train up other teachers, and refuse to compromise, in any practice, on biblical principles.

We don’t follow the typical industry standard business operations either for local dance studios. I believe if you want to build to be something bigger/better/different, then you have to lay the foundation bigger/better/different.

That means not looking to what everyone else in the industry or in the area is doing to gauge what/how/we should do.

Our staff hold monthly biblical leadership training with their staff meetings. Labeled as an LLC, we operate like a non profit. We are currently the largest adult program in Wilson county, and the only dance school with a community outreach or leadership program.

See for yourself! https://www.thebellaballerina.com

https://www.thebellaballerina.com/introinfo

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
we collaborate with local artists and support local non profits regularly through our community outreach and leadership training programs!! Any interest can research us on our website and email us at [email protected]

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebellaballerina.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belamourballet/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/belamour