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 with Dance Mojave since its inception. In addition to leading marketing efforts for the collective, she helps run operations for auditions and performances, including design, advertising and social media content creation.

Outside of Dance Mojave, Melissa is a professional journalist and communications strategist. She has reported for national newsrooms and led dozens of digital storytelling campaigns, including at The Desert Sun and the Associated Press. . She placed first and second the California News Publishers Association 2025 Journalism Awards, and is a recipient of a grant from the Inland Empire Journalism Hub & Fund to support her freelance work.

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 community via Dance Mojave where she performed as the Chuckwalla and a Desert Primrose in “The Desert Nutcracker,” as well as choreographed, performed and co-produced THE PLANETS.

Karen Gladis began her classical dance training at an early age and went on to pursue her BFA in Modern Dance, Dance Education and Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Karen danced with the improvisational company Hand/Foot Ensemble as a principal company member in Boulder, CO upon graduation and danced with David Dorfman at the Colorado Dance Festival and Jacob's Pillow Festival in the early 2000’s.. She continued her dance education and professional career upon moving to Los Angeles with notable teachers and choreographers Kitty McNamee, Ryan Heffington and Mandy Moore.

Karen began teaching at Colorado Ballet at the age of 19 and is deeply passionate about  teaching and promoting creativity for her dancers. Her choreography credits include: The Nutcracker and original adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, The Snow Queen, The Rainbow Fish and The Lorax. She is enthusiastic about bringing stories and movement together for her dancers from an early age and specializes in early childhood dance education.

Karen established her studio, Twinkle Toes Dance Company, in 2011 in Los Angeles and opened up her second location in Twentynine Palms in early 2025. Twinkle Toes is excited to bring our intentionally designed dance curriculum to the high desert and encourage young early dance experiences that are inclusive, accessible, creative and fun! In 2024 Karen developed an early childhood teacher training program and is looking forward to collaborating with other educators and teaching artists in the desert.

She is very excited to become a part of the dance community here in the High Desert and is choreographing for Dance Mojave’s Nutcracker this December. 

Lara Bennett is a Morongo Basin creator who trained in ballet, lyrical, and character dance for twenty years before taking a long pause. The 2024 Desert Nutcracker revived her passion for dance and she now teaches dance fitness classes for kids, adults, and seniors through the Town of Yucca Valley. She performed in THE PLANETS in the spring of 2025, and is making her choreography debut at The Desert Nutcracker 2025 with the Desert Reeds, Jackrabbits, and Hollywood Solstice Party choreography.

Rebecca Plevin has been creating and performing with Dance Mojave since its inception. She’s played a key role in both iterations of The Desert Nutcracker, including the crowd favorite Quails dance. Rebecca also performed in Venus in the spring 2025 production of THE PLANETS.

She’s an incredibly experienced dancer who studied ballet and modern dance at the Washington School of Ballet and Joy of Motion Dance. Rebecca has also performed while studying journalism at Northwestern University.

Eva was born and raised in the Coachella Valley and has had a passion for dance since childhood. Whether it was performing Ballet Folkorico for school events or taking the stage at the annual Date Festival's Arabian Nights; she loved absorbing all experiences around dance and live performance. Eva attended Connecticut College where she earned her Bachelor of arts in Dance and Human Development. In 2016 she began to work for the Gibney Dance Company’s production team and became the marketing associate for Keigwin + Company in New York City. Through these experiences, Eva hopes to cultivate an environment that is based on discovery, self-care and joy. It is her goal to engage and empower her community with techniques and tools that will challenge both their physical and creative abilities; and in doing so building up their confidence so they may present their true selves.