Where our mountain town learns to dance.

Heather Benes has been creating dance experiences in East Kern and the Antelope Valley since 1985, when she directed a full-length Nutcracker ballet for Cerro Coso Community College. She opened Mojave Movement Arts Center in 1993 and directed the dance program at the Palmdale Playhouse from 1999 to 2018, creating such works as The Snow Queen, Hansel and Gretel, and several abridged versions of the Nutcracker.

She earned an M.A. in Dance Theater and an M.S. in Kinesiology and has taught at colleges and universities including California State University, the University of Kansas, UC Irvine, and Scripps College. She has been a member of KDA for 7 years and a participant in Books in Motion performances since 2017.

Sarah Robbins started dancing when she was eleven years old and immediately fell in love with it. She continued to dance all through her high school years and into adulthood. In 2003 she began training in the Royal Academy of Dance program, where she took both Intermediate and Advanced Foundation examinations and passed with the Merit award.

For the past 16 years she has been raising her four kiddos, but is now ready to jump back into the dance world and share her love for this beautiful art form.

A ballet dancer who has choreographed for Tehachapi community theater and performed in the Nutcracker — and a marathon runner and second-degree black belt off the floor.

Priscilla has danced at J&M for 7 years and been a J&M Dance Company member for 5. She has performed in parades, Condors games, and local events, and traveled throughout Southern California competing and attending conventions — earning many awards and scholarships. She's excited to begin teaching and share her passion for dance.

Malia has been an assistant teacher at J&M for three years and is thrilled to teach this year. She started dancing at 2 years old — this is her 15th year at J&M and 8th year on the Dance Company. Dance has taken her all around California learning and competing, while also performing in parades and events around town. She was recently accepted into the National Honor Society for Dance Arts through the Kern Dance Alliance (KDA) and is entering her 3rd year as an intern in KDA's ADAPTIdance program. She's excited to share her greatest passion with her students.

Maile has been dancing since she was four years old and has always had such a love and passion for it. She's proud to have been part of the J&M competition team for most of her time dancing and to have taken part in many amazing opportunities along the way. She took every style of dance offered and assisted many different classes growing up. After graduating, she returned to begin teaching in 2023 and has loved passing on her love of dance to her students. She's currently a full-time student in the CSUB Nursing Program and will graduate with her BSN to become a Registered Nurse in 2028.

A UCLA-trained performer and choreographer, Kristen has danced and staged work for Cats, 42nd Street, and the Bakersfield Symphony. She owns Kern Arts Academy and directs McLaughlin Dance Collective — and joins J&M monthly as a guest instructor.

Kristen began her training in Bakersfield, CA. At 18 she was on scholarship at the EDGE Performing Arts Center with Jackie Sleight while attending UCLA. She has done commercial work for the MGM Grand Hotel and was a dance captain for the Mark Goodman Tap Company. Kristen has performed in and choreographed shows such as Cats, 42nd Street and A Chorus Line for the Stars Theatre, and served as dance director and choreographer for the Bakersfield Symphony and Civic Dance Center's Nutcracker Ballet. A finalist in the Under the Stars Choreography Festival, she has presented her choreography on several ballet companies at Regional Dance America Festivals, helped create two musical short films for Loyola Marymount University featured at the Bakersfield Film Festival, choreographed music videos for the 100 Monkeys and Katie Herzig, and co-produced The Linden Tree for The Kissing Club.

Kristen has been a guest faculty member at The School of Nashville Ballet and Tri-Cities Academy summer programs, an adjunct professor at California State University, Bakersfield, and a guest master teacher at Fresno City College. She is a recurring teacher at Lauridsen Ballet Center and Class Act Dance, as well as a choreographer for their dance company and NCPAF's Nutcracker. She has completed ballet teacher training workshops at Lauridsen Ballet Centre and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

"Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere." — Albert Einstein