Professor Jane may be relatively new to the CAA staff, but she is not new to the world of dance, movement, performance, or disability.
In 2019, Jane was diagnosed with autism and for most of her life had been around people who learned differently. Growing up, her world revolved around being aware of educational differences, so CAA’s model of accessible, inclusive, lifelong learning attracted her.
Jane became interested in dance in middle school and danced professionally for nearly a decade, but throughout her career she learned to manage both the challenges and gifts that came along with her autism.
“I had challenges in ballet with memory, spatial awareness and multi-sensory processing issues that I couldn’t quite understand before my diagnosis, but I just worked around these difficulties without having a way to quite talk about it successfully,” said Jane.
As an active member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science, Jane is always keeping aware of how sports medicine and science affects the development and health of dancers. Jane is also certified in the Barre Method Technique and has training in Pilates.
Throughout her life, Jane was always interested in the arts, studying poetry, clowning and even Mongolian contortionism. One of her biggest passions is hip hop music, and when she is not teaching you can find her onstage freestyle rapping and battling other emcees as “Jane the Message.”
One of the things that Jane enjoys about CAA is being able to test out ideas and get feedback right away from a diverse range of people.
“Being at CAA just feels like coming home,” said Jane. “Growing up, I never felt like I belonged in my typical peer group. I felt like I was missing out on opportunities to be understood and to understand others. Getting to work with the students at CAA, it’s like finding these flashes of recognition all the time. I can really relate to them.”
— Written by Nina P., Volunteer