Tenacity Dance Comapny’s
Instructors and Staff
Instructors
Meet
Jayna Lucia
Owner | Director | Lead Instructor
Ms. Jayna began her dance training in Midland, MI with professional dancers and continued her dance education in Missouri where received her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the University of Missouri Kansas City. After college, Ms. Jayna moved to NYC and attended Broadway Dance Centers pre-professional training program and assisted Nijawwon Matthews, a world renown dance teacher and choreographer. After her time in NYC, Jayna moved back to Kansas and taught at a studio in Topeka, KS before opening Tenacity Dance Company in 2016. Ms. Jayna is an ABT© Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT© teacher training intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT© National Training Curriculum. She is also an Acrobatic Arts Module 1 certified teacher.
Ms. Jayna’s Greeting to You
Hey everyone! I am the studio owner and director of Tenacity Dance Company, my home away from home and my childhood dream. I fell in love with dance in my hometown of Midland, MI where I was trained by professional dancers that used amazing visual images to help explain the way a specific step should feel or look. I was sold, so motivated by their passion for teaching that I knew that was what I was meant to do. God gives everyone a gift to share, and teaching was mine. I attended summer intensives throughout high school, performed in a junior ballet company, attended dance conventions/competitions then moved to Topeka, Kansas and went on to college receiving a Bachelor in Fine Arts, Dance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
After college I was accepted into the Broadway Dance Center’s (BDC) Summer Intern Program (now the Pre-Professional Semester) and moved to NYC. It was amazing and I grew tremendously as a dancer and artist. My concentrations were in contemporary (under the mentorship of SLAM) and jazz-funk (under the mentorship of Sheryl Murakami) and I also took many classes with the great legend in ballet David Howard. During my time in NYC I also met an amazing teacher, dear friend, and someone I consider family, Nijawwon Matthews. His passion for dance is known the minute you meet him, and with a tenacious approach he made a name for himself as an up and coming teaching legend in the dance world and as the director of his own company XY Dance Project. His resume is incredible! I highly recommend looking him up.
I moved back to Topeka after almost 2 years in NYC, married my after high school sweetheart, and started teaching at Fuzion School of Dance in 2013 where I met two of TDC’s other faculty members, Rainin Carreno and Taylor Bittner who both have a beautiful passion for dance. During my time at Fuzion as Competition Director, I was blessed to receive numerous awards; choreography, judges’ choice, and costume, top 10, overall 1st place soloist and duo and high scores at various competitions throughout the Midwest. My students also received many scholarships including a $20,000 college scholarship. After 3 years, I decided it was time for me to pursue my childhood dream and own a studio, and here we are today, with my trusty sidekick, and charismatic son Gio who you will all see around the studio and in class. Two families combined as one, the dream couldn’t be any sweeter.
Teaching is my true passion and love. I believe that teaching dance is about inspiring students to be the best version of themselves by encouraging them to always have and maintain an “I can do it” attitude. No one is perfect, no one will ever have a perfect performance, and no one ever “knows enough” to not keep learning. I myself am still learning and attending teacher training workshops. I am an ABT© Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT© teacher training intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT© National Training Curriculum. I am also an Acrobatic Arts Module 1 certified teacher. Knowledge is power and the more that I learn the more I can share with others, because at the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s all about the kids.
Meet
Rainin Carreno
Teacher | Assistant Director
Rainin Carreno was born and raised in Topeka, KS where she grew up dancing at Fuzion School of Dance studying various styles including ballet, modern, jazz, tap, contemporary, lyrical, musical theatre, and most profoundly, hip-hop. Miss Rainin attended Stephens College working towards her BFA before relocating to Wichita, KS to work with Ms. Jayna. Rainin just completed her Acrobatic Arts Module 1 certification and is looking forward to more teacher training opportunities.
Miss Rainin’s Greeting to You
Hey Guys! I am really excited to be on faculty at TDC! I grew up in Topeka Kansas, and have been training for 15 years in various dance styles including ballet, modern, jazz, tap, contemporary, lyrical, musical theatre, and most profoundly, hip-hop. I began my training at Fuzion School of Dance, where I had spent the last 11 years of my training before I discovered that dance was my passion. I can pinpoint the exact moment that I fell in love with dance. As an introverted 14 year old dancer I was approached after class by a new instructor who quickly said, “Hey what’s your name?…What do you wanna do with your life? Where do you see yourself in 5 years or 10?” I had no idea that this was the start of a conversation that was going to take me on the most heart driven journey of my life. This instructor was Jayna and she told me I should dance. More than that she believed in me and in turn I believed in her. With full trust in her I trained night and day for 5 years.
I took and assisted classes with her for 3 years where she gave me the opportunity to rise to my potential. She poured out every word of dance technique, history, and opportunity she could to help me become the dancer I am and I ate it up! This inspired me to further my education and attend Stephens College working towards a BFA in dance. There I studied modern, ballet, and jazz with Deborah Carr and Elizabeth Hartwell before relocating to Wichita for college. I was reunited with the instructor who started it all and this time she saw in me my passion for teaching. I have been under her mentorship ever since and it has been the most rewarding, fulfilling, and challenging opportunity I have ever had. I recently attended my first teaching workshop and am now an Acrobatic Arts Module 1 certified teacher in levels primary through 6. I learned so much and I can’t wait to share it with the kids! I’m so pumped to work with TDC this year and can’t wait to share my love for dance!
Staff
Coming soon!