We were lucky to catch up with Janai H. recently and have shared our conversation below.
Janai, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
In 2015 I taught my first class at DSST Cole High School, students engaged and interacted with Hip Hop culture, dance, and meditation. These were things I desired at school when I was their age. I attended Denver School of the Arts, the poms team and Hip Hop club at OHS. As I got older I went to different studios, joined different dance crews/teams and I still couldn’t find true resonance, so I created it. I knew that working with students through my afterschool program and adults through classes and projects was what I wanted to do. Weaving culture, meditation, and social emotional learning into my work created these spaces where all of my students and clients felt safe to open up, be vulnerable, create, and share. The feedback I received from those students at Cole was the moment I knew I wanted to work as a professional in my industry.
Janai, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My business is called Bodyisms. An ism is a distinct practice, my focus is on practicing how we relate to and utilize our bodies through movement. I have three pillars to Bodyisms. The first and currently only active pillar is afterschool programming. The focus is to execute The Personal Responsibility Model which is comprised of leadership and social emotional learning lessons, hip hop and dance history. The second pillar is CommUnity classes. I offered classes based on confidence building and community activation. The third pillar is Artistic Development. I’ve worked with local music artists for 5 years proving choreography and talent scouting services for their live shows and music videos. I’m most proud of my ability to obtain contracts with schools for my afterschool program. It stretched me further in the business realm outside of just creating my art.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The long term focus blooming from the afterschool program is a school. I’m starting to build a draft on a place where students of color can not only learn in a non-traditional, culturally relevant, and rigorous education environment, but they can explore, be educated deeper, and execute their art disciplines.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Right now actually. The program I work with for my afterschool contracts is only offering morning slots and I work during those times. Even though I am utilizing this time to use data from the previous year and continuing to build my curriculum, I feel like I’m backsliding due to the fact that I’m physically not in schools. This will be the first time in 5 years where I’m not active on the scene. I’m continuously reminding myself that I’m still on the path that I’ve set and the blooms of my planted seeds are still growing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodyisms_movement/