We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jana Krumholtz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My One-Woman Show titled, ‘6 Million Jews Didn’t Die For You To…’ has been the most meaningful project I’ve worked on. I wrote it, produced, choreographed, directed and performed it. So it is truly my baby. This is the most intimate, vulnerable storyline of my life. Once I knew it was time to share it, I knew that I needed to work on it and create it completely alone, to really birth it organically. No one else’s opinions, not trying to “shape it” or “make it better” from the get. Just truly say my truth. And that is exactly what I did and it has been so beyond special, healing and connecting. Both my grandparents were Holocaust Survivors and they were actually the first Holocaust Survivors to be married in America after WWII. My show is a story about transforming trauma, asking the questions what does it mean to honor a legacy and how do you become who you are meant to be when your history may be telling you otherwise?

Jana, 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 name is Jana Krumholtz and I began my professional career as a dancer in New York City. I did not go to school for it. Instead, I received an Economics Degree from NYU, with a minor in Pre-Business and a Concentration in Non-Profit Management. Right after graduation, I knew I still wanted to chase my dream of being a performer and that’s what I did. I supported myself bartending all hours of the night while attending Alvin Ailey’s Pre-Professional program. After 6 months, I was accepted into Rhapsody James’ Motivating Excellence Program which was the top Commercial Dance Training Program at the time. From there I signed with an agency and my life as an auditioning dancer began. I took endless classes, workshops, ran around the city dancing for free for so many gigs to gain experience and build connections. My first big job was opening for the Rolling Stone’s 50th Anniversary Concert. From there I danced on America’s Got Talent, Saturday Night Live, the VMA’s and my most consistent and FAVORITE job that shaped my career as a commercial dancer was dancing on the hit TV Show Lip Sync Battle, hosted by LLCoolJ and Chrissy Tiegan on Paramount. I danced on that show for 5 years, from the first episode to the last. While working on this show, I moved to LA and began training intensely in acting and began writing. I appeared in commercials and short films and began writing my own show. My first piece as a writer and performer was a part of ‘Chrysalis’ that premiered at Hollywood Fringe 2019 where we won the Encores Award. I then wrote my own One-Woman Show that was in Hollywood Fringe 2023. I was selected to be a Featured Performer at Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival 2024 and have been performing my show around the country ever since. I have a career in the Fitness Industry which began with being a Fitness Model with Wilhelmina Models modeling and dancing for Reebok, Fila, Champion and more. I then became a Kinrgy Founding Guide alongside Julianne Hough where I trained extensively in energy and breathwork. I was then recruited by Amazon Halo to be a coach and build their Movement Health Division. Then was asked to join Fitbit as a Premium Coach, teaching dance on their app. In the midst of this, I have been building my own movement program that I teach internationally called Return To Dance. It is a holistic approach to movement, rooted in storytelling, using the chakras, breath and sound to teach mind-body connection so all humans can live their most authentic lives. Most recently as a performer, I was in Macbeth at Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2024 as an ensemble member and Dance Captain. My latest performance was in a new musical that premiered at La Jolla Playhouse called, ‘3 Summers of Lincoln,’ where I was the only female soldier in the ensemble in disguise as a man, to represent all the females who fought in disguise in the civil war.

My mission in life is to share my story and to perform other original and authentic works of art, as well as to teach how to do so. Everyone has a story, everyone has creativity. My Return To Dance program offers workshops in movement, creativity and mind-body connection. I am so grateful and excited to continue performing and teaching!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Oooooof. I had to unlearn that I was NOT an artist. I grew up in a household that was very strict and old-fashioned. My grandparents were immigrants, Holocaust Survivors, so like most other immigrant households, there were pressures and expectations. I was meant to be a doctor or a lawyer. I had to hide my deep passion and yearning to become a performer. And years later when I had the courage to go for it, after college at 22, I had deep fears, wounds, guilt, insecurities and imposter syndrome. No matter how many jobs I booked, I felt like I was still disappointing my family and still not a dancer. It wasn’t until therapy, acupuncture and really COVID, where I was able to face these demons and heal. I had to grieve, I had to forgive and I had to be honest with myself and my family. The more I accepted myself and saw myself and wanted to get to know myself, the more I learned about my own artistry and creative ways. I began to follow those more than what other teachers or artists told me to do. Because truly, the only way, is YOUR way.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Inspiring others. Giving others the permission that I didn’t have. When I perform, the feedback I receive nourishes my soul when it includes words like “Thank You,” and “You Inspired Me.” The fulfillment comes from the work in itself-my devotion to it, to the story, to the TRUTH. The why of humanity. And the additional hug for my heart is when I see the light of possibility in someone else’s eyes that may not have been there before. We all have magic inside. We just have to harness the courage to share it. I do believe, next to a doctor, a fireman, the soldiers of the world, that being an artist is the most noble thing to do with one’s life. It is a commitment to saving humanity through the power of stories, emotions and connection. It will save us all.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jana.krumholtz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-krumholtz-0195286a/

Image Credits

Andrew J Mauney