Monday, March 7, 2011

Our March It Girl Will Dance your Blues Away

By Jim Wills
LoDo Magazine

Jana Mae Blue

Occupation: Administrative Assistant/Dancer

Sign: Libra


Fourteen years ago, Jana Blue fell in love. Not with a boy or some childhood crush, though. She found her passion- her heart song, if you will. Through lessons and endless practice, Jana realized that she could pursue her love and that it would stay with her for the rest of her life. Fast-forward to today and Jana has combined that childhood passion with charm, grace and a determination that has landed her a spot as LoDo Magazine’s March It Girl.

During the daily 9-5 grind, Jana works her “money maker” job as she calls it. She works as an administrative assistant at Acxiom Corporation. Acxiom is a data solutions company (if you don’t know what that means, you probably don’t have any data that needs solutions). Jana enjoys managing the office, but when work lets out its time to let her hair down and get on dance floor.

Remember the passion that began fourteen years ago? Well, it's dance. Dance, I said (got a little Salt-N-Pepa running through your brain right about now?). Jana has been dancing professionally for several years and absolutely loves it. She was a child with lots of energy and dancing was the one thing that slowed her down and kept her from going a million miles a minute. “It’s where you forget about all the unfair things you went through in the day- the haste and requirements of being an adult,” she says.

If you’ve been to the Pepsi center for a Nuggets game or happened to a catch a Denver Outlaws game in the past couple of years then chances are you’ve seen Jana Blue. She’s danced for both teams in 2009 and 2010. Jana is reaching for the next rung in the dance ladder this year however as she will be auditioning to be a Denver Broncos cheerleader. With the announcement of the return of John Elway to the team in January, Jana is super thrilled and hopes to have many years of success cheering the team on to a future Super Bowl victory.

Jana also works on the production side of dance and has begun choreographing as well. She has worked with local artist Adam Duncan and also has been performing for the past year as part of the John Gillette crew.

Being a dancer means staying in great shape and that shape and Jana’s ability to move has caught the eye of many a local photographer. Dancing has led her to start a modeling career and even though Jana stands only five foot six inches (okay- she says 5’ 6.5”) she has done several professional shoots and will be in her first runway show this month. Through dance and modeling, Jana has also found representation with a local agency as a petite model.

Dancing has also led her to volunteer work as the dance groups she works with often spends time giving back to the community. Most recently, Jana and her fellow dancers spent the day with patients at Craig Hospital, the largest spinal chord and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation facility in the country. Jana said that her time there made a big impact on her, “I’ve been able to meet some great people who share this earth with us, and they have done nothing short of touch my heart.”

Whether she's dancing, modeling or doing admin work, it's clear to us that Jana Blue is still going a million miles a minute.

Photography: Jim Wills- 1World Studios
Designer: Fashions by Rea Marie
Hair: Kimberly Cline of ZandiK Salon
Makeup: Kelly Grady of ZandiK Salon
Location: Big Game Restaurant and Lounge