Janessa’s costume designs have been a creative part of over 45 classical ballets and contemporary dance pieces for American Repertory Ballet, Traverse City Dance Project, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Nacre Dance Company, The Nutmeg Ballet, MODArts Dance Collective, Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater and the Dance Department at Rutgers University and Stockton University. She has collaborated with esteemed choreographers Ethan Stiefel, Amy Seiwert, Arthur Mitchell, Stephanie Martinez, Ja’ Malik, Claire Davidson, Da’Von Doane, Meredith Rainey, Caili Quan, Ryoko Tanaka, and Kirk Peterson, bringing their vision to the stage. Over her decade-long tenure with American Repertory Ballet, Janessa has designed several critically acclaimed full-length works including Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peterson’s Beauty and the Beast. Other design credits include: Athena Theatre, H (film short), The Lost Princess of Oz, and The Polar Express. Janessa began her career as a ballet dancer, studied Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and has guest lectured at NYU/ABT and Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Photo by Thomas Robert Clarke