Jenai had her first big performance at the ripe old age of THREE! At the age of four, she began dancing at Civic Dance Center and has continued to dance there. Janai is 18 years old and a Senior at Bakersfield Christian High School. She has been teaching ballet at Civic Dance Center for 4 years now, and adores her students. From her first Nutcracker in 2006, she has performed an array of parts from a giner, to Clara. At the West Coast Dance Explosion Nationals, Jenai placed 7th in the teen division in 2014, and 6th in the senior division in 2016. She is part of the West Coast Dance Explosion’s Fuzion Dance Company for the second year, and was chosen as an honor student for Regional Dance America Pacific in 2013, 2014, and 2015. She has competed in the pageant, National American Miss, for the past two and half years, and has received many awards for her talent, modeling, and acting at both the State and National level. She is honored to be the 2015 National American Miss Teen National Talent title holder.
With all of Jenai’s accomplishments, it was obvious we had to incorporate dance into her High School Senior photos! Not only has C&B Pictures photographed Janai and her company for the last few years, Bryan is also a Bakersfield Christian High School (BCHS) alumni, so he was super excited to take on this project! We started her session in the studio to get a few head shots that she could use for her numerous projects. We then moved to downtown bakersfield, stopping at Mill Creek Park. We got a few photos there but wanted something more urban and dramatic–a nice juxtoposition between gorgeous form and beauty and the worn-out look of an urban setting–so we found an abandoned area where there was a great deal of worn brick siding and old metal doors and got some of these incredible shots!
Jenai made our job so easy with her perfect form! With our experience shooting her past ballet company, Imagine Ballet Company, our timing was perfect together! We got so many great photos! It’s safe to say she was on Pointe!