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Jenna authentically guided me to my truth. I have never had a professor filled with as much love and light as Miss Jenna. She’s the reason why I eventually want to become a dance professor one day!
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/ Adelmari Rodriguez /
Professional Dancer
In the Heights, The Musical
Los Angeles, New YOrk City
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Jenna is an inspiring dancer and incredible educator; she has a knack for encouraging students, and people alike, to reach down deep in order to express themselves through movement! She is a storyteller at her very core, a paramount trait in the field of dance, and one she promotes in the life of every student she teaches. She allowed me the tools, and language I needed in order to harvest my abilities and effectively communicate through movement and dance. I credit so much of my confidence and style to Jenna’s teaching. She is a true artist and I am lucky to have studied with her.
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/ Danny Burgos /
Broadway Performer
On Your Feet!, The Bands Visit
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As an educator, Jenna’s generous spirit and meticulous eyes for bringing out the strengths in her students empowers them to push past their own limiting beliefs. She creates a supportive environment within a dynamic class struct aure that allows for exploration in many different facets of dance. My time studying under Jenna has helped me feel more powerful in my own movement and confident to step into my own individualities as an artist.
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/ Sydney Hale /
Performer, Pilates Instructor
New York City
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I feel beyond grateful to have had Jenna’s influence and mentorship throughout my dance career. During my undergraduate experience, Jenna was my greatest source of inspiration. She not only pushed me as a student, performer, and choreographer but was also the first to express that my dreams were possible. Jenna’s ability to see a dancer for the human they are, while showing up herself with tangible passion and excitement for the art, is what ignited a new fire in me.
I was constantly pushed out of my comfort zone by Jenna, while in an environment that she created to feel safe. I would not be the dancer or person I am if it wasn’t for Jenna’s mentorship, insight, and motivation. She taught me to be a dream chaser and gave me the tools to make those dreams come true.
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/ ALLISON BOLLINGER /
RADIO CITY ROCKETTE, CERTIFIED EATING DISORDER RECOVERY COACH
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Jenna is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and personable teacher and artist. She brings a remarkable sense of rigor to her own craft, a dedication that is seamlessly reflected in her teaching of dance. Her classes were challenging, but also filled with warmth and fun, creating an environment that was as inspiring as it was demanding.
Jenna’s teaching gave students the tools to approach dance with agency and autonomy, encouraging thoughtful reflection on the creative process. Through her guidance, we not only developed technical skills but also learned to articulate our experiences and insights verbally.
For me, Jenna has been a major influence on my journey into choreography and dance. She offered me advice, feedback, and—most importantly—unwavering encouragement, which continue to inspire me to this day and motivate me to grow as a conscientious and thoughtful artist.
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/ THEO QU /
FREELANCE ARTIST, MASTER OF CHOREOGRAPHY CANDIDATE AT PALUCCA HOCHSCHULE FÜR TANZ DRESDEN
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Only once in this lifetime have I experienced a mentor that cultivates a space as safe as Jenna Del Monte Zavrel does. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jenna in various different roles; she’s primarily been my professor, choreographer, and mentor. Despite having requirements to work with Jenna in these aspects, I went out of my way to request being her teacher’s assistant for 5 sequential semesters; including semesters in which I was physically injured because her approach is so integral that there is ALWAYS something to learn even as an observer. Working under her wing, I found a new meaning for success and began to understand the art of dance from a new lens. Regardless of the genre, Jenna nurtures her mentees in a way that makes you feel like you belong - no matter your physique. She created a newfound love for ballet for myself and numerous of my classmates, one that we would’ve never found without her guidance. The era of COVID was one that made finding the motivation to dance and learn extremely difficult, and if it weren’t for Jenna I’m not sure if I would have continued the art at all. Even through a computer screen, she found a multitude of ways for her students to find depth in their art and held us accountable especially in the most difficult times to do so. Not only is she there to celebrate every moment of advancement & accomplishment, but she also recognizes growth as a structure which knows no end. Jenna so evidently pays close attention to each of her students and their individual needs as an artist and a human, and will stop at nothing to maintain a version of encouragement that is rare to find. She helped me find a spark within myself that will never die, and no words will be enough to express the thanks I have for her guidance and friendship. I am utterly grateful to have had the opportunity of learning from and working with Professor Jenna Del Monte Zavrel.
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/ LYSSIE HARTZOG /
PERFORMER, LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK CITY, REP: The Movement Talent Agency
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The opportunity to work with Jenna in my undergraduate program changed the trajectory of my career. Taking her modern technique class was the first, monumental change I felt in my dancing. My movement became both more nuanced and expansive, and I could feel that specificity as a choice in my body. Through her class, her choreography, and her mentorship, I learned to acknowledge, leverage, and cultivate the way my brain and body manifest my individual artistry. Jenna has a fire that is contagious. Her intense passion and skill as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher sparked a drive in me to keep learning, ask harder questions, and find wild joy in deep, physical exploration. She introduced me to working with dance on film and mentored me in an independent study. I had never worked with film, but with Jenna’s direction, I fell in love with it. This independent study was the catalyst to my internship at Jacob’s Pillow and later, my first job in NYC. Jenna changed my dancing, my artistry, my confidence, and my career, and I am so grateful for the way her presence continues to show up in my work almost ten years later.
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