Jana Bennett

How to Be a Betty is a dance work rooted in satire, intensity, and choice. Inspired by the brilliance of young women on the brink of adulthood, it explores what it means to ignore, look for, see, and choose amid a cultural retreat from women’s autonomy. This piece asks where power lives, how voice is claimed, and what happens when women choose one another.

Rehearsing a solo can quietly become misleading. The choreography stays the same, the studio stays the same, effort stays high, yet progress slows. This is not a motivation problem. It is a learning problem. Research in motor learning shows the brain adapts best through variation, not repetition. Changing speed, space, attention, and sensory input builds adaptability, confidence, and performance readiness that holds up under pressure.

Returning home after my diagnosis felt like stepping into stillness. Fear moved quietly through my days as my year began to orbit around surgery, recovery, and rehabilitation. This chapter explores surrender, avoidance, creativity as refuge, and the slow turning toward acceptance. It is a reflection on what it means to trust your body, lean on support, and carry both fear and resilience as you cross the threshold into healing.