Principal Artist Jenna Rae Herrera Has Exciting News!

Principal Artist Jenna Rae Herrera received exciting news last season: she and her husband were expecting a baby boy, due this December. It meant Herrera’s last performance before the baby’s arrival occurred at The Kennedy Center in June when Ballet West performed with 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography. Since starting back up this season while six-months pregnant, Herrera is on modified duty, helping in rehearsals and teaching at the Ballet West Academy, though she still takes Company class every day, modified of course.

“Obviously as a ballet dancer, your body is a huge part of what we do. It feels good to move, especially for my mental health to feel like I’m still a dancer,” said Herrera. “It’s been wonderful to also share that with my little baby. As I’m jumping around, he’s probably like, ‘What are you doing?’”

Herrera comments that for female dancers, the decision of when to start a family can weigh heavily on their minds. “For me personally, when my husband and I were thinking we’d like to have a family, I recognized that I was going to miss something in my dance career,” she said. “It’s inevitable, but the outcome of that is so much greater because I get to bring life into this world. Once I really let that hit home, I felt emotionally more prepared to take the time away from the studio. I hope to come back in April and start this new journey, with a little one.”

While performing at The Kennedy Center, Herrera was touched by how many dancers from other ballet companies reached out to her. “I met so many dancers who are mothers and returned to dance after their babies,” she said. “They were so supportive and encouraging, telling me, ‘You can get back, you can dance, and you can also be a good mom.’ I really appreciated hearing that and knowing there is a community who is celebrating and rooting for moms in the dance world.