Heart and Sole Performing Arts LLC in 
, is owned by John and Jolena Payan. In Jolena’s opinion, dance is where the heart is! At Heart and Sole Performing Arts everyone who shares their dance studio home is like extended family. They love that they get to share the gift of dance with some very wonderful people. Jolena describes Heart and Sole as a place where passion meets practice.
Heart and Sole is proud to be the West Valley’s premiere dance studio serving the communities of Surprise, Waddell, El Mirage, Peoria and Buckeye. They offer classes in a variety of styles for dancers of all ages and abilities. Their goal is to offer quality dance education at affordable prices. Jolene believes that if you check them out, you will see that from their highly trained staff to their state of the art facility, they are the right choice for your family’s dance training.
They are affiliated with Dance Masters of America, a prestigious international organization of educators who are certified by exam to teach. This ensures that dancers are getting top notch instruction from qualified instructors who are invested in continually becoming better educators. In addition to recreational classes that start at age 2, they offer performance and competition teams. Some of their most popular classes have been their teen beginning classes for older dancers who find their passion a little later than others. There truly is something for everyone!
Their facility has a spacious lobby with flat screen monitors so parents can view classes at all times and be an active part of their dancer’s progress. The lobby also offers a vending machine that offers healthy options to promote active and healthy lifestyles. For convenience, they have an in studio boutique that sells everything a dancer needs from shoes to tights, to leotards to bags!
They offer two recitals each year and opportunities to travel to New York to take classes for all of their students. They strive to provide age appropriate, family friendly choreography and costuming.
Jolene’s goal for this year is to seek out more opportunities to become involved with their community. So far they have hosted two annual food drives in conjunction with a local food bank and Jolena thinks it would be really nice to give their performance and competition teams the opportunity to volunteer.
Each week they feature a “Dancer of the Week” where they highlight students who work hard and make Heart and Sole a wonderful place to be.
Heart and Sole just opened a year ago in November 2014 and in January 2015 they had their first performance at a Harlem Globetrotters game. Jolena was very proud that they were able to come together in such a short amount of time (with many dancers who had never danced before) and pull off such a fun and professional performance. Jolena says they have some really awesome kids and families supporting them!
Jolena believes the biggest mistakes she sees dancers make is trying to perform moves before they are ready. With dance being so prevalent in the media, many dancers are seeing really cool tricks and trying to emulate them without the necessary foundation or an accurate understanding of the physiology involved. The problem with this is the risk for potential injury and developing poor technical habits. She says the best way to grow as a dancer is to: (1) Attend class regularly and be an active participant- ask questions!; (2) Talk to your teachers about your goals for your dance training; (3) Attend conventions and master classes whenever you can; (4) Take things slow! Great dancers do not happen overnight. As Jolena always likes to say, “Build your house before painting the walls.” A dancer with a solid foundation has far more potential than a one trick pony.
When Jolena was younger, she would frequently hold dance classes in her back yard for neighbor kids so teaching has always been in her blood. There were multiple dance teachers who took her under their wing and helped her to believe in herself. After an incredible performance career and teaching in studios and public schools, it was her husband, John, who encouraged her to open a studio so that she could create a dance school based on her vision for dance in their community. Together they created Heart and Sole Performing Arts! John and Jolene love what they do and are so incredibly thankful for their dancers and families that share in their vision\n!
Jolena was born and raised in San Diego, California, and began dancing at the early age of three. She studied and competed in various disciplines and graduated with distinction in dance after attending the School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Her performance career began as a dancer aboard Royal Caribbean cruise lines and after “gaining her sea legs,” decided to explore as many performance opportunities as possible. These opportunities ranged from dancing in Super Bowl XXXVII to an incredible acting/dancing experience in the Las Vegas show American Superstars. She has performed with Axxiom Dance Company, Jean Isaac’s San Diego Dance Theatre and Liam Clancy Dancers. She also created work for Sushi Performing Arts’ “4×4” theater and San Diego City College.
It was clear that dance was her life so she took the next step and decided to share the art form with aspiring dancers by teaching numerous classes at an award winning studio and pursuing a college degree in the performing arts. While pursuing her undergraduate work, she had the wonderful opportunity of studying abroad and working with orphans in San 
Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She also became a teaching assistant for an injured professor at the University of California, San Diego and gained valuable experience teaching older, more advanced students. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of California, San Diego with a double major in dance and theater and a minor in Human Biology. She received her Master’s degree in Secondary Education and teaching certificate from University of Phoenix. She has recently become certified with Dance Masters of America and is looking forward to the variety of opportunities available through this prestigious organization for her students.
For the past five years she worked at Willow Canyon High School in Surprise, Arizona. While there, she doubled the enrollment of the dance program and directed the award-winning dance team Canyon Fusion. In 2012, she worked with the National Dance Education Organization and the Maricopa County Education Service Agency to develop pilot exams for dance courses throughout the state. Over the last four years, she has served as a judge for dance and cheer auditions in community schools and choreographed special events.
They offer classes in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Pom, Acro, Musical Theatre, Contemporary, Tap and Hip Hop. Their classes start with introductory skills that include basic creative movement and ballet steps with fun, age appropriate music. The classes move on to steps that are appropriate to the age, skill level and the dance style being taught.
They also offer Adult Classes that are open level and offered on a drop in basis.
Jolena’s desire is to inspire others to find their voice within the arts.
In addition to dance classes, they offer a number of theme birthday parties with option that range from room rental, party host, dance class and basic decorations to cake, pizza and a costumed character to fit the theme. They are ready to put together your child’s dream party!!!
If you would like more information about Heart and Sole Performing Arts, visit their website at www.heartandsoleperformingarts.com, call them at (623)544-8078, or email them at heartandsoleaz@gmail.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with John and Jolena Payan of Heart and Sole Performing Arts LLC.
Written By Cyndi Marziani
Owner
BDancewear.com
