Meet Miss Jojo Joanna Burke

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Miss Jojo Joanna Burke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Miss Jojo below.

Miss Jojo , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
The Arts! I began dancing at age 3 and have been plugged into the arts ever since. Be it dance, acting, music, etc…it is these environments where the education goes beyond the classroom. Enrichment of this nature helps a child develop discipline, thick skin and responsibility. These environments encourage and support being bold & taking risks, going as big as you can, looking up to those who have skill sets you desire & forming relationships with them. Being involved in enrichment programming put into practice the concept of failure being celebrated. When failure occurs you have got to be proud of knowing that you went for it and have done something another did not, it is important to reflect on the steps that were made, celebrate the small wins, and then keep forging forward. Even though I spent MOST of my childhood in performing arts classes, there are other programs such as sports & fitness that I believe embrace this same concept. You won’t always win the game, pick up that heavy weight, jump over the high jump bar at it’s highest, but getting plugged into a program with a great teacher/coach plays a HUGE part in resilience.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Miss Jojo is a “kid person” through & through! I get so much joy out of doing ANYTHING with children! I happen to have a background in dance (started when I was 3 years old) so it was very easy for me to begin there when it came to starting a business. In 2011 I launched Jojo’s Dance Divas & Dudes. I began providing dance education/enrichment to children of all ages and in the past year have created a Leadership Program for Teens & Tweens who have an interest in assisting in younger/lower level classes.

I believe that teachers are very much like performers and improv actors. We have to be able to deliver the lessons to children in a fun and memorable way so we must tap into that entertainment element. As far as the improv side of entertainment goes…well you never know what child is in the mood to heckle your act or make you have to pivot because sometimes they will just not be “picking up what you are putting down”

I love children & I love performing so it was very easy to make the transition into presenting kids with the ABCs, 1,2,3s or any other life skill they made need such as washing hands, brushing teeth or tying their shoes. I have a handful of videos like this on YouTube and this summer I will be branching out and partnering with a handful of individuals to provide not only in person dance, but acting, sports & family fitness as well.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
As a young dancer I participated in a lot of dance conventions and competitions. These events gave me courage, confidence & inspired me to strive for more in my journey. If I can offer any advice it would be to find a supportive community offering something of interest to you, like a gym, ceramics class, book club etc. and then just throw yourself in there ready to take on more risks. No matter where you are or what you are doing it will transfer over to your professional career and transform you as a person.
If you are parent reading this, I highly recommend enrolling your child into some sort of performing arts or sports program. There they will develop a tremendous set of tools that will be incredibly valuable later in life.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
My whole life I have wanted to be a contribution to childrens’ content in the entertainment industry. When the pandemic hit in 2020, I had A LOT of time on my hands and began to create a YouTube channel as a way to stay in touch with my students during lockdown. When we, as a Nation were at home with little to do it was easy to create EVERY aspect of an entertainment project by myself…now that I have been back in the classroom up to 13 times a week and running the administrative side of Jojo’s Dance Divas & Dudes, I do not have the time to pour into EVERY aspect of a project, but I am a wonderful contribution when I am working with a community & sharing responsibility. If you are creating kids & family content I would LOVE to be of service so please reach out via my website jojodd.com or Instagram @jojosdancedivas to connect.

Outside of entertainment, I have created a program which I mentioned earlier, for teens & tweens where they can come into my classroom, assist with younger dancers or any other aspect of Jojo’s Dance Divas & Dudes they can lend a hand in based on their specific skill sets.
I really enjoy helping our youth grow, teaching them to be leaders by giving them responsibility and setting a good example. I have been fortunate to have some great volunteers enter the program and one of them even received a special award from the President of the United States for all the work she did helping out with students who have special needs.
If you have a teen or tween at home that would like some volunteer hours please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to plug them into our programs as well as sign off on volunteer hours for school & assist in their journey when an acceptance letter is needed for an upcoming school opportunity.

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