Janet Rachel Johns, dancer and choreographer, has been named 2025 Santa Cruz County Artist of the Year by the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission.
As an Assyrian woman, mother, educator, dance instructor, choreographer and a performing artist in Santa Cruz County for over 45 years, Johns has experienced firsthand the power of the arts for healing a community and bringing people together.
Since she started learning folklorico dance at age 18 as a student at San Jose State University, she learned from her mentor, Ramon Morones Ortiz, of Guadalajara, Mexico, the importance of learning authentic steps, style and choreography from master instructors and keepers of the traditions of Mexico.
When she moved to Watsonville to begin her career as a bilingual educator in 1978, she co-founded Esperanza del Valle and wrote her first Arts Council grant, establishing her folklorico dance class as a performing company in 1980.
Esperanza del Valle was the only adult folklorico dance company in the Watsonville community in those early days. Hundreds of dancers have trained, learned, and performed with her company.
A free performance will take place 7-9 p.m. May 9 at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College in Aptos. Admission is free but seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis that evening; advance tickets are not available.
The Artist of the Year award is presented to local artists for outstanding achievement in the discipline of performing, visual, or literary arts who have also made a substantial contribution to the cultural enrichment of Santa Cruz County. To learn more, visit www.scparks.com
Johns has served on many sub-committees of Arts Council Santa Cruz County (e.g. the Grants Committee, Steering Committee) and currently serves on the commission supporting the Arts in Watsonville.
Esperanza del Valle is a partner with the Watsonville Center for the Arts; Johns has volunteered for 40+ years to find a home for the arts in Watsonville. She volunteered as a founding member of the Watsonville Film Festival for many years and has served as a local artist/dancer instructor for many charitable community organizations.
When the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck in 1989, Esperanza del Valle collaborated with local artists and produced a performance at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, as a fundraiser for the Watsonville community. Esperanza del Valle then supporte the community of Pajaro through the floods of 1995, 1997 and in 2023.
Johns has produced annual gala theater performances in the Greater Santa Cruz TriCounty area with Esperanza del Valle, bringing the best of Mexican dance and music to our community for 4+ decades.
She is thankful to have worked with amazing fellow artists in the community and Mexico and to have had the opportunity to teach at Cabrillo College, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay and Pajaro Valley Unified School District, share these wonderful resources with students and families in our community. She has offered free lectures, demonstrations and dance classes with visiting master instructors, who visited schools throughout the county and offered classes for local youth folklorico groups. Collaborating and performing with El Teatro Campesino, Santa Cruz Symphony, Tandy Beal and Company and many more have brought a richness to her life as an artist.
Johns has received numerous awards, including a proclamation from the mayor and City of Watsonville in 2020 recognizing her 40 years of leadership with Esperanza del Valle; the Watsonville City Council Mayor’s Award in 2014; a Gail Rich Award in 2002 for her community service in the arts; and a Calabash Award in 2001 for Excellence in the Ethnic Arts.
Her son, Gabriel Johns Robledo, teaches folklorico and drama at Pajaro Valley High School, inspiring new generations of adolescents to see themselves as artists and agents of change.