Jeanette Cota
Jeanette Cota
Jeanette Cota (born October 25, 1973) is a dance teacher, former model and mother of rising actress and dancer Ava Michelle Cota. [1]
Sfo]]]the Broadway Dance Academy studio, located in Fenton, Michigan.
Early Life
Jeanette was born on October 25, 1973 in Linden, Michigan .
Career
She studied dance from Michigan, New York City and Los Angeles, California to overseas in France, Italy and London, taking lessons wherever her career as a model took her. [1]
She began to teach dance at age 17 and she put Ava in dance classes at a local studio around age 2, but opened her Broadway Dance Academy to teach her daughter shortly after her third birthday
She was featured on Dance Moms in seasons 3 through 5, alongside her daughter Ava Cota when a friend of the family and Abby Lee Miller suggested Ava participated.
The show follows the careers of young dancers competing for a spot in the Abby Lee Miller Dance Company, and their mothers' involvement in their careers.
Controversy
Ava was the only child from the age 10 and under to make it through all the auditions but a 13-year-old dancer was selected over her, she and her mom admitted to not being ready after watching that season.[2]
"I think when the time is right, you have to be ready.
You have to be ready as a mom to go in and take on some of those moms.
If I would've started in Season 1 with them, I would've been fine.
But these are seasoned moms, they know how this works,"
Jeanette said:
"It's very intimidating with Abby.
At the time, I don't think her and I were ready for what we've seen and what we had to compete against."[2]
"I could've done it, but I don't think I would've been as strong as I am now,"
Ava tried out for a dance team in Season 4, and got the spot.
Abby praised Ava as one of the best dancers in the country, and Jeanette built a friendship with Abby.
But by the end of the season, Abby unexpectedly cut Ava from the team.
This moment in the show was captured in a dramatic scene where Jeanette walks in on one of Abby's classes to ask for an explanation about Ava's exclusion.
Abby flippantly says that Ava is too tall, and removes Ava's team jacket.
While holding back tears, Ava thanks Abby for the opportunity and leaves.[2] Jeanette said:
"I told Ava I was proud of her.
There aren't many grown adults who could handle what you handled,"[2]
Dance Class
She has nearly 100 students at Broadway Dance Academy in Fenton and prefers smaller classes to give students individual attention, but said possible students from other states have already begun to call to secure a spot for summer classes.
Her experiences as a dancer herself and traveling with Ava give the studio an edge over what she says is a crowded market of dance studios in Linden and Fenton, and some of her students even have appeared on the show in competition.
"Sometimes, you can see studios that play it safe and do the easy things that win competitions.
But these kids (in those studios) aren't as educated as they need to be.
They can't step out in New York or L.A. and know what to expect,"
Jeanette said.
The majority of my kids, at a certain age, can.
They know what to expect.
They've seen what Ava's gone through, they've seen studios shift and go in different directions, and they're able to adjust to it."