Janine Kovac enjoyed a twelve-year career as a professional ballet dancer in Iceland, Italy, San Francisco, and her hometown of El Paso, Texas. Outside of the ballet world, her distinctions include UC Berkeley’s Glushko Award for Distinguished Research in Cognitive Science, an Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship from Hedgebrook, and the Calderwood Fellowship for Journalism from MacDowell. Janine is the author of Brain Changer: A Mother’s Guide to Cognitive Science and Spinning: Choreography for Coming Home, which received a National Indie Excellence Award. In addition to dancing in The Nutcracker, she’s rehearsed The Nutcracker, she’s choreographed sections of The Nutcracker, and, most of all, she’s sat through The Nutcracker. Janine lives with her family in Oakland, California.