Jana Rose Beautifies Ballroom Blast

By Rosemary O'Connell

Every year at local competitions like Dance Fest and Minnesota Ballroom Blast, I look forward to treating myself to a professional makeover from one of the vendors at the event. I get particularly excited when Jana Rose Merten of Jana Rose Arts, a local professional ballroom hair and makeup artist (emphasis on the word artist), is in attendance.

The work Jana does is absolutely fantastic, and when I heard she was coming to Minnesota Ballroom Blast this year, I jumped on the chance to have an appointment with her and her assistant Mark. For the first time in my eight years dancing, I looked in the mirror and saw a dancer looking back, all thanks to the marvelous job they did with my hair and makeup.

In addition to Jana’s hair and makeup appointments with dancers at Blast, Jana offered a complimentary makeup seminar centered around the many questions she received from ladies that day. Topics included which products to use (Do I really need $20 mascara? Where can I find the perfect white base?), how to use light and darkness, and hair basics (using the right tools: hair nets, open and closed bobby pins, different kinds of hair brushes). This seminar was extremely helpful for everyone who attended.

The thing I like best about Jana is her ability to teach ballroom makeup techniques. Makeup is challenging already, but ballroom makeup is uniquely challenging. I recommend that anyone who wants to learn more about dancesport makeup set up an appointment with Jana. She's kind, funny, outgoing, and excellent at making your vision a reality.

Right now I’m working on recreating the most recent look she gave me. I still need a lot of practice, but I’m very glad I set aside the time for a lesson with her. A big thank you to Jana for coming out to Blast!