Whitney Jensen

Whitney Jensen
Whitney Jensen
	Whitney Jensen dances for Swans for Relief (2020)
Born	May 4, 1992 (age 32); Sandy, Utah, U.S.
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Years active	2009-present
	Career
Current group	Norwegian National Ballet
Former groups	Boston Ballet

Whitney Jensen (born May 4, 1992)^[1] is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo, and was previously a principal with the Boston Ballet.

Early life and education

Jensen was born in Sandy, Utah,^[2] and raised in Park City.^[3] Her mother was a professional dancer and later a teacher, and her two sisters are Broadway dancers.^[4] She started dancing at age 6, in ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop, and focused on ballet two years later. At age 11, when competing at the Youth America Grand Prix, she met Valentina Kozlova, a former Bolshoi Ballet principal, then began travelling between Utah and New York to train with Kozlova. At age 13, Jensen moved to New York, to train with Kozlova privately while completing her school work online.^[1]^[5]

Career

At ages 11 and 12, she performed in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular as Clara.^[6]

In 2008, Jensen won the special distinction prize at the junior division of the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria.^[7] She was the first American to win this award.^[8] She then danced with the Hungarian National Ballet as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.^[5] In 2009, she was listed as one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch".^[8] That year, at age 17, she joined the Boston Ballet. She was promoted to second soloist months later, then to soloist in 2011. In 2014, at age 22, she was promoted to principal dancer, making her one of the youngest principals in the company's history.^[1]^[9] She was cast in contemporary works more often.^[10]

In 2015, Jensen left the Boston Ballet.^[11] She later said of her departure, "I loved the company and the people there. I felt it was time for me to take a breather and reflect on what I wanted and how I can progress in my own way—and not measure roles or promotions as success." She said she took a six month hiatus, but continued to practice during that time. She then contacted Norwegian National Ballet's director Ingrid Lorentzen, who offered her a contract, and relocated to Oslo in February 2016.^[10] She is currently a principal at NNB, where her repertoire includes full-length classics and works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe and Alexander Ekman.^[12]

In 2020, Jensen danced The Swan in Misty Copeland's fundraiser, Swans for Relief, a response to the impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on the dance community, with funds going to participating dancers' companies and other related relief funds.^[13]