Sandra Jennings

Born in Boston, Sandra Jennings began her dance training with her mother, Jacqueline Cronsberg, and with E. Virginia Williams, the founding director of Boston Ballet. In 1971 she was awarded a Ford Foundation scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York City, where she studied with some of the most renowned teachers of the time, including Alexandra Danilova, Felia Dubrovska, Suki Schorer and Stanley Williams. She performed leading roles in ballets such as Paquita, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.

In 1974, George Balanchine invited Jennings to join the New York City Ballet. There she built up an extensive repertoire, dancing in numerous works by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, as well as pieces by John Taras, Jacques d’Amboise and Sir Frederick Ashton. Jennings also appeared on television in Dance in America, Live from Lincoln Center, Live from Studio 8H, and on Canadian television.

She began teaching at the Chautauqua Institution in New York in 1985, where she started staging Balanchine’s ballets. In 1987 she was invited to work as a répétiteur for the newly established George Balanchine Trust. Since then, she has staged Balanchine’s works with companies around the world. Most recently, she rehearsed a new production of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Paris Opera Ballet. Her repertoire as a répétiteur also includes Theme and Variations (Staatsballett Berlin, 2019), Diamonds (Staatsballett Berlin, 2016), Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Who Cares?, and The Nutcracker.