Jacqueline Cronsberg has a long, prominent and enviable career as a ballet educator, artistic director and career guidance counselor. She founded the well known Ballet Workshop New England with studios in Waltham and Hopkington, Massachusetts and Massachusetts Youth Ballet, the semi-professional youth dance company known for its acclaimed performances of Balanchine choreography. Following her semi-retirement from those demanding years, she was invited by Mikko Nissenen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, to join the Boston Ballet faculty as a Faculty Member and Artistic Advisor to the Boston Ballet School Ensemble. In addition to her contributions to her faculty and advisory work in the school, she also coached and accompanied 2 advanced students to the first International Ballet Competition in Beijing, China and was honored to be asked to teach classes at the Beijing Dance Academy while she was there.
After several years with Boston Ballet, she and her husband moved to their new home in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She continues with her professional credits by guest teaching and career mentoring of talented young dancers; currently she will be spending five weeks this summer as a guest teacher in Boston Ballet’s Summer Dance Program as well as teaching in the Eastern Connecticut Ballet pre-professional Summer Intensive for experienced dancers.
Ms. Cronsberg has an impressive record over many years in her own school, as a ballet teacher, educator, artistic director and guidance counselor that is a testimony to the quality of her work, her expertise and her dedication. She has trained dancers that have gone on to careers with New York City Ballet, Boston, Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Miami City Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Danish Ballet, Houston, Tulsa, and Fort Worth Ballet and New York Ballet Theater. Four of her students competed in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne and two were Princess Grace Award winners. Fittingly, she was recognized by Dance Magazine in their first of a series of articles in their “Great Starts”, American Teacher Series, a “tribute to teachers who have produced outstanding results”.
One of Ms. Cronsberg’s greatest frustrations over the years was the lack of performing opportunities for talented young dancers to provide the training and experience needed to pursue their career potentials. What was needed, she decided, was to form her own non-profit dance company which would provide those opportunities, and the Massachusetts Youth Ballet (MYB) was born. Its mission was to provide training geared to a professional career and performing opportunities in the greater Boston area of works by the master choreographers of the 19th and 20th centuries including Petipa, Bournonville, Fokine, and Balanchine. The greatest contribution made to the community by MYB and that had the greatest impact on the young dancers was the granting of licenses by the George Balanchine Trust to perform the ballets of this genius; MYB presented major works as Apollo, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Divertimento #15 and many others. Ms. Cronsberg’s close professional relationship with the Trust was a major factor in the licensing process. Many graduates from this special program are still dancing professionally with American ballet companies including New York City Ballet, San Francisco, Kansas City and Houston Ballet.
