The Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education had the great honor to host Christina Johnson of Boston Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem for a master workshop with CDE Academy students. It was a great honor to have her in the studios, and it was a rewarding experience for our pre-professional level students to learn from such a distinguished artist!
Christina Johnson trained at Boston School of Ballet, School of American Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem. She began her professional career at age seventeen with Boston Ballet, before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she became a principal dancer within four years. In her thirteen year tenure with DTH, she worked with Jerome Robbins, Frederic Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent, and Sir Anthony Dowell, among others. She danced leading roles in much of the company’s repertoire including Swan Lake, Giselle, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, and Fancy Free, to name a few. She was a member of the Swiss companies Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève and Ballett Basel, where her repertoire expanded to include works by William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, James Kudelka, Ohad Naharin, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Twyla Tharp, Amanda Miller, and David Parsons. Christina is an original member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet and has also been a featured guest artist with various companies worldwide, including the Royal Ballet of London.
After her performance career, Christina has been sought after as a teacher, coach, and ballet master; and she has worked with companies and schools such as Pacific Northwest Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Gotesborg Ballett, Cornish College of the Arts, and the University of Washington, to name a few. Christina held the position of rehearsal director for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Armitage Gone! Dance, Trey McIntyre Project, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She is currently on faculty at Marin Ballet in San Rafael, CA and is adjunct faculty at Dominican University in the LINES/Dominican BFA in Dance program.
Christina holds a MFA in Dance from Hollins University in collaboration with the American Dance Festival, The Forsythe Company, and Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany.