About the School of Theatre and Dance
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Acting (B.F.A.)
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Acting (M.F.A.)
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grund_j
Jennifer Grund
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and raised in Encinitas, California, Jennifer Grund began her ballet studies at age five at Janice Lee's School of Ballet. As a young dancer, she attended summer intensives of Boston Ballet School, North Carolina School of the Arts, Marin Ballet School, Dayton Ballet School and internationally with the Budapest Ballet. She continued her studies with Riverside Ballet Arts, Stefan Wenta of Warsaw Ballet, and Currie Pederson of ABT.
Jennifer is a graduate of California State University San Bernardino where she earned her BA in Business. After graduating, Jennifer joined Dayton Ballet II and one year later joined Dayton Ballet as a full company member where she danced for 12 seasons performing principal and soloist roles in a wide range of ballets. Her roles with the Company include Juliet in Septime Webre's Romeo and Juliet, Ella in Christian Holder's An American Cinderella, Snow Queen in Dermot Burke's The Nutcracker, Stella in Karen Russo's A Streetcar Named Desire, and Lucy in Stuart Sebastien's Dracula as well as dancing other favorites by Dermot Burke, Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Stephen Mills, Trinette Singleton, Gina Patterson, Christopher Fleming, Luis Fuentes and Gerald Arpino. In 2009, Jennifer was awarded the Josie Award for Artistic Excellence by the city of Dayton for her artistic contributions to the community.
During her 15 year professional career, Jennifer spent three years touring throughout the United States with David Taylor Dance Theater performing some of her favorite roles including Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker as well as touring internationally to Havana, Cuba performing with the American Jewish Ballet. In addition to performing, Jennifer accepted a Ballet Mistress position with Ballet Nouveau Colorado where she maintained the school's classical syllabus and pre-professional repertoire. She has been teaching for over twenty years, most recently for studios in the Chicagoland area. Jennifer is an ABT Certified Teacher, who successfully completed the ABT Teacher's Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT National Training Curriculum.
Office: GA 117A
Email: jgrund@niu.edu
History, Literature and Criticism