Jacqueline Cronsberg's Ballet Workshop - dance school in Hopkinton, Massachusetts

Dance Magazine, July, 1994 by Iris M. Fanger

The school year ends in a recital held at Hopkinton High School. She also feeds children into Ballet Theater of Boston's annual production of The Nutcracker. Last year's leading roles of Clara and Fritz were danced by her students. The recital is an additional learning experience for the students, demanding rehearsals outside the class schedule. The 1993 program ended in an ambitious series of excerpts from Petipa's Don Quixote, with costumes rented from Boston Ballet.

Cronsberg's daughter, Sandra Jennings, a former member of New York City Ballet and now ballet mistress for Pennsylvania Ballet, began her studies with her mother before moving on to Harriet Hoctor's school and Boston Ballet School with Williams. Among the many students who have gone on to professional careers from the Cronsberg studio are Todd Hall (Ballet Theater of Boston), Heidi Wolfe (Boston Ballet), Nicole Eldridge (Miami City Ballet II), Sarah Folland (Miami City Ballet), Susan Lewis and Amy Pratt (State Ballet of Missouri), Michelle Heyl (Tulsa Ballet), Julie Kirsten Johnson (New York City Ballet), Melissa Carpenter (San Francisco Ballet), and Matt Neenan (Pennsylvania Ballet II). Wolfe and Carpenter were recipients of Princess Grace Foundation Awards.

"I will admit," Cronsberg confesses, "that it's been fun having my school all these years. Meeting so many different people throughout this time has enriched my life immeasurably. I have found, and still find, the process of training a dancer intriguing and joyful. The making of dancers has been a humbling experience and I never expected or realized that I could bring my students so far."