Two dancers from the same church

I mentioned in my earlier post that Mariam Diallo, the recipient of the Shirley Harris Crockett award, was a dancer studying at the Brattleboro School of Dance. The BSD will be performing "The Nutcracker" in December, and Mariam will be dancing in it. But yesterday, I learned that another dancer who has a connection with the Guilford Church is being brought back to perform a leading role in "The Nutcracker" - Victoria Jaensen. Victoria is the daughter of Carol Jaensen, whom I have known for almost 50 years. Carol was a member of the Guilford Church who worked with UNICEF in Uganda for several years. For several years we prayed for her regularly in our Sunday services. While she was in Uganda, Carol, who was unmarried, adopted two Ugandan children. One was a boy, Moses, the other a girl, Victoria. When Carol came home to Guilford, the children came with her, of course, and attended schools in Guilford and Brattleboro, and came to church with their mother. They have grown up and have become beautiful and outstanding adults. Moses is married, I believe, and lives in California. He has visited on several occasions and is an impressive man. Victoria is a ballet dancer. Until fairly recently she lived not too far away and we would see her fairly often, but in 2018 she moved to Charlotte, NC, where she became a member of a ballet company. I found this on-line about her: "Born in Uganda, Victoria Jaenson was adopted when she was two months old, moved to the Ivory Coast with her family, and finally landed in Guilford, Vermont. Despite being unaware of any Black ballet dancers to look up to during her youth, Jaenson planned on becoming a professional dancer. She began her dance journey at age seven at Kelly’s Dance Academy and the Brattleboro School of Dance. At age 12, she attended a Dance Theatre of Harlem summer intensive, where she was in class with dancers of color for the first time. She trained later at the Rock School for Dance Education on full scholarship, the University of Hartford’s Hartt School (as a Dance Performance and Ballet Pedagogy major), and Atlanta Ballet’s professional summer intensive program. At the Boston Youth American Grand Prix Semi-Finals in 2016, Jaenson was listed in the Top 12 of the Classical Division and invited to compete at the New York Finals. Though she was not initially hired by Charlotte Ballet II, a year after her first audition, Jaenson was offered a position with the company in 2018. As a CB II member, Jaenson performed in Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux’s The Nutcracker (as the Spanish Dance lead) and Peter Pan, Christian Spuck’s Leonce and Lena, and Othello (as Desdemona). She has also taught on the faculty at the Charlotte Ballet Academy. Jaenson says her reason for dancing is that “it is a beautiful and strong way to move every unique body.”

Victoria Jaensen *********************************************************We look forward to seeing The Nutcracker Ballet