Jenelle Figgins

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Dance Theatre of Harlem

Jenelle Figgins is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher from Washington, D.C. Figgins is an alum of Jones-Haywood School of Ballet, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and Dance Theatre of Harlem Kennedy Center Residency Program and Summer Intensive. Figgins received her BFA Cuma Laude from SUNY Purchase Dance Conservatory in 2011 and continued her training at SpringBoard Danse Montreal.

Figgins has performed for Collage Dance Collective, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Les Grands Ballet des Canadiens, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet where she performed works by George Balanchine, Jiri Kilyian, Jorma Elo, Ulysses Dove, Alexander Ekman, Nicholo Fonte, Nacho Duato, and more. In 2014 Jenelle Figgins received the Princess Grace Award and was named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 To Watch” in 2015. Figgins has taught internationally and is a guest faculty member at Hinton Battle Dance Academy in Japan. Jenelle Figgins has been featured in Dance Magazine, Self Magazine, The Art of Movement, The Sojourner, and newspapers across the world. She was named a 2020 Aspen Hero by Theatre Aspen for leading the largest series of protests in Aspen, CO for social justice and racial equality.

Figgins has self-produced several art installations in the American Southwest—most recently A(l)lready Ancestors solo installation as Skye Gallery in Aspen—and is a promising ballet choreographer. In 2021, Figgins premiered her first ballet, Spread at SUNY Purchase and served as Assistant Choreographer of RENT! at The Signature Theatre in D.C.

Figgins aspires to impact people toward their own human revolution through dance. She hopes to influence dancers & people who identify as highly sensitive to live boldly, authentically and masterfully, treating their sensitivity as a great gift in their lives and the lives of others.

Figgins was one of 11 Black ballet dancers from around the world selected by Theresa Ruth Howard to create and perform in the world premiere of Donald Byrd’s From Other Suns, as part of The Kennedy Center’s Reframing the Narrative.