Jens Lee, a native of New Castle, Pa, is an internationally known and acclaimed Professional Dancer/Teacher/Choreographer in dance styles such as Ballet, Jazz, Modern (Horton), Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theatre and Ballroom. Starting at a young age in Theatre, Jens has been in over 100 productions through out the East Coast. Some of his Equity gigs include TWELFTH NIGHT/COMEDY OF ERRORS (Great Lakes Theatre which included a performance for a GLT Alumni TOM HANKS), PIPPIN-Dance Captain (Cain Park), ANYTHING GOES/MUSIC MAN (Porthouse Theatre), ALTAR BOYZ (Becks Center/Hanna Theatre), and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST-Beast/ANNIE GET YOUR GUN-Tommy/OUR TOWN-George/CHRISTMAS SCHOONER-Oscar (Thunderbay Theatre). As a Choreographer, some of his works include NO NO NANETTE/GUYS N DOLLS (Bedford High School), LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS/LEGALLY BLONDE (John Carroll University) FOOTLOOSE (Medina High School) and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (Mercury Summer Stock). He recently was highlighted in the 100th year Gala for the Cleveland Foundation.
Jens’s training in dance started with Classical Ballet with the Cecchetti style under the guidance of Gigi Hazan, Kathie Halbert and the Cecchetti Council of American to become certified in Cecchetti Teacher I. Later on to Vaganova and French styles of ballet from Richard Dickinson (Boston Ballet, Verb Ballets, Great Lakes Ballet), Robert Steele (Boston Ballet, Lake Erie Ballet), Anita Lin (Ballet Western Reserve) and Debbie Parou (New Castle Regional Ballet). Jens is also a trained medal winning Triathlete/Marathon runner. Certified in the 13 styles of American Ballroom/Rhythm, Jens was personally trained and coached by the World Ballroom/Theatre Arts Champion George Hendricks and the Former 10 Dance Champion Martin Lamb. As a Professional Instructor and trainer, Jens has taught thousands of students all around the world from age 3-92. Some have received scholarships in dance to colleges and schools such as OSU, YSU, NYCU, Juilliard, CSU, SUNY, and Alvin Ailey to name a few. He has also been the Ballet Master for multiple Studios including Cleveland School of the Arts, Elite Dance of Brunswick, Ohio and Bingham Center of Midland, Texas. His professional credits as a Guest Artist has been (Nutcracker-Drosselmeyer, Russian, Chinese, Snow Prince, Act 2 Grande Pas Prince, Rat King, Arabian, Marzipan / Peter Pan-Father / Cinderella-Prince, Dance Master / Little Mermaid- Prince) for the New Castle Regional Ballet, Laurel Ballet, Allegro Arts, Ballet Western Reserve, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet Company and Neo’s Dance Theatre (Cinderella-Step Mother / Nutcracker-Trepak, Mouse King. Some of his other works include TOBI ROPPO for the Verlezza Modern Dance Co, Four Pause for the Laurel Ballet and Paquita Pas de Deux, Heinz Poll Pas and Inamorata for Richard Dickinson at Ballet Western Reserve. Other Regional credits included CHRISTMAS ON ICE for SPIRIT OF THE DANCE at the Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach. He was also with Princess Cruise lines as one of their Professional Dancers and was recently rewarded their CONSUMMATE HOST OF THE MONTH for a heroic action. Sailing with Princess, Jens has had the honor to dance and teach for tens of thousands of people and see such places as the Caribbean, West Coast USA, Alaska, Hawaii, South Pacific islands, New Zealand, Australia, and South East Asia from Thailand to Japan. As a Competitive Judge, Jens has taught Master Classes and Judge for TURN IT AROUND TOUR & Dance Masters of America.