Born and raised in the Chicagoland area, Jennifer began her professional dance career at the age of 10 with the Chicago Tribune Ruth Page Nutcracker as Clara. She trained with many wonderful teachers including: Pamela Johnson-Tanis, Larry Long, Birute Barodicaite, Julie Cartier, and Ariane Dolan.

During her summers she trained at Houston Ballet Academy, the Joffrey Ballet, and American Ballet Theater. She was a founding member of the Civic Ballet of Chicago, dancing principle roles in works choreographed by Harrison McEldowney, Larry Long, Laura Wade, Carl Corey, Kenny Ingram, Paul Abrahamson, Anna Simon Levin, and many more. At this time she also performed in Ballet Chicago’s productions of Cinderella and Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as appeared as a dancer in the movies Save the Last Dance and Legends of Dance: Larry Long.

After graduating high school, she moved to Texas and joined Houston Ballet II, where she worked with Stanton Welch, Claudio Munoz, Clara Cravey, Ben Stevenson, Janie Parker, Carlos Acosta, and Lauren Anderson. Some of her favorite performances with Houston Ballet II were Kitri in Don Quixote, the principal ballerina in Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, and a world premiere by contemporary choreographer Peter Zwifeil. She also danced in the Houston Ballet corps de ballet in Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Cinderella, La Valse, and Alice in Wonderland. 

After two years she moved to Santa Barbara, California where she joined State Street Ballet as a soloist. She performed in California and all over the United States dancing both ballet and contemporary works with many choreographers including Emmy Award winner Robert Sund, William Soleau, and Rodney Gustafson.

After two years she returned to her hometown of Chicago where she apprenticed with River North Chicago Dance Company before joining the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. With the Joffrey Ballet she was able to travel all over the United States dancing, but not limited to, the following performances: The Nutcracker(Joffrey/Arpino) at the Kennedy Center in DC and the Auditorium Theater in Chicago; Billboards(Laura Dean) in Palm Beach and Naples, Florida; Lilac Garden(Anthony Tudor), Carousal(Christopher Wheeldon), Water Babies(Twyla Tharp), Cloven Kingdom(Paul Taylor), Cinderella(Sir Frederick Ashton), and Le Sacre de Printemps(Vaslav Nijinsky) at the Auditorium Theater Chicago. Jennifer loves teaching and motivating other dancers to become the best they can be.

She has recently returned to school to begin her pre-medical education at Northwestern University and hopes to continue encouraging others to work hard, have fun, and succeed in their careers.