Jaclyn Wheatley
A professional dancer originally from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Jaclyn is a versatile and dexterous mover with extensive training in many dance styles. Jaclyn graduated Summa Cum Laude from Alvin Ailey/Fordham University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a minor in Business Administration. During her time at Ailey/Fordham, she was honored to perform the works of Alvin Ailey, and Ronald K. Brown, amongst others. Jaclyn has also studied at American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Dance New York International (Paris, France) where she trained with teachers from the Paris Opera and performed works by Merce Cunningham.
Jaclyn has been privileged to work on stage and on film. In her nine seasons at Spectrum Dance Theater (SDT), she has performed many works created by Tony-nominated and Bessie Award-winning Choreographer and Artistic Director Donald Byrd, including LOVE, Shot, (Im)pulse, Carmina Burana, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, and A Rap on Race co-created by Pulitzer-nominated/MacArthur Genius Awardee Anna Deavere Smith. At SDT, Jaclyn has been featured as a soloist in the Bessie Award-winning production The Minstrel Show: Revisited, Solo/Duo, and Drastic Cuts; the role of "Minnie" in the 5th Avenue Theatre’s West Side Story; and the featured role of "Sugar Rum Cherry" in the re-staging of Donald Byrd’s critically acclaimed Harlem Nutcracker (1996). Jaclyn was selected by Carol Teitelbaum of the Cunningham Trust to perform Merce Cunningham’s Crises (1960) with SDT as part of the 2019 Cunningham Centenary celebration.
Jaclyn has performed featured roles in Alex Crozier’s production of Millennials and The Millennial Experience, Vincent Michael Lopez’s Noraefa, and The Cabiri’s Timaeus, Gods of the Night, and Ghost Game (three iterations). Other soloist credits include Some is Lost with Joshua Beamish’s MOVE: The Company at the Ailey CityGroup Theater, and Alvin Ailey’s The Lark Ascending at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She also performed with New York City’s Arch Contemporary Ballet for two seasons. Jaclyn was a featured dancer alongside Michael Bublé in the Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. You can also see Jaclyn in the feature film Center Stage: Turn It Up starring Ethan Stiefel, Peter Gallagher, and Kenny Wormald.
She participated in dance competitions across Canada and the United States from a young age, and has vast performing experience in many disciplines. Awards include Miss Dance Canada; Top 12 Classical Soloist two years in a row at the Youth America Grand Prix competition in Chicago, IL; a sizeable academic scholarship, the Rebekah Harkness Scholarship, and an Honorable Mention in Dance from Fordham University; Provincial Representative for British Columbia three times; and the national titles of Outstanding Dancer and Top 5 Ballet at New York City Dance Alliance.
Jaclyn is also an accomplished choreographer, adjudicator, aerialist, and teacher, having taught across Canada and the United States, as well as leading dance outreach workshops in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala through the JUNTOS Collective. Some of her choreography credits include all dance sequences in the feature film Dancing With Shadows.
Jaclyn is excited to continue developing her craft and explore the endless possibilities of a career as a citizen artist.
Image: Marcia Davis