Originally from Eureka, California, Chelsea began her dancing at the Studio of Dance Arts under Jane Morgan. While in high school, she trained under Lines Contemporary Dance Companys’ director Alonzo King in San Francisco, the Kirov Academy in Washington D.C., and California State Summer School for the Arts.
Chelsea graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2007 with a BFA in Dance and BA in Chemistry, with distinction in the major.While in college, she auditioned for and was selected to perform in 35 dance pieces over a four year period. During her senior year in college, Chelsea was part of the UCSB Student Dance Company that toured throughout California and Montana for the American College Dance Festival (ACDF). At ACDF, both dance pieces she performed in were chosen by adjudicators to be a part of the Gala concert. While in the UCSB Student Dance Company she learned a variety of repertoire by Keith Johnson, Stephanie Nugent, Tonia Shimin, and Valerie Huston. In addition, Chelsea was selected by the dance faculty to perform the historic solo Harmonica Breakdown, by Jane Dudley, as reset by Nancy Colahan.
In August of 2007, Chelsea joined Jerry Pearson’s Santa Barbara Dance Theater and toured throughout China and other locations. Before moving to New York City, she performed with David Dorfman Dance at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Currently, Chelsea works for the Hudson Vagabond Puppets and MacArthur Dance Project.
