Keenan Kampa (born February 3, 1989) is an American actress and dancer.

Career

Kampa started dancing at the age of four. She studied at the Conservatory Ballet in Reston. Kampa was raised near

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City movem ...

From 2003 to 2004, she was part of the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. I ...

's Summer Dance Program. In 2005 and 2006 she participated in the American Ballet Theater's summer intensive program on a scholarship. She entered the National Youth Ballet Competition in 2006 and won a gold medal. In 2007, when she was 18 years old, she was invited to study at the

Vaganova Ballet Academy The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hi ...

in St. Petersburg, Russia, the second American to be admitted to the academy after Ryan Martin. After three years, she graduated at the top of her class and with a Russian diploma. She accepted a contract with the

after two seasons, she was invited to dance with the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

, becoming the first American in history to do so. She returned to the United States in 2014 for hip surgery. She planned to return to Russia, but decided to remain in the United States.

Filmography

*Swan Lake 3D - Live from the Mariinsky Theatre, 2013 *Jerome Lejeune - To the least of these my brothers & sisters (documentary), 2015 *The Jimmy Star Show with Ron Russell (TV Series), 2016 *'' High Strung'', 2016

Accolades

*2006, National Youth Ballet Competition, gold medal *2012,

Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" is an annual list published by Dance Magazine of leading young dancers and choreographers, as well as new dance companies and trends in dance. The list is printed in the January issue of the magazine each year. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kampa, Keenan American ballerinas Boston Ballet dancers People from Virginia American actresses 1989 births Living people