Catja Christensen ’23

Front-of-House Coordinator at The Royal Ballet School

London, England

Catja Christensen ’23 says it’s sometimes hard to believe she gets to spend her days at the Royal Ballet School in London, England, where she is a front-of-house coordinator.

“When I was growing up, it was always just this legendary place,” she says. “I love being surrounded by the arts. I love working in such a big and historic organization.”

The setting, too, is nothing short of idyllic.

“I work in a building called White Lodge, which is a former royal hunting lodge in the middle of Richmond Park on the outskirts of London. I have my lunch breaks outside with the deer running about, and there are horses tilling the soil. It’s surreal,” Christensen says. “Every time I text my mom, she’s like, ‘Are you in Pride and Prejudice?’”

Christensen grew up immersed in the performing arts: Her father is a musician, she and her brother are dancers, her sisters make music and her mother sings. But she didn’t know just how far her love of dance could take her until she got to Connecticut College, where double majored in dance and English and was a scholar in the Media, Rhetoric and Communication Pathway through the College’s Connections program. 

“The Dance Department helped me dream outside of the box and be creative with my career path,” she says.

Christensen spent her four years at Conn studying communication across disciplines—from dance performance to nonfiction writing. She served as co-editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The College Voice, and was a four-year member of the Dance Club. She completed three internships during her collegiate career—as a media intern with Final Bow for Yellowface, an arts activism organization working to eliminate the use of offensive stereotypes from the stage; as a journalism intern with The Oslo Desk, a publication that serves marginalized and underrepresented people in Norwegian media; and as an editorial intern for Pointe Magazine, a leading international dance publication.