Christina Dempsey studied in the professional division of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School while still in high school, after which she went on to graduate from the Juilliard School in New York City in 2005 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Christina’s professional career included performing with Koresh Dance Company in Philadelphia for two seasons before returning home to Canada in 2007, to join Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, with whom she toured the world for eight seasons. In 2015, Christina relocated to Los Angeles to join BODYTRAFFIC, dancing until she stepped away from the floor two just years later.  

To a dancer, like an elite athlete, the realization that the end of the lane that you chose to commit your life’s passion and pursuit to from a very young age is coming to an end and that the choice to merge, while inevitable, can appear as wildly unfamiliar territory.  

In our conversation, Christina shares the moments of clarity as she came to realize that her professional life of a contemporary dancer, the role she had always identified with was soon to be eclipsed by her next; and how her challenge lay in defining the ‘next’ when she had always lived in the ‘now’. Her willingness to step in and stay in the discomfort long enough to remain open to possibility, led her to discover her passion for new roles including teacher, yoga instructor and Mom.