Christina Fessenden (1948-2022)

Primary teachers: Mignon Garland
Students: Christy Cornell-Pape | Mary Ruth Hammond | Pattee Russell-Curry
Areas of expertise: Performer, Teacher, Repertory Coach
Location: Berkeley, California (USA - West)

Christina Bergren Fessenden began her Duncan training with Mignon Garland in 1974, taking classes and performing with Mignon's San Francisco Duncan Dancers. Chris performed in the 1977 Centennial of Isadora's birth, directed by Mignon Garland at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

In late 1977 Christina co-founded the Dionysian Duncan Dancers (DDD) with three other former student dancers of Mignon Garland (Annah McCluskey, Deborah Vaernes and Maria Rosario Villasana). From 1978 through 1994, the company, with additional members, performed 44 times in a wide variety of settings including schools, universities, museums, parks, and concert halls. The DDD toured widely through California as part of the CA Arts Council Touring Program from 1984 through 1986. Roles and responsibilities rotated among the DDD dancers as needed in the early years. Later in the 1990's Christina was Co-Artistic Director with Deborah Vaughn and also Rehearsal Director. Members of the Dionysian Duncan Dancers taught Duncan dance classes in San Francisco, Marin, and the greater SF Bay Area.

The DDD were invited to perform in Russia by Maestro Constantine Orbelian of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in 1992 and again in 1997. Before a performance in Moscow at the Kremlin, company members were coached by Elena Terentevia, one of the original Moscow Duncan Dancers.

In 2000, Christina began teaching weekly Duncan dance classes in Oakland. A very dedicated teacher, she continued teaching through the early months of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, commenting on zoom classes, until her health began to decline. Christina loved the simple lines of the choreography, and the classical music Isadora Duncan used for the choreographies. Christina’s musicality and intuition of expression were superb, and she is sorely missed by her students and fellow dancers.

Like Isadora, Christina was a lover of Italian art and culture, particularly the work of Botticelli and others of the Renaissance. Christina’s dancing and teaching were also inspired by work of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, especially Burne-Jones. Christina used these artistic works to inform her gestural movements and the quality of her dance. Christina felt that Isadora’s dance brought the Pre-Raphaelite ideals to life. Christina was a Renaissance angel who could have easily stepped out of Botticelli’s Primavera “Three Graces” or any of the works of Burne-Jones.

Photo by Jack Foss, 1984

Chris, on right, dancing Chopin Opus 70 #3, S.F.

Chris, on right, at Pacific Ocean with Melinda McGee

Affiliations

Dionysian Duncan Dancers — Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director, Rehearsal Director, Dancer (1977—1997)

Links

The Collection of Christina Fessenden

Videos

Collection	Title	Date
Dionysian Duncan Dancers	DDD Performance at Mountain View, CA	1994-03-25
Dionysian Duncan Dancers	Dionysian Duncan Dancers Julia Morgan	1993-09
Dionysian Duncan Dancers	DDD at Golden Gate Bandshell	1983
Dionysian Duncan Dancers	Dionysian Duncan Dancers, Margaret Jenkins Performance Space	1982-01