CHRISTENSEN, WILLAM

born Aug. 27, 1902, Brigham City, Utah, U.S. original name William Farr Christensen American dancer, choreographer, and teacher who, along with his brothers, Harold and Lew, established the San Francisco Ballet Company. Christensen studied with the great ballet master and reformer Michel Fokine. He performed in vaudeville with his brothers before joining the San Francisco Opera Ballet as soloist (1937) and choreographer (1938-58). In 1937 he founded the San Francisco Ballet Company. Becoming a professor of theatre ballet at the University of Utah (1951), he organized a department of ballet and choreography, established an annual campus Ballet Gala with guest artists (1955), and founded the Utah Ballet (1952). In 1963 the company turned professional and in 1968 changed its name to Ballet West. Christensen retired as director a decade later and was succeeded by Bruce Marks. As a choreographer, Christensen created works to music by J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Darius Milhaud, and he revived such ballet classics as The Nutcracker, Copplia, and Swan Lake.