Principal dancer and former New Yorker Jennifer Kronenberg played opposite her real-life Romeo, hunky hubby Carlos Guerra, when she starred as Juliet in Miami City Ballet’s $1.5-million production of John Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet,” in 2011. Her stunning, glamorous image graced the cover of Dance magazine and dominated ballet posters when Miami City Ballet performed in New York City and in Los Angeles. Then in a three-week command performance that summer, the striking beauty starred in many key lead roles when the ballet company made its Paris debut at the Theatre du Chatelet.
Now at age 37, Jennifer Kronenberg Guerra is a mommy, and like many others out there, she’s finding out that balancing family and work is a tricky business and requires fortitude — as well as a great support system. But she’s embracing her new role with love, patience, and a ballerina’s grace.
Mommyhood
Adjusting to motherhood, while rehearsing and performing ballets, isn’t an easy feat, and if Jennifer could somehow manage to pirouette and leap across the stage, with little Eva strapped to her back — and make it look graceful — she would probably pull it off. That’s how devoted she is to her baby girl and how passionate she is about her craft.
The new mom describes her beautiful daughter as an extremely happy and friendly baby, but “very opinionated, with a fierce temper!
“Naturally, she has us both wrapped around her little finger, and we fear that even as united as we are, we may not stand a chance against her will when she gets older,” confides Jennifer. “We’re actually quite sure we’re in for some serious trouble!”
Apparently, the bouncy baby girl has an astounding amount of energy, hates napping, and already loves music and dance.
“Eva is such a tremendous joy and light in my life. She brings my husband and me incredible happiness every day, and has filled our hearts with an unbelievable amount of love. She is such a funny girl … what a character! We actually wonder how it can be possible that she has already developed such a kooky sense of humor.”
Jennifer says she couldn’t resist dressing Eva in a tutu and ballet slippers on several occasions.
“We will put her in ballet classes in a few years if she continues to show an interest in moving and dancing, but we’re adamant about not forcing her to dance if she doesn’t want to,” says Jennifer. “She will continue to be exposed to it through our careers, and I feel that if she wants to dance, she’ll let us know.”
Returning to her roots
What’s great about the former Queens girl is that despite her amazing talent and star roles, Jennifer is still a warm and friendly, down-to-earth person who never forgot her New York roots. She, Carlos, and Eva recently returned to New York City, where they saw the sights, had a chance to unwind in Central Park, and visited Jennifer’s parents, who still live in Kew Gardens, where she grew up. The dancer also performed at a benefit hosted by Once Upon A Time, Inc., the Richmond Hill ballet school where her career began.
“I feel that growing up in Queens kept me very grounded. There was no extravagance. We lived in a nice, very middle-class neighborhood, on the top floor of a three-family home, on a quiet street, with a lot of families,” Jennifer recalled. “I remember having lots of kids to play with (before I started ballet lessons). My dad was a lawyer, and then went into financial advising and investments, while my mom was a flight attendant for American Airlines.”
The young ballerina-to-be went to public school, and took public transportation everywhere.
“Because there were no ‘extras,’ I had to earn the things I wanted, or earn an allowance to buy them on my own. I learned to be self-sufficient and independent at a very young age. Growing up in Queens also gave me a slightly tough outer shell, almost like a protective coat of armor. I think that is a characteristic of a lot of New Yorkers, but most of us are really quite soft and sweet on the inside!”
Returning to her roots and her old ’hood brought back fond memories, and Jennifer said she was happy to see all her favorite Queens hang-outs still there, including Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, Dani’s House of Pizza in Kew Gardens, the Metro Soda Fountain on Metropolitan Boulevard, and the Midway Theater on Queens Boulevard.
The back story
Little Jen seemed destined to dance. As a tutu-clad tot, she would perform in her parents’ living room to the delight of family and friends. Her savvy mom noticed her daughter’s potential and whisked her off to a local ballet school when she turned 7. Once Upon A Time Inc., now located at 111th Street off Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, became Jennifer’s home away from home until she was 17, and owner Teresa Aubel, Jennifer’s main and most influential teacher, took her under her wing and helped shape her destiny.
In a recent interview, Aubel recalled her eager student’s hard work, ability to stay focused and motivated, and her wit and humor. She said she knew all along that one day, Jennifer would become a master artist.
“The training at OUAT was very focused, very serious, but also a lot of fun,” said Jennifer. “Although Teresa was a ‘no nonsense’ teacher, she always maintained a very warm and loving environment. She always told me that if I wanted to dance, I would, and to give the best of myself to everything I did, whether it was dancing or school, otherwise I was just wasting time.
“I remember her saying I’d have all the time in the world to rest when I was dead, and that I should never just ‘dabble’ in things. She made me believe and understand that it wasn’t enough to be a dancer, but that I should be an ‘artist,’ and she made sure her students were humble and considerate to one another.”
After attending the Montessori School in Forest Hills, young Jen went to PS 99 in Kew Gardens and then to Russell Sage JHS 190 in Forest Hills-Rego Park; she graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside.
At 17, she was accepted to the world-famous School of American Ballet in Manhattan, where her most influential teacher was Susan Pillare.
Her mentor
A year later, in 1994, she moved to Miami and started training with the city ballet’s esteemed (former) artistic director and founder Edward Villella (from Bayside, Queens) — a huge star with New York City Ballet back in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Jennifer said it was a dream come true, and couldn’t believe she had actually made it into a professional company.
“I was on a non-stop high for that entire first year.”
Villella became her mentor and took a marked interest in Jennifer’s dancing when she joined the company.
“Even though I was definitely not the strongest dancer in our group, he saw something special in me, and over the years he has added an entirely new dimension to my dancing,” Jennifer said. She became a principal dancer in 2001.
“I always felt strongly about absorbing [and] maintaining the invaluable information he was passing on to us — all of this firsthand knowledge he had gotten from masters like George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins — and I felt a strong connection to his ideas about musicality and movement. I still do.”
Both Miami City Ballet and Miami City Ballet School are acclaimed as one of the best dance companies and dance schools in the world.
“I will always be grateful for the wonderful career he helped me to build, and the greatest honor he could have given me was nominating me to be his successor, as director of MCB. Though I didn’t ultimately get the position, being in the running was an amazing learning experience, and I am so grateful for having had that opportunity.”
Pas de deux on and off the stage
Carlos and Jennifer met at Miami City Ballet. She was the first partner he was paired with when he joined the company, and the first ballet they danced together was “The Nutcracker,” in the roles of The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Since then, Jennifer says they have danced too many ballets together to count, but some of their favorites have been “Giselle,” John Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Jerome Robbins’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” George Balanchine’s “Diamonds” and “Who Cares?,” and Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs.”
But “Romeo and Juliet” probably tops the list.
“It’s the perfect balance of dancing and acting; so challenging and so rewarding at the same time. It was also a dream come true to dance it with my husband. That made it all the more romantic!”
Along came baby
“I had a fantastic pregnancy, very little sickness, and in general, felt great. But I was exhausted and had headaches during the first trimester,” says Eva’s mommy. “The second two trimesters were lovely. I performed (actually, danced the lead role in “Coppelia,” a three-act ballet) up until I was four-and-a-half months pregnant, and continued taking ballet class and exercising in the gym until a week before my due date. By then, I was just getting too big and uncomfortable.
“Eva was actually two weeks late, and I had to be induced. Despite my doctor’s patience and best efforts, she was not budging.” Jennifer said she had been having contractions for more than a week, and after the induction, the contractions got stronger but didn’t get any more productive. “It seems they were not pushing her down far enough to cause me to dilate, and after 22 hours of labor I had barely even dilated one centimeter. By hour 23 there were still no promising signs that Eva would come out on her own, so the doctor decided it was best to do a C-section. I just knew I didn’t want one; I wasn’t prepared at all for what it entailed. It certainly wasn’t the beautiful birth I had envisioned.
“I was frightened, sad, and felt like I had failed somehow, since I couldn’t have her naturally. I also feared I’d not be able to dance again; I couldn’t move for days. I couldn’t fathom dancing again.”
Eva was born at 11:45 pm on Nov. 12, 2012, weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces.
“She was extremely alert, and what a screamer!”
Freshly delivered, the new mom says she was overjoyed, but exhausted, and in a tremendous amount of pain.
“I was adamant about nursing her, but I was on so many pain killers that even that was a challenge — I couldn’t stay awake long enough to keep her latched. It was so frustrating. Carlos spent three days and nights in the hospital, helping to care for us. (They will not let the baby stay in the room alone with mom after a C-section, mainly because mom can’t move.) And I wanted to be with my baby, so I wouldn’t let him leave.”
A balancing act
The new mom’s recipe for keeping it all together?
“Patience, scheduling, and breathing. When I’m most exhausted, I try to remember how lucky I am to be able to have the baby I always wanted, and continue with the career of my dreams. That helps me go on every day.”
So, what has a typical day been like for the ballerina since Eva came along?
Jennifer said a typical rehearsal day started at 10 am and ended at 6:30 pm, with a one-hour lunch break. She said her schedule hasn’t changed so far, even now with the baby.
“I wasn’t working so many hours when I first started a few months ago, but now I’m in the full swing of things again. Eva used to come with us to the studio, but now that she’s more active and awake most of the day, she stays at home with either her nanny or with Carlos’s family. We will go home to see her if we’re lucky to have a break for longer than an hour, and occasionally, we’ll bring her to the company with us in the late afternoons, where one of the dancers will help keep an eye on her.”
The ballerina says she plans to continue touring; luckily, most of the tours are within Florida and not too far from home.
“Scheduling, though, is a must, as is giving 100 percent of myself to whatever I’m doing at the moment, whether it’s being a wife, mommy, or a ballerina. I don’t see those roles as responsibilities, but rather as complementary parts of myself that make up who I am. That way, it doesn’t seem so much like ‘juggling,’ but more like just ‘being.’ ”
So, what are Jennifer’s tips for new moms?
“Remember to breathe, and let things go. Give the best of yourself, but also know when to give yourself a break. Remember why you do what you do, and give yourself credit where and when credit is due. And, don’t be afraid or too proud to ask for help!”
And how does she unwind?
“There is nothing better than sitting on the sofa, watching a movie with Carlos, and sipping a glass of wine. We don’t often have time for that since the baby’s birth, but we still try to make it happen whenever we can.”
Jennifer Kronenberg’s 2011 book, “So, You Want To Be a Ballet Dancer?: Making It in the Rough and Tumble World of Professional Ballet” [Kindle Edition], is available on amazon.com.
