Mackenzie DESSENS studinski

Soloist • Joined Colorado Ballet in 2015

Hometown: New Orleans, LA

Mackenzie began her training in New Orleans at Giacobbe Academy of Dance and privately with Kimberly Matulich Beck. She later moved on to further her training at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy and upon completion joined Cincinnati Ballet’s second company. In 2015, she joined Colorado Ballet as an Apprentice and was promoted to Corps de Ballet in 2017, Demi Soloist in 2021, and Soloist in 2026.

Her notable roles with the company include Lucy Westenra in Michael Pink’s Dracula, Jirí Kylián’s Sinfonietta and Petite Mort, Cupid and Flower Girl in Don Quixote, Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs and Brief Fling, Pink in Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, Tinkerbell in Michael Pink’s Peter Pan, Eaglet in Septime Webre’s Alice (in wonderland), Peaseblossom and Hermia in Christopher Wheeldon’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peasant Pas de Deux and Moyna in Giselle, Chramer in Fernand Nault’s Carmina Burana, Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, Pas de Trois and Four Cygnets in Swan Lake, Dawn in Coppelia, Little Russians in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Clara in The Nutcracker.