Born into a family steeped in dance and music tradition, Lew Christensen grew up in Brigham City, Utah, where his grandfather had established dance education in the Mormon settlement after emigrating from Denmark. That heritage shaped a career that would make Christensen one of the most consequential figures in American ballet history.
His professional life began in vaudeville, touring with his brothers in the 1920s on circuits that brought them to New York’s Palace Theater and Hippodrome, where they shared bills with Jack Benny and W.C. Fields. A Broadway stint in 1934 led him to George Balanchine’s newly founded School of American Ballet, where Balanchine quickly cast him in landmark roles — including the title role in Apollon Musagète in 1937, the first time an American dancer had performed it.
As a choreographer, Christensen broke significant ground with Filling Station (1939), the first ballet by an American choreographer, company, and creative team built entirely around an American subject. He followed it with the dramatic Jinx (1942), set to music by Benjamin Britten, and dozens of works that entered the repertoires of major companies worldwide.
In 1951, Christensen became Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, a position he held for more than three decades. He built the company’s international profile through State Department tours, landmark television broadcasts, and a repertoire of more than 110 original works. Shortly before his death, he helped secure Helgi Tomasson as his successor — a final act of stewardship for a company he had devoted his life to building.