Unity Phelan was born in Princeton, New Jersey and began her dance training at the age of five at the Princeton Ballet School, where her teachers included Douglas Martin, Maria Youskevitch, and Mary Barton. During the summers of 2008 and 2009, Ms. Phelan attended the summer sessions at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, and enrolled as a full-time student in fall of 2009. She became an apprentice with NYCB in December 2012 and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2013. In February 2017, Ms. Phelan was promoted to soloist and in 2021 was promoted to Principal Dancer. She has danced featured role in Balanchine’s Agon, Chaconne, The Nutcracker, Western Symphony; Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, The Four Seasons and Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia.