Lydia Clarkson

Lydia was born in Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union. She began dancing at the age of 4, and began to study professionally at the Kazakhstan Academy of Choreography at the age of nine. There she studied the Russian Vaganova method from 1983 to 1991 under coaches from St Petersburg and Moscow. In 1991, she graduated from the Academy with honors and immediately joined the Aukhanov Kazakh State Ballet Theater, formally the State Ballet of Classical Dance Roles in Kazakhstan. There she danced leading classical roles in the company in Swan Lake, Giselle, Paquita, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and more. She also starred as Edith Piaf in the ballet "Edith Piaf" choreographed especially for her, by Bulat Aukhanov, a former student of the Ballet Academy of St Petersburg Russia and the founder and artistic director of the company. She also toured China for six months, where she performed classical and character dances. In 1999, she joined the Moscow Ballet company of Moscow Russia, and worked with such famous masters of ballet as Gediminas Taranda (Bolshoi Theater) and Valery Lantratov. There she performed as a soloist in many classical repertoires. Also in 1999 she toured with the company in Italy and Turkey.In 2000, she came to the U.S. to perform and teach in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. Following this, she began teaching for Michelle Furlong, artistic director of the Dalton Ballet School in Massachusetts where she teaches all levels of classes including pointe and character. She has choreographed dances for several performances including The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Cinderella. She has also choreographed solo and danced "The Dying Swan", "Carmen" by Bizet, "Esmeralda Variation" by Pugni, "Tribute to Edith Piaf" by Edith Piaf, and several dances from "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky.