Liza Barskaya received her early dance training in Los Angeles and spent summers training with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet and Ballet Austin where she danced for two seasons as a Professional Division Trainee. Upon completing her traineeship, Liza spent two years in NYC where she danced with Dances Patrelle, American Swiss Ballet and worked at Ballet Academy East. In 2015, Liza was among a select few chosen to create a performance piece for Upper Manhattan’s Inaugural Higher Ground Festival where she directed and choreographed an adaptation of Khalil Gibran’s “The Prophet”. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Liza danced with LA Choreographers and Dancers and Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company. In addition she has performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet Austin and The Assembly. Liza was featured in John Tesh’s “Alive: Music and Dance” concert special and has danced in additional media work with Red Hot Organization, Darling Media and in “My Big Fat Blonde Musical”. Liza’s choreographic work includes the musical “I Love You Because”, presented by the Red Brick Road Theatre Company and Endeavor Theatre Ensemble along with music videos for Emelia Austin, “Zeinapur” and “Surf Curse”. In 2017, Liza assisted the Artisic Director of the Mesopotamian Opera Company, Peter Wing Healey, in the creation of his original opera about Benjamin Franklin. Liza is currently the resident stage director and choreographer of Independent Opera Company. She has staged many rarely performed operas including “Mozart and Salieri” and “Kaschey the Immortal” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Puss in Boots” by Cui, “The Medium” by Menotti, “Orfeo ed Euridice” by Gluck and “The Cossack Beyond the Danube” by Hulak-Artemovsky. For IOC, Liza has choreographed “Eugene Onegin” and “Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky, “The Tsar’s Bride” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Bartered Bride” by Smetana, “Goyescas” by Granados, “Pigmalion” by Rameau, “Aleko” by Rachmaninoff and a recent dance film, “Visions Fugitives”, featuring the music of Sergei Prokofiev under the same title. Liza teaches at Anna Cheselka Dance Center and is incredibly excited to be joining the faculty of Pasadena Dance Theatre!