Andrea Joyce Lankester

Andrea Lankester from Cincinnati, Ohio has performed with Ballet Fleming for the past season, under the direction of Christopher Fleming, as well as Lake Erie Ballet Company for two seasons under the direction of Alethea Bodine. Her classical ballet repertoire includes Snow Queen, Lead Marzipan, and Lead Spanish from The Nutcracker, variations from Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Swan Lake, Firebird Balanchine's Square Dance, and Gerald Arpino’s Viva Vivaldi. Andrea performed in Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker for five consecutive seasons, as well as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Sleeping Beauty, among others. She began her dance training at the Otto M. Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet under the instruction of Daniel R. Simmons and Nancy Fountain and continued private coaching with Jennifer Porteous and Meridith Benson. At age sixteen she attended the prestigious University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she graduated from their high school program. Andrea has attended summer programs at the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Orlando Ballet where she studied under renowned master teachers and choreographers such as Ethan Stiefel, Suzanne Farrell, Suki Shorer, Jock Soto, Lisa de Ribere, Carter Alexander and Edward Villella.  While attending Mercyhurst University as a dance and biology major she was invited to appear in New York City as a finalist with Youth America Grand Prix Competition and also as a member of the Nu Delta Alpha National Dance and Phi Eta Sigma Honors Societies. She aspires to a career in dance followed by graduate school and a career in medicine serving the dance field.