Liza Barskaya is a Los Angeles-based stage director, choreographer, and dancer. She trained in Southern California and attended summer programs with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, and Ballet Austin before joining Ballet Austin’s Professional Division as a trainee in 2010. She later spent several years living and performing in New York City before returning to Los Angeles.

 

As a performer, she has worked with companies including Benita Bike’s DanceArt, American Swiss Ballet, Dances Patrelle, and Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers. Her background in dance strongly informs her work in opera and theater, shaping movement, storytelling, and visual rhythm on stage.

 

Barskaya has been involved with Independent Opera Company since 2015 and currently serves as its Resident Stage Director and Choreographer. Her directing and choreography credits with the company include The Love for Three Oranges, Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Anna Bolena, and other productions spanning the company’s recent seasons.

 

Most recently, she made her Off-Broadway directorial debut as choreographer and co-director of Gunfight at the Not-So-OK Saloon with Brooke deRosa and Trial Run Productions in New York City. She previously collaborated with Trial Run Productions on Alice in Wonderland as choreographer and co-director.