The History of Firebird Dance Studio

In 1991, Firebird Dance School — known then as the Lysaya Dance School — was born. Founded by world-renowned teacher and choreographer Roza Lysaya after immigrating to the US from the USSR, Firebird began as a small class of 6 students, focusing on traditional folk dances from around the world. 16 years later, we now have well over 100 participants ranging from the age of 18 months in our youngest group to the adults in our performing dance theater, Firebird Dance Theatre. Under the direction of Lotta Burton since 1999, Firebird has continued to expand and win over larger and larger audiences locally, nationally, and around the world. Our repertoire of dances and classes has broadened into a unique fusion of modern, folk, lyrical, ballet, and ballroom dance.

In June 2006, as part of our 15th Anniversary celebration, Firebird Dance School and Theatre premiered their unique reinvention of the classic story, Alice in Wonderland, followed by a tour to Montreal, Canada, with a performance at the prestigious Place Des Artes. And most recently, in 2007, they debuted their newest show, Quintessence throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007, with more shows to come in upcoming months.

Lysaya Dance Ensemble has had a history of traveling and performing, including trips to the international Children’s Center ARTEK in Ukraine, where we participated in dance festivals and won two years in a row; following that, the ensemble participated in the 2000 International Freindship Festival, in Knesset, Israeli Parliament. Lysaya Dance Ensemble has also performed on Las Vegas’ famous Fremont Street, as well as on board the Cruiseship Elation. Our dancers have also performed on the best stages in San Francisco, such as the Russian Cultural Center, The Palace of Fine Arts, The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, City Hall, Union Square, and Herbst Theater.

Among their other audiences worldwide, Firebird Dance Theatre and students of Firebird Dance School have performed for San Francisco Mayors Willy Brown and Gavin Newsom, the Society of Artistic Heritage of Quebec, and the Israeli Parliament. In 2004, they received the “Outstanding Performance” honor from the Society of Artistic Heritage of Quebec and in 2006 were invited back to perform in the Quebec Folklore Dance Festival in Montreal’s Place Des Arts Theater.
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