Performing Artist

Elizabeth Parkinson has had an extensive performance career beginning as a trainee with The Joffrey Ballet at age 17. The Joffrey Company became her home for over ten years where she performed the works of Paul Taylor, William Forsythe, Mark Morris, Sir Fredrick Ashton, Jiri Kylian, John Cranko, Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino and others.

Needing a challenge, Elizabeth joined the Feld Ballets NY and grew tremendously under the direction of Eliot Feld. The experience of working with a single creative source inspired her and she went on to work as a freelance artist with Mark Dendy, John Caraffa, and Igal Perry. In 1995 Elizabeth joined Donald Byrd the Group. Donald Byrd remains a mentor and profound influence on Elizabeth as an actor/dancer. Her experience with him propelled her onto the Broadway Stage.

Elizabeth's Broadway and national tour credits include Movin' Out (Original Broadway Cast, Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer on Broadway), Fosse (Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Featured Actress, FANY Award for Best Broadway Debut),the national tour of the Lincoln Center production of Carousel, and Singin' In The Rain (St. Louis MUNY, girl in the green dress). In 2014 Elizabeth appeared opposite Bernadette Peters in the City Center/ Lincoln Center Jazz production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Bed and A Chair, directed by John Doyle.

In between her runs in Fosse and Movin Out, Elizabeth danced with the renown choreographer Twyla Tharp. She has appeared in the films Every Little Step, John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes, and Stay. Elizabeth has had the honor of studying in depth Fosse repertory and style with Gwen Verdon and Ann Reinking, and currently teaches for the Verdon Fosse Legacy.

Most recently Elizabeth was awarded the Kennedy Center College Musical Theatre Festival Award for best choreography for the WCSU production of Parade in 2015 and the WCSU production of The Drowsy Chaperone in 2016.