Claire Mazza
A native New Yorker, Claire began her dance training at the School of American Ballet where she was chosen by Madam Dudin to study at the age of nine. While being immersed in the Balanchine style, she studied privately with Francois Perron in order to focus on the classical French technique and attended Studio Maestro (currently Manhattan Youth Ballet) under his and Deborah Wingert’s direction. Claire also received scholarships to attend prestigious summer programs at the Boston Ballet School and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. As a child, Claire had the unique opportunity to perform with New York City Ballet in their productions of "The Nutcracker," "Firebird," "Coppelia," and "Mozartiana." Upon graduating and after having performed with the Manhattan Youth Ballet Studio Company, Claire launched her professional career and has danced with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal, Brooklyn Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Richmond Ballet, Morales Dance, Staten Island Ballet, St. Peter’s Dance Company, Dances Patrelle, Cello Pointe, and was a soloist with Connecticut Ballet for many years. Claire is currently a soloist with New York City- based company Ballets With a Twist and Kathryn Posin Dance Company. Her repertoire spans classical to contemporary works, and she recently had the pleasure of performing as a principal in Balanchine’s "Who Care’s?" and starred as Titania in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." She has also been seen dancing in television productions such as Kings, Royal Pains, and Elementary. In addition to her thriving dance career, Claire has been featured as a model in Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Italian magazine “Donna,” Kike Calvo’s National Geographic table book “World of Dances,” and in Joe McNally’s Nikon print advertisement. Claire has been teaching dance to students ages three to eighteen for the past ten years, and is currently on faculty at New England Academy of Dance (NEAD) in addition to training students privately.
In 2019, Claire co-founded East Coast Contemporary Ballet.