Elizabeth Mochizuki

Beth is a biracial Asian American with Japanese and Danish/German/English/Irish lineage.  Raised in Clovis, California, she studied ballet in nearby Fresno with Diane Mosier, a veteran of New England Civic Ballet (E. Virginia Williams’s company that would later become Boston Ballet.) After completing high school, Beth received an apprentice contract with Festival Ballet of Rhode Island (now Ballet RI) and danced there while attending Tufts University. 

Following a year of commuting via buses and trains from Medford, MA to Providence, RI, Beth left Ballet RI to focus on her studies.  She performed in Ballet Theatre of Boston’s (later Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre) Nutcracker and shows on campus while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies with a focus on Performance and Representation.  She graduated in 2003, receiving highest thesis honors for her paper The Asian American Experience in Ballet.

Beth freelanced in the New England area for the next five years, performing such roles as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker, Taglioni in Pas de Quatre, and the Sylvia pas de deux.  She moved with her then-boyfriend, now-husband to Ithaca, NY in 2008 where she performed with local company Ithaca Ballet.  Her roles with Ithaca Ballet included: Giselle, Raymonda, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. In 2010 they moved back to Boston and the following year she was offered a company contract with State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, CA.  While at State Street, she performed classical and contemporary works by Rodney Gustafson, William Soleau, and Josie Walsh.

Beth returned to Festival in 2012 and danced there for the remainder of her performing career, retiring in 2019.  Her classical repertoire included: Flower Festival pas de deux, Le Corsaire pas de deux, Chopiniana pas de deux, Fairy of the Crystal Fountain/White Cat/Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, Princess Elena in Firebird, Pas de Trois from Swan Lake, and Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker.  She danced in Balanchine’s Agon (First Pas de Trois,) Christopher Wheeldon’s The American and 5 Movements 3 Repeats (“This Bitter Earth” pas de deux), Yury Yanowsky’s Reverso, and Yon Tande’s Rite of Spring in which she originated the role of the Elder.  She also performed in works by choreographers such as: Mary Ellen Beaudreau, George Birkadze, Louisa Chapman, Mark Diamond, Misha Djuric, Boyko Dossov, Kurt Douglas, Mark Harootian, Spencer Gavin Hering, Ilya Kostradayev, Jordan Morris, Victor Plotnikov, Vilia Putrius, and Tom Vacanti.

Concurrent to her career as a dancer, Beth has taught ballet in New York, California, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts including at Tony Williams Dance Center where she is currently the Ballet Division Coordinator.  She was the Ballet Master and later the Assistant Director of the Urban Nutcracker from 2013-2021.  She launched the Asian American Ballet Project in 2022.  She lives with her husband and their son in Easton, MA.