Nicolina Lawson founded Ballet North Texas in November 2017 for the purpose of bringing continually expanding productions of contemporary, neo-classical, and classical concert dance to the Dallas, Texas area through its own professional ballet company. Included in her vision of a Dallas based professional ballet company was a personal belief in the importance of training the next generation to cultivate and grow the professional company. And so, by unanimous board vote, North Texas Conservatory was founded as the official training division that would continue to fulfill the growth and vision of Ballet North Texas. The structure and development are strongly influenced by Mrs. Lawson’s history of growing up in a studio that focused on the training of dancers for professional careers and her professional career that followed.

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​Ms. Lawson’s initial training was grounded in the method of the Royal Academy of Dance at Redding City Ballet under the direction of Jacqueline Lawrence and Cindy Michaels. Over the years she trained in Vaganova, Cecchetti, and the Balanchine style, as well as the modern syllabi of Graham, Horton, and Limón. She trained and attended summer programs at Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet, State Street Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Redding City Ballet, José Limón Dance Foundation, Pacific North West Ballet and Teatro della Danza.

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Throughout Mrs. Lawson’s long performance career, she has acquired a vast repertory that includes various principal roles such as; Sugar Plum Fairy of The Nutcracker, Fairy of the Dawn in Appalachian Spring, Flower Seller in Gaite Parisienne, Autumn in Cinderella,  Lilac Fairy and Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, and Dying Swan in Carnival of the Animals, Les Sylphide, Swan Lake, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coppélia, Scheherazade, Snow White, Romeo and Juliet,  Balanchine’s Who Care’s? and Donizetti Variations.  Her contemporary and modern dance credits include; Alonzo King’s Gurdjieff Piano Music, Reoccurrence, and Stealing Light, Mark Morris’ Dido and Aeneas, Alaska Dance Theatre’s premiere of Yup'ik (Swan Lake) under the direction of Gillmer Duran,  Redding City Ballet’s Red Violin and Scolput, and Momentum Dance Collective’s Over, Beyond, Across, Through directed by Becky Kendell, a project that afforded her the opportunity to train with Project Bandaloop in vertical and aerial dancing.

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Nicolina Lawson’s teaching career began while dancing in Italy where she taught ballet classes at the US Military base in Aviano. In Alaska she guest taught for Alaska Dance Theater and did dance outreach for the Anchorage ISD with Momentum Dance Collective. In 2013 she joined Wichita Falls Ballet Theater as Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Assistant under the direction of Mishic Marie and Valentine Liberator. Currently as Executive and Artistic Director she has developed a syllabus that will set precedent and a standard of excellence in Ballet North Texas and its school, North Texas Conservatory.

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As Artistic Director of Ballet North Texas’, Mrs. Lawson has extended her choreographic credits to include The Nutcracker, Coppélia, The Red Violin, and Cinderella.  Her previous choreographic credits include ballets set on other ballet companies such as; La Valse, Syncopations, Sarabande, The Road, Todo Cambia, Illuminations, Escape, The Mountain, and Traveler.

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In addition to Mrs. Lawson’s dance training, she holds two Bachelor of Science Degrees: one in Business Economics and one in Marketing from the University of Maryland. She is also the owner and designer of Nicolina Dancewear & Design which builds and constructs costumes for Ballet North Texas productions.