Laura has been performing, teaching, choreographing, staging and rehearsing major works for over 42 years. She began her career dancing principal roles for Chicago Ballet, Garden State Ballet, Boston Repertory Ballet and spent seven years with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle where she performed as a soloist with Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has toured as a guest artist throughout the United States and Asia. From 1992-2010, Berman served as Ballet Mistress, Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director of the Grand Rapids Ballet Company. At that time, she conducted a major capital campaign to renovate the North Star Bus Terminal into the Grand Rapids Ballet Company’s current LEED certified Peter Martin Wege Theatre. She was also Director of the School at the Grand Rapids Ballet Company, establishing its curriculum, syllabus, faculty and performances while placing students in ballet companies around the world. Currently, Berman is a free-lance artist who choreographs original works, stages full-length classical ballets and is an instructor and private coach. She has a master’s degree in Theatre from Northwestern University where she graduated with honors.