Erika Lambe
Ms. Lambe studied ballet at the Boston Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem school.
As a student at Boston Ballet, Ms. Lambe appeared in many Boston Ballet Company, performances, including The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty. She was also one of the students often chosen to perform with the Boston Opera Company when they needed young dancers. She danced in Falstaff and Zaida and appeared in Don Carlos. She was featured in a story about the life of a young dancer, when she was 15.
She began her professional ballet career at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and had the opportunity to perform in several ballets including “Creole Giselle,” The Fall River Legend, Dougla,Banda, Firebird, Les Biches, Les Noces, Holberg Suite,Voluntaries… She also danced in several Balanchine Ballets, including Allegro Brillante, Concerto Barocco, Bugaku, Serenade, Stars and Stripes, The Four Temperaments, Rubies… Her first principal role at Dance Theatre of Harlem, was in Holberg Suite when she was just 19.
Ms.Lambe went on to dance with Miami City Ballet, where she danced in many Balanchine Ballets including: Allegro Brillante, Square Dance, Concerto Barocco, The Four Temperaments, Rubies, Emerald, Diamonds, The Nutcracker, Scotch Symphony, Bugaku, Serenade, Valse Fantasies, Raymonda Variations and more. She also danced in several ”non” Balanchine ballets including Swan Lake, Movanissimanoble, Flower Festival at Genzano, to name a few. Her solo opportunities included roles in The Nutcracker, Diamonds, Valse Fantasies, Raymonda Variations, Flower Festival at Gonzalo, Swan Lake, and more.
From Miami, Ms. Lambe was home in Boston, visiting family, when she was offered a position to join Boston Ballet Company.
She danced in ballets such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Rodeo*( with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops), Cinderella, Vii for Viii , Celts, Company B, In the Upper Room, Water Baby Bagatelles’, Abdallah, Les Corsaire, LaBayadere, The Nutcracker, Four Hands, L Fille Mal Garde, Bachianas Brasilleras, American In Paris, Lady of the Camellias, Taming of the Shrew, Glazunov Classique, Ginastera, Firebird, Cleopatra, Dracula Don Quixote, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Carmen, Paquita and more.
Her Balanchine repertoire at Boston Ballet includes: Allegro Brilliante, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.3,
Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Divertimento 15, Rubies, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Ballo De la Regina, Monument and Movements, and more.
As well as several ballets by Mark Morris, Lyla York…
She had solo roles in; Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Abdallah, Ginastera, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, In the Upper Room, Rubies, The Four Temperaments, Romeo and Juliet, Arabian and Spanish Divertissement in the Nutcracker and in 2021, she was Boston Ballet’s first Black Sugar Plum Fairy …
Ms. Lambe was featured in a PBS special called, “I’LL MAKE ME A WORLD,” which chronicled the lives of African Americans in dance.
After retiring from the stage, Ms. Lambe went to teach ballet. She has taught in such schools as Boston Ballet School, Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, Boston Arts Academy, Charles River Ballet Academy, and Acton School of Ballet. She has choreographed pieces in every school in which she has taught.
She makes jewelry as a hobby and has made most of the new headpieces for the Urban Nutcracker.
Ms.Lambe returned to the stage in 2017, to perform the role of the Mother in Tony Williams’ “The Urban Nutcracker.” She is currently teaching at the Tony Williams Dance Center, and the Conservatory at the Northeast School of Ballet.
She is the Principal Ballet instructor for Boston City Youth Ballet and the Children’s Repertoire Director, for City Ballet of Boston.
She was recently invited as a guest teacher at Charlotte Ballet, where she was very well received.