Lydia Acker was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. She trained and performed with International Ballet, under the direction of Vlada Kysselova, for fourteen years. As a pre-professional student, she attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet and on scholarship with Chautauqua Institution, Cincinnati Ballet, and BalletMet.

In May 2022, Lydia graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Honors College with a B.A. in Dance Performance & Choreography and a minor in English. As a part of the UofSC Dance Company, Lydia was honored to perform in multiple George Balanchine works, including Serenade as the Russian Soloist, Western Symphony, Raymonda Variations, and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. She also performed as the Lilac Soloist in Jerome Robbins’s Antique Epigraphs, in Antony Tudor’s Fandango, as the Mazurka Principal in Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides, and in excerpts from José Limón’s A Choreographic Offering.

Lydia joined Ballet Idaho for the 2022-2023 season as an Apprentice and was promoted to Company Artist for the following season. She has performed in company productions including George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Christopher Stowell’s Eyes on You, Joseph Hernandez’s I lost my love, Anne Mueller and Garrett Anderson’s Congruence, and Ricardo Amarante’s Carmen. Lydia also was honored to perform notable roles including Cygnets and Pas de Trois from Anne Mueller and Garrett Anderson’s Swan Lake and The Dewdrop Fairy from Peter Anastos’s The Nutcracker.

This is Lydia’s third season with Ballet Idaho.