 She started her formal training in classical ballet at the age of seven when she received private lessons in Hollywood from Alla Khaniashvili, a former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.Later, she began to study with New York City Ballet dancers Colleen and Patricia Neary in California.During this time she enrolled at the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica where she studied with the former New York City Ballet principal Yvonne Mousey and learned the Balanchine technique.