Lisa Slagle Nicholson received her early ballet training from respected ballet teachers in Dallas, Los Angeles, and  Houston.  In 1967 she was featured as a solo dancer in the Elvis Presley film, “Clambake.”  As a soloist and principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet from 1974 – 1979 she performed solo roles in ballets by Gerald Arpino, Flemming Flindt, Sir Frederick Ashton, Agnes de Mille and others.  In the early 1980’s she was a soloist with the Ballet du Grande Theatre de Geneve in Switzerland, and a frequent guest artist for regional companies throughout the Southwest.  From 1986 – 1989 she was a principal dancer with Tulsa Ballet Theatre under the direction of Roman Jasinski and Moscelyn Larkin.  Since her retirement from the stage in 1990,  Ms. Nicholson has been teaching in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.  She has been a master teacher at the Burklyn Ballet Theatre in Vermont and will be a master teacher at the Joffrey San Antonio Workshop in 2004.  She was interviewed for her positive and constructive teaching methods for the March, 2004, Dance Teacher Magazine.  She  and her husband Thomas opened their school, the Ballet Academy of Texas, in 1999 in Coppell, and became founding directors of the Ballet Ensemble of Texas in 2001.