Lea Ved

Lea Elizabeth Ved (born April 9, 1991) is an American contemporary dancer and choreographer. She was a second soloist contemporary dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet, dancing with the company from 2016 until 2018. Ved currently dances with Nederlands Dans Theater.

Early life, training, and education Ved was born on April 9, 1991, in Anaheim, California, to Jiten and Elizabeth Ved. She began dancing when she was three years old, studying at the San Francisco Ballet's school. Ved, who is of Indian and Filipino descent, grew up also performing Indian classical dance and traditional Filipino dance. In 2006 she attended the summer training program at Boston Ballet. While an undergraduate student at Juilliard, Ved was a member of the Juilliard Dance Ensemble, performing in Aiken, South Carolina, and was chosen to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. In 2010 she worked as a part of Juilliard's Performing Educational Programs for Schools. DanakaDance, Jill Johnson, and Sidra Bell at the Springboard Montreal and the Movement Invention Project. At Juilliard she also performed works by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, and Alexander Ekman. In 2012 she was one of seven recipients of the Dizzy Feet Scholarship Award. In 2015 she was a nominee for choreography at the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative. She left RUBBERBANDance Group in July 2016 to join the Royal Swedish Ballet as a contemporary dancer. She danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet until June 2018, having reached the rank of second soloist in 2017. While at the ballet, she also worked as a choreographer for Gothenburg opera’s dance company. She was also chosen as a selected choreographer of the Royal Swedish Ballet's National Collaboration in 2018. She also danced in Alexander Ekman's Midsommarnattsdröm, Sharon Eyal's Bill and Half Life, and Wim Vandekeybus's PUUR. In August 2018 she joined Nederlands Dans Theater. As a dancer at Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ved has led workshops teaching the company's repertoire.

Ved has also continued to work with Victor Quijada, teaching the RUBBERBANDdance method and assistant directing and staging the company's repertoire at Springboard Danse Montreal, USC Kaufman School of Dance, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Domaine Forget. She has also hosted creative workshops at The Playground NYC and No)One Art House in Los Angeles. Ved has choreographed with L-E-V Company, Hofesh Shechter, and Crystal Pite.