Where is your family from / What is your heritage?
My family is Hungarian, Irish and Native American.  My grandmother was raised in Fairport after her parents came from Hungary and my grandfather grew up in the Buckeye Woodland neighborhood of Cleveland which was predominantly Hungarian.  After they married, my mother and her brothers were raised in Fairport.  

If you could choose one ancestor to have dinner with who would it be?
My grandmother Margaret Lakatos.  She died when my mother was 4 years old- she was a T1 diabetic.    We have a picture of her in our house dressed in her Csardas (Hungarian folk) dress, both if my children love the picture of her.

Where do you feel most at home?
At home with my family.

Lisa Yanofsky is a freelance choreographer, director, performer and educator based in Cleveland, Ohio. She has choreographed and directed over 20 performances including musicals, devised theater, opera and concert dance. She has performed and choreographed across the Midwest and Northeast United States and in Italy, Austria, The Czech Republic and Germany. Lisa is an active teaching artist and currently serves as the Director of Education and Outreach at Cleveland Opera Theater and a Teaching Artist at the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning in Cleveland, Ohio. She recently completed her Ed.M. in Art in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she was chosen to be an Artist in Residence at Harvard's Project Zero. Lisa holds a B.A. in Art History and Dance from Oberlin College and a B.M. in Vocal Performance and Embodying Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

We don't have any legends or mysteries that I know of but we do tell the story of my family's escape from Russia and journey to the United States quite often. We also share the romance stories of the various couples in the family and those seem to become more fantastical and legendary as the years go by.


Describe a time that you did or did not want to leave home.

When I was seven my grandparents passed away and after a lot of agonizing my parents sold their house. Even though I was returning to my house, leaving my grandparents' home for the last time felt like leaving my own home. I've always thought about going back and knocking on the door to meet the people who call that house home now.

Where is your family from / What is your heritage?

My heritage is mainly Irish and Hungarian. My dad's side was half and half. The Irish ancestors came over sometime before the American Revolution and were blacksmiths. His mom's side was Hungarian and stowed away on a boat during the Bolshevik revolution. They were a Duke and Duchess and had to escape the country or be killed. My mom doesn't know a lot about her side. It's like a giant mish mosh of everyone. Turns out my grandma actually grew up in Fairport.  She graduated in 1944. 

Where do you feel most at home?

I feel most at home singing on a stage. 

Which do you think about the most and why -- past, present, or future?

Present- because it's a gift.