Kate Lieberth Lytton

KATE LIEBERTH LYTTON

The world lost an accomplished young teacher of classical and modern ballet on Easter Sunday morning, and young women lost a ballet instructor, friend and a mentor in the lessons of life.

Born Kathryn Moffatt Lieberth, Kate Lytton died two weeks shy of her 38th birthday following a year-long battle with breast cancer, a fight that she waged until the very last hour with her unyielding wit and incomparable stoicism.

She is survived by her husband, Alec Lytton, a fellow dancer and teacher of dance at the University of Akron; by her daughters, Genevieve, 3, and Paige, 2; by her parents, Lynne and Dave Lieberth; by her sister, Emma Lieberth and brother in law, Nathaniel Osborn; her mother in law, Joy Lord of Houston; and uncle, Joseph Lieberth of Barberton.

Kate started dancing at the age of three after seeing a Summer Festival performance of Ohio Ballet in Forest Lodge Park. She began her study at the University of Akron Dance Institute under Gina Carroll. She received her pre-professional training under Nan Klinger and performed for 8 seasons with the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet. She danced in the 1992 International Children's Festival in Taiwan. After graduating with honors from Our Lady of the Elms, Kate continued her education at the University of Utah where she was a member of Utah Ballet and a trainee with Ballet West. Feeling that she was "getting old," she left college to become an apprentice at Richmond (Virginia) Ballet. She performed for the next 12 years with Ballet Memphis, Oakland (California) Ballet, and Company C Contemporary Ballet in the Bay area.

She benefitted greatly from her summer study at the School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, the Chautauqua Institution, Boston Ballet, Ballet Met, and Ballet Austin (Texas).

She furthered her education in anatomy and kinesiology through multiple dance and fitness certification programs. In 2011, Kate became the Dance Program Manager at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA. She grew the employee dance program from a few social dance classes a week to a comprehensive dance training program across multiple disciplines, eventually overseeing programming at 50 Google offices globally, and supervising 200 dance instructors worldwide.

Kate returned to Akron in 2014 to raise a family with Alec, and joined the faculties of the University of Akron Dance Institute, the Excellence in Dance studio in Cuyahoga Falls, and the 8- count dance studio in Green. She was the administrator for Ballet Excel Ohio's Reach Out and Dance program that gave many students in the Akron Public Schools their first exposure to dance. She was especially attentive to students with disabilities. Many adults took Kate's barre classes and loved the intensity and fun she brought to every session.

The family is grateful to the nurses in the ICU of Akron General Hospital, who allowed Kate to live her last 72 hours with grace and without suffering.

Interment services at Glendale Cemetery are private. The family will return to Kate's favorite place in Akron - the stage of the Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main Street - for a Celebration of Life program, Saturday, April 7 at 11:00 a.m. The family will receive guests an hour prior to the ceremony and immediately following the program. Floral tributes are welcome. Please contact the funeral director for delivery instructions.

The family will receive great comfort by knowing that Kate's love of inspiring young dance students will continue. The Kate Lieberth Lytton Fund for Dance Education has been established at the Akron Community Foundation, 245 W. Cedar Street, and will be used to award scholarships for summer study to aspiring young dancers from Summit County for years to come. Donations may be made online at www.akroncf.org/give/LieberthLyttonFund.