Dara Schlesinger is a native of Dayton, Ohio, and a third-generation dancer. She began her dance training at age three at South Dayton School of Dance, studying under her mother, Gigi Gardner, her aunt, Gina Walther, and Elizabeth Karns, formerly of American Ballet Theatre.

At age seven, Dara was invited to perform with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company for a charity arts benefit hosted by Oprah Winfrey. She later joined South Dayton Dance Theatre, a pre-professional company and member of Regional Dance America Northeast.

Dara received numerous scholarships and awards and trained with Cincinnati Ballet, Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, National Choreography Intensive, Point Park University, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Boston Ballet. She earned her B.F.A. in Dance with honors from Point Park University in 2021.

Professionally, Dara has danced with Missouri Contemporary Ballet under Karen Mareck Grundy, working with choreographers Kristopher Estes-Brown, Shannon Lee West, Autumn Eckman, Noelle Kayser, Joshua Blake Carter, Joshua Peugh, Colby Damon, Stephanie Martines, Sean Aaron Carmon, Helen Hatch, Fernando Rodrigues, and Kameron N. Saunders. She has also danced with Dayton Ballet, performing in Giselle, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty, and has guest performed with Charleston Ballet.