Flack was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Fran Forman, an Artist, and Robert Flack. Her mother was Jewish and her father was a gentile. Flack began her dance training at age 7 at the Boston Ballet School. She continued further ballet studies with Jacqueline Cronsberg, and spent summers dancing with the Chautauqua Festival Dancers and training with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. At age 14, Flack was awarded a full scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of the New York City Ballet. While at SAB, she performed in the school’s lecture demonstrations with Suki Schorer and Jock Soto.