The Cartersville School of Ballet - Faculty

The instructors of The Cartersville School of Ballet, Ltd. are carefully selected on the basis of their academic as well as professional performance experience in the field of dance.

Artistic Director
Terri Kayser has been studying and performing classical ballet, modern, tap and jazz dance since the age of seven in both Atlanta and New York. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance from Georgia State University. Her performing credits include principal roles with the City Center Dance Theatre and the Carl Ratcliff Dance Theatre. She has appeared in “Damn Yankees” with Dick Van Dyke and “My Fair Lady” with Victoria Mallory, as well as the musicals “Brigadoon” and “Mame” at the Alliance Theatre. She has also worked with Red Clay and Et al. Dance of Atlanta. Her choreography has been seen on the stages of the Alliance Theatre, Theatre Gael, the Academy Theatre of Atlanta, the Gainsville Theatre, and the Grand Theatre of Cartersville. She serves as the director and resident choreographer for the Cartersville City Ballet. Mrs. Kayser has served as the chairman of the Dance Division of the Governor’s Honors Program at Valdosta State College. She has taught at Georgia State University, North Side School for the Performing Arts and at the Dekalb School for the Performing Arts. In 1992, she served as the Dance Consultant for the Art Start project for the Georgia Council for the Arts and the Department of Education. Mrs. Kayser co-authored a Quality Core Curriculum Guide in Dance for grades K-12 for the State of Georgia Department of Education as well as a Dance Resource Guide for grades six, seven, and eight. Mrs. Kayser serves as the dance educator for Woodland School of the Arts in Cartersville, Georgia.

Associate Artistic Director
Karen Grantham has been with the Cartersville School of Ballet, Ltd. as a teacher and choreographer for the past eight years. Karen was a member of the International Ballet Rotaru. As a dancer she toured Romania as well as danced at the Tbilisi Opera House in Soviet Georgia. She has been a guest performer with Atlanta Dance Unlimited, Kennesaw Dance Troupe and numerous companies in the South. Karen has also appeared as a dancer on TBS and CNN. Karen shares her expertise in ballet, jazz, and tap with the students of the Cartersville School of Ballet, Ltd. and the dancers of the Cartersville City Ballet.
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