Faculty
Meet our team of qualified instructors
Kara Royall
director
Kara began her dance training on the Middle Peninsula in 1987. From 1995-2003 she performed as a member of the Bayside Youth Ballet, a student performing company, based in Gloucester. Kara studied at East Carolina University as well as Radford University, and holds a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from Radford University. Performing credits include a soloist role in Bayside Youth Ballet's Paquita, Marzipan in Radford University Ballet Theatre's The Nutcracker, and Zaneeta Shinn in Court House Players' The Music Man. Kara has fifteen years' experience in dance instruction in the local area, and has choreographed for local dance organizations and community theater productions. She opened Etudes Ballet School in 2016.
I grew up dancing in a small-town studio. It was a converted service station with no bathroom, a kerosene heater, and two support columns in the middle of the dance space. Not much to look at, but I loved it there. It was my happy place, my safe place, the place where I could let go of everything else that might be causing me stress and just focus on dancing to feed my soul. That little studio behind the public library in Mathews is no more, but it lives on in my heart along with the lessons I learned there: Point your feet, reach for the stars, and never forget where you come from.
Tiffany Harding
tap, hip hop
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Tiffany found her love for dance at the age of 5 when she danced as a toy solider in her first ballet recital and from that point was hooked! She was classically trained in ballet, jazz and tap through high school! Her favorite form of dance and one she advanced in quickly was tap. Tiffany continued her passion and love for dance in college where she performed at local events with a dance company. She was also on the Christopher Newport University Cheerleading team. After graduating college Tiffany coached a competition cheer team in Newport News and then moved to the Northern Neck and was given the opportunity to teach tap and hip hop classes at the Kilmarnock Dance Studio. Tiffany is also an elementary school teacher.
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Kristen Blackwell
dance fitness, preschool dance
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Kristen started taking ballet and tap when she was 5. She continued training and performing both lyrical and improvisational pieces throughout college. Recently Kristen discovered her passion of fitness and has become a personal trainer and group exercise instructor. In 2017 Kristen competed in the Northern Neck Dancing with the Stars competition, where she self taught and led her dance partner to win first place and crowd favorite. We are very excited to share her passion of dance and fitness here with you at our studio!
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Casey Amiss
ballet
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Casey grew up in Southern New Jersey. She started dance and acrobatic lessons at the age of three. She has trained in the ballet styles of Vaganova, RAD, and Balanchine, and in the modern dance styles of Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and Lester Horton. She earned a scholarship to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she graduated with honors earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance Performance in 2002. After graduation, Casey danced professionally in the Philadelphia area. She has performed with the Legends in Concert in Atlantic City and with the recording artists The Trampps, as well as various roles in The Nutcracker and Dracula. She is also a special education teacher. Casey moved to Virginia with her family in 2015.
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