Staff

Karena Brock Carlyle, HHDS Artistic Director, was named Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theatre in 1973, sharing roles with such stars a Natalia Makarova, Cynthia Gregory and Carla Fracci, while being partnered with male stars such as Rudolf Nureyev, Ivan Nagy, Fernando Bujones, Ted Kivitt, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has danced throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, and has performed at the White House for two Presidents. She has taught Master Classes at ballet schools from coast to coast, and she is ABT certified from the primary level through level 7. Born in California, Karena, at the age of 14, joined San Francisco’s Ballet Celeste; immediately after high school, she became a soloist with the National Ballet of the Netherlands, returning to the states to join ABT. She and her husband, John Carlyle, are the founders of the Hilton Head Dance School.

 

John Carlyle, was born in Swindon, England, but began his training in Atlanta at City Center Dance Theatre under the direction of Robert Archard. In New York City, he studied with Robert Scevers on full scholarship at the Harkness School of Ballet,. While in NY, John studied with some of the finest ballet instructors in the world, including Melissa Hayden, Robert Denvers, David Howard, Edward Villella, and with Bill Carter at The School of the American Ballet Theatre. He has danced professionally with City Center Dance Theater, The Tampa Ballet and the Savannah Ballet; roles include Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rudy in Le Basier de la Fee. John has been a guest artist with the Columbia City Ballet and the Lexington Ballet. He is certified in the Vaganova teaching method. John and Karena have a 21 year old son, Timothy.

 

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