About The Founder

Kathy Chamberlain

Kathy Chamberlain began her training at age five at the Winifred-Bryan School of Dance where she was introduced to ballet. After realizing her dream of becoming a professional, she focused on classical ballet and made the switch to Etgen-Akinson School of Ballet. At age eleven, Kathy was accepted as an apprentice to the Dallas Metropolitan Ballet, where she was noticed by talent scout, Violette Verdy of New York City Ballet.

Through the School of American Ballet (SAB) and the New York City Ballet (NYCB), Kathy became a Ford Foundation Scholar at age twelve. After suffering a career ending knee injury, Kathy was given the idea to turn her passion to teaching. Her focus has been to teach young dancers whose dreams were based, like hers, on a love for the art and beauty of ballet. Just shy of her twenty-first birthday, she had her teaching philosophy, ethics, and style in mind and thus began the Chamberlain School of Ballet at Keystone Park in 1977. Starting with 127 students, the school blossomed enough to expand to a second location north of Richardson, and a branch was opened in Plano in 1984.

Desiring to be able to give students a stepping stone into a professional career, Kathy established The Chamberlain Ballet Company, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to presenting world class dance and educate through outreach programs in May of 1984. In 1986, Kathy consolidated the schools into one location in Plano, which remains the current site.

After focusing on classical ballet for much of her teaching career, Kathy began reflecting on past students and their talents and realized many of her students excelled in other dance genres other than classical ballet. She then started a highly anticipated jazz and tap program, which expanded into modern, composition, and musical theatre classes. In 2004-2005, The Chamberlain Musical Theatre Company had a smashing debut season with acclaim from area critics. Having created a program that produces well-rounded performers, she is proud of the diverse training Chamberlain Performing Arts has to offer its company members.