Ann Vorus, Founder

Ann Vorus, former soloist with Atlanta Ballet, moved to Raleigh in 1980 with her husband Jackson Parkhurst who was hired by the North Carolina Symphony.

In 1981 Ms. Vorus founded The Raleigh School of Ballet (RSB) and in 1984 realizing the need for students to have performance training she founded Raleigh Dance Theatre. Trained at, and later a faculty member of, the Atlanta School of Ballet (now The Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education), Ms. Vorus worked with Dorothy Alexander, Robert Barnett, and Merrilee Smith. Additionally she studied at the American Ballet Theatre School and the Joffrey Ballet as well as with many guest teachers at ASB. It was with forethought and planning that Ms. Vorus patterned The Raleigh School of Ballet after The Atlanta School of Ballet with its strong commitment to the professional training of dancers and very early introduced the use of a strong syllabus for the orderly training of the students.

Since every ballet company everywhere seemed to present The Nutcracker for the holiday season, Ms. Vorus chose instead the Grimm’s fairytale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. After rewriting the story to fit the available dancers, in 1991 she choreographed The Dancing Princess for Raleigh Dance Theatre. The ballet, presented annually for ten years, became a popular Triangle family holiday tradition.

In 2003 Ms. Vorus received the North Carolina School of the Arts Distinguished Teacher of the year award and, also that year, retired and passed the School to long-time faculty members Susan Galdy and Mary LeGere.

Ms. Vorus and her husband now live on a mountain-side very close to Brevard, North Carolina. As a juried member of Number 7 Arts Cooperative, a program of the Arts Council in Brevard, Ms. Vorus creates, shows, and sells art quilts. She also occasionally treats herself to a visit to Raleigh where she teaches and enjoys being with her “ballet buddies” . . . one of the highlights of retirement!