Kara Royall opened Etudes Ballet School at 33 North Main Street, Kilmarnock, in the summer of 2016, the same year that she received her bachelor of fine arts degree in dance from Radford University.

Kara Royall

A Mathews native, Royall has had to find the balance between work and family. “My husband is an R.N. who works nights, and we have two young children,” she said. “And because of when classes are going on, it means a lot of late nights for me. I have a few additional instructors now, but at the beginning I was teaching every class and putting an entire recital production together by myself, with a toddler in tow. It was a lot. This year I might even be able to schedule myself a day off!”

Royall learned a lot about running a studio from her time teaching for Debbie Diggs. “She has been a major influence on my life and continues to support and encourage me.

“I have also spent a little over a decade in the field of massage therapy and many LMTs go into independent contr...