RDA/Southeast

is one of five Regional Associations of RDA composed of pre-professional non-profit dance companies, troupes, ensembles, and guilds in the Southeastern United States. RDA/Southeast was the first Regional Association for dance established in the US in 1956. Today, we continue to promote excellence in instruction, choreography, performance, and production while fostering a broad reaching network of dancers, choreographers, directors, vendors, recruiters, and scholarship donors.

RDA/Southeast includes the areas of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the territory of Puerto Rico.

History of Regional Dance America / Southeast

In the summer of 1955, Dorothy Alexander, founder and Artistic Director of the Atlanta Civic Ballet (now Atlanta Ballet), was lunching with Anatole Chujoy, the eminent Dance Critic, Editor, and Publisher of Dance News. Chujoy had recently attended a festival of regional dance in Canada and suggested to Alexander that something similar could and should take place in the United States. Alexander returned to Atlanta and started contacting her southeastern colleagues.

On April 14-15, 1956, the first Regional Festival in the United States took place at the Tower Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Participating companies included Southern Ballet, Birmingham Civic Ballet, Tampa Civic Ballet, Ballet Guild of Greater Miami, Charlotte Ballet, Ogilvie Concert Ballet of Jacksonville, and of course, the Atlanta Civic Ballet. P.W. Manchester of Dance News served as the first adjudicator. Excitement was so high that the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association, known today as Regional Dance America/Southeast, was formed — the first Regional Dance association of its kind.

Many of the world’s greatest directors, choreographers and teachers have participated in RDA/Southeast Festivals: George Balanchine, Robert Barnett, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Day, Gus Giordano, Robert Joffrey, and many others.

The success of the first Regional Festival and Ms. Dorothy’s vision inspired others throughout the country and eventually led to the establishment of four other regional associations. In 1973, the National Association for Regional Ballet (NARB) was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in New York, joining together the efforts of the five Regional Dance organizations across the country. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded NARB its first major grant, and a New York office was opened with Doris Hering as the first executive director. The regional dance movement gained impetus and became one of the liveliest of all grassroots, cultural activities! After NARB closed its doors, the 1988 establishment of Regional Dance America provided a national grid within which the Southeast and the other regional associations continued to evolve and advance pre-professional dance.

Every year, RDA/Southeast gathers at Festival to celebrate its history, while looking through the lens of Dorothy’s vision to the future of dance in America. In 2024, RDA celebrated its fifth ever National Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida attended by over 2,200 dancers, directors, dance educators, guardians, and dance enthusiasts.

RDA/Southeast
Regional Board of Directors

President: Kylie Morton Berry
Vice President: Jennifer Beasley
Secretary: Lauren Lorentz de Haas
Treasurer: Jackie Berry
Parliamentarian: Amy Morton Vaughn
RDA Coordinator: Ashleigh Whitworth
RDA Representative: Tracy Solomon
Membership Chair: Shelley Grames
Adjudication Chair: Jennifer Beasley
Scholarship Chair: Denna Smith
College Recruiter Chair: Jennifer Beasley
Vendor Coordinator: Christine Welker
Past President: Robert Gosnell