Kayla Rowser
Originally from Conyers, Ga., Kayla Rowser trained with Georgia Youth Ballet at the Magdalena Maury School of Classical Ballet in Fayetteville, Ga., under the direction of Magdalena Maury, Jonsie Pollock, and Magda Aunon.
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After graduating high school, Rowser joined Charleston Ballet Theatre for a season before joining Nashville Ballet's second company, NB2, in 2007. In her two years as a trainee, she performed with the main company in several series before being promoted to an apprentice.
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After being promoted to company member in 2010, Rowser performed as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella in Paul Vasterling's Cinderella and Juliet in Vasterling’s Romeo and Juliet. Other notable roles in Vasterling's works include the Sugar Plum Fairy and Snow Queen in Nashville's Nutcracker, Fortuna in Carmina Burana, and Layla in Layla and the Majnun. Rowser was also featured in Christopher Bruce's Sergeant Early's Dream, as the Russian Girl in Balanchine's Serenade, and she danced the title role in Vasterling's Firebird. In 2018, Rowser performed as the third movement principal in Balanchine's Western Symphony in addition to dancing in JiÅ™í Kylián’s Sechs Tanze and Petite Mort, and as a principal in Christopher Wheeldon's Ghosts. Other contemporary works include pieces by Christopher Stuart, Jennifer Archibald, Gina Patterson, Matthew Neenan, and Salvatore Aiello among others.
Rowser has been named one of Dance Magazine's "Top 25 to Watch”' and has been featured in The New York Times, Pointe Magazine, The Washington Post, and Huffington Post. She has performed in the Kansas City Dance Festival, Spoleto Dance Festival, Spring to Dance in St. Louis, and with Nashville Ballet at the Kennedy Center. She has taught across the U.S including accepting an invitation to teach master classes at Yale University. Rowser was also awarded the Individual Artist Fellowship by the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2015 for her artistic achievements, and she was honored as one of the Nashville Business 100 Leading African Americans in 2018. Since retiring after a 14-year performance career in 2020, Rowser continues to accept speaking engagements and enjoys teaching and mentoring students. She also completed her undergraduate degree in communications from The University of Arkansas.
