Kaitlyn Potts
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR / BALLET DIRECTOR
Ballet, Pointe, Masterclass Series
(Strength & Flexibility), Ballet Ensemble
Kaitlyn Potts, originally from Virginia, began her training in ballet, lyrical, contemporary, jazz, and tap, and later went on to train at the Maryland Youth Ballet. In her time dancing competitively, Kaitlyn was regularly awarded high scores and titles in both regional and national competitions, and awarded such honors as the “Future Star Award" two consecutive years at the Dance USA Performing Arts Championships. She was named an American Ballet Theatre National Training Scholar under full scholarship for the years 2006-2008, and also attended summer intensives at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Texas Ballet Theater, and Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet. Additionally, she was awarded summer scholarships to Interlochen School of the Arts, The Washington Ballet, Joffrey New York, Nevada Ballet Theater, Joffrey New York, and Houston Ballet, and full year scholarships to the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Ballet Austin, and Le Jeune Ballet du Quebec. In 2005, Kaitlyn won the Junior Grand Prix for the Youth America Grand Prix Semi-Finals in South Carolina, and was named as part of the top twelve in the New York City Finals that same year. In 2007, she won 1st place in both the Senior Classical and Senior Contemporary categories at the Youth America Grand Prix Semi-Finals in South Carolina, and was named a Finalist in the New York City Finals. She received a special invitation to perform at the XXII International Ballet Festival in Miami in 2007, and won 1st place at the American Ballet Competition in Miami in 2008.
Upon graduating from high school, Kaitlyn began her professional career with Texas Ballet Theater under the direction of Ben Stevenson from 2008-2011, and joined Utah Metropolitan Ballet under the direction of Jacqueline Colledge as a Soloist in 2011, getting promoted to Principal Dancer in 2013 and performing with the company through 2018. Kaitlyn has enjoyed performing the title roles in many ballets such as the world premiere of Jacqueline Colledge's "Snow White," "Romeo and Juliet,” “Cinderella,” "The Sleeping Beauty," “La Coquette,” Wendy in "Peter Pan," the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker,” Clara in Ben Stevenson's "The Nutcracker," and "The Man I Love Girl" in George Balanchine's "Who Cares?" Kaitlyn has guest performed throughout the United States, and in 2017, she was invited to be a guest artist with Young!Tanzsommer where she performed throughout Austria.
Kaitlyn has taught at Performing Dance Center in Salt Lake City since 2011 where she is the assistant director and ballet program director. Kaitlyn has taught and choreographed throughout the United States. Some of her experience includes teaching at Utah Valley University as a lecturer, guest teaching at the Shenyang Conservatory in China, and choreographing Brigham Young University and Utah Metropolitan Ballet. Kaitlyn is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She is a Certified FLX Conditioning Specialist and certified in Progressing Ballet Technique. Kaitlyn graduated from Harvard University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Business Administration & Management, a minor in Psychology, and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management.