Camilla Curran is a Vaganova-trained ballet dancer and teacher who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. Camilla began studying ballet with her mother, Nora Curran, at the age of 7, and by the time she graduated from the Allegro Ballet Academy, she had completed all eight levels of the Vaganova syllabus.
Camilla has participated in numerous intensives and received private coaching from some of Russian ballet’s best dancers. Her performing repertoire includes all “Nutcracker” pas de deux, the White Swan pas de deux from “Swan Lake” Act I and various solos from “Don Quixote,” “Coppelia,” and “Swan Lake.” She has performed for Roudnev Dance Company, Performance Art Network and the Allegro Youth Ballet, and currently enjoys dancing leading roles with the Tennessee Ballet Theater, which specializes in bringing Memphis’ rich history to life through dance. Indeed, it was this Memphis-based dance company that finally gave Camilla the chance to fulfill her goal of dancing professionally—a dream that, for many years, she feared might never come to fruition.
In addition to her work at the Tennessee Ballet Theater, Camilla has been teaching ballet for the past four years at the Children’s Ballet Theater. She also models for the Amax Talent Agency, is a certified image consultant and serves as co-chairman of the Mayor’s Young Professionals Council’s Arts & Culture Committee. In terms of philanthropy, Camilla has volunteered at local fundraisers and has long been associated with the International Children’s Heart Foundation.
Camilla has had to overcome many battles on this journey of dance, including bipolar disorder and brachial plexus palsy of the left arm and shoulder. In surmounting these obstacles, Camilla has not only committed herself to an art form she loves, but a lucrative career as well. Today, she says proudly that her art is responsible for her development “as a person, not just as an artist.”
The opportunities that Camilla found in Memphis—not to mention the encouragement she has been given to pursue her dreams—are as unique as Memphis itself. She is grateful to call the Bluff City home.
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