Elizabeth Gaither

Elizabeth Gaither has had a 22-year career as a professional ballerina. She began her ballet studies with her mother, Gloria Gaither in Miami, receiving 3 years of high honors in the Royal Academy of Dance Examinations. She continued her training at the Houston Ballet Academy, joining Houston Ballet Company at the age of 15. After 5 seasons in Houston, Ms. Gaither joined the company at American Ballet Theatre for 9 seasons. During her time at ABT, she toured the world, danced on the Metropolitan House stage regularly, and performed many wonderful and special roles. She then was offered a Principal Dancer role with The Washington Ballet, where she danced for 8 seasons.

Elizabeth was a finalist in the Jackson International Ballet Competition in 1990 and placed fourth in the world in the junior division at age 16, and won the Amilita Hoffman Award.

She has been in the PBS American Ballet Theatre filmings of Le Corsaire and Sir Frederick Aston’s The Dream, as well as had a dancing role in the movie Center Stage. She has had TV segments about her career on CNN and Young Universe, was featured in Dance Magazine in a full spread in 2007 in an article called “Survive and Conquer,” and graced the cover of Pointe Magazine in 2008.

Another passion of Ms. Gaither’s is yoga. In 2007 she became a certified teacher in vinyasa yoga. She enjoys helping others improve their lives through the power of yoga, meditation, and movement.

Since her retirement from the stage in 2012, Elizabeth has been teaching and coaching students and professional dancers. She incorporates her knowledge from yoga training into her ballet training, helping dancers have a greater understanding of the mind and body connection. Ms. Gaither is also the Artistic Director of a joint creation with her husband, Theo Kossenas, called media4artists.