First-year Charlotte Ballet company dancer Clay Houston’s history with the organization goes all the way back to when he was 8 years old. Then a young student with a competitive-dance background, he joined the Boys Dance program at Charlotte Ballet Academy (CBA). This program and others in the lower school “help dancers get exposed to ballet at a young age who may not have had that modeled in their life,” says Kati Hanlon Mayo, associate director of the Academy’s upper school. “There’s a whole swath of students for whom it’s really important to pull them in and get them excited about ballet.”
The young Houston was not only excited, he was hooked. He describes his early experience at CBA as “having so much ambition and so much drive, knowing this was what I wanted to do.” From the Boys Dance program, he worked his way through the upper school, attending a number of the summer programs, and became a trainee in the pre-professional division. Houston joined Charlotte Ballet II for the 2023–24 season and the main company in 2025, as an emerging artist.
The Company Connection
CBA’s association with the main company nurtured Houston’s artistry from an early age. “ Watching the professionals and watching older dancers, the way they interact with each other and the way they interact with you—it was very formative,” he says. Upper-school students, and especially the pre-professional trainees, are given performance opportunities in company productions and make up the corps de ballets for every performance of The Nutcracker in the company’s run.
Pre-professional trainees regularly take technique classes with the company. Laszlo Berdo, associate director of the Academy’s pre-professional trainee division, says this gives students a chance to “ show what they can do without any kind of pressure of an audition.” Trainees also find inspiration from dancing with the company. “ What I love about this company and second company is that they are so hospitable to the younger kids,” Berdo says. “They take them under their wings and support them.”
Diverse Curriculum and Visiting Artists
Rooted in strong classical training, the pre-professional program’s curriculum offers classes in ballet, contemporary, repertory, pointe, pas de deux, men’s/women’s variations, and ensemble work. Students in the program also take supplemental classes in Pilates, floor barre, conditioning, and cross-training, as well as workshop studies in modern and jazz. “You can’t teach a dancer to just be classical—you can’t survive out there,” Berdo says. “So the diversity is very important.”
Visiting artists offer further exposure for upper-school students and pre-professional trainees. When stagers or choreographers set work on Charlotte Ballet, they are invited to teach master classes to Academy students. In 2025, Eric Beauchesne staged Crystal Pite’s Solo Echo for the company. Mayo says taking class from Beauchesne gave students “a taste of what it would be like to learn choreography from such a well-established and world-renowned choreographer.”
Opportunities like these cultivated Houston’s diversity and curiosity as an artist, but so did the time he spent in Charlotte Ballet Academy studios. He says he appreciated his year-round and summer intensive teachers’ “ attention to detail, the language they use, the coaching, the willingness to show up time and time again in a group full of people and give each person the same amount of respect and attention.”
Well-Rounded and Successful Students
The Academy’s approach to training well-rounded students has a proven track record. CBA students have gone on to successful careers at both Charlotte Ballet and beyond, including companies like New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Atlanta Ballet. Others have gone on to Harvard University, Indiana University, Duke University, and more.
For Berdo and Mayo, coaching students towards bright futures is a heartfelt mission, one that starts closer to home than the studio. “Both myself and Laszlo are parents,” Mayo says, “so I’m cognizant of the amount of work and effort that an entire family puts into a child’s development as a dancer.” While encouraging students and families to trust the process and each student’s personal timeline, CBA is there to provide support every step of the way.
Learn more about how Charlotte Ballet Academy can support your future, and register to audition for the summer intensive here.
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