Kara Haley (ADTA, ADA)

Certified Competition Adjudicator: Acro Dance; Jazz; Lyrical; Contemporary; Ballet; Pointe; Tap; Cabaret; Musical Theatre

Testing Day Evaluator: Junior; Intermediate; Advanced

Certified ADTA Teacher: Junior; Intermediate; Advanced

At the young age of three, Kara put on her first pair of dance shoes and instantly fell in love with the art. By age seven, she found herself competing in both dance and gymnastics: a perfect combination which allowed her to become very versatile at a young age. Throughout her dance career she has received many scholarships and awards. Her most memorable ones are the Junior scholarship winner at COdance (Paula Abdul convention), High Score Senior Soloist two years in a row at Centre Stage Dance Competition and her final year as a competitive dancer receiving an Adjudicators’ Choice Award, called the Gold Cup, that’s presented to a young teacher who has shown great promise as an independent choreographer.

In 2004, Kara was accepted to the Dance Performance Preparation Program, in Toronto, under the instruction of the Ballet Jorgen at George Brown College. Here she danced five to seven hours per day studying the disciplines of: ballet, pointe, modern, lyrical and jazz as well as taking acting and vocal classes. She was also chosen to be a part of the Performing Ensemble for her dance program. This group danced for promising high schools that offered Dance as a course in southern Ontario to help promote the various dance programs that George Brown College had to offer.

Upon her return to Thunder Bay in 2005, she continued to dance but this is where she began her successful dance teaching career. Her areas of expertise, and preference, are in acrobatics, jazz and lyrical; however, she has many years of experience teaching ballet, pointe, tap, contemporary and cabaret/musical theatre. She has choreographed many group numbers, solos, duets and trios that have won a variety of choreography, specialty and overall high score awards as competitive dancers are her focus. In 2013 Kara moved to Calgary and began teaching for The Alberta Dance Academy. In addition to this, she continued to make trips back home to do guest choreography for Legacy Performing Arts Studio creating advanced competitive numbers.

Outside of the dance world, Kara is a certified Teacher in Alberta, Ontario and the United Kingdom. For ten years she taught only English Language Arts but the fall of 2019 subjected her to a new journey as, in addition to teaching English classes, she began teaching Dance at Lord Beaverbrook high school. She is also a certified cheerleading coach in Ontario where she spent five years coaching competitive cheerleading teams at both the provincial and national levels.

Currently she has completed all levels of certification (Junior, Intermediate and Advanced) in Acrobatics with the Acro Dance Teachers Association and is thrilled to announce her most recent certification as ADTA Adjudicator. After fifteen years of teaching, Kara still has the same passion about educating, and fostering, the growth of young individuals through dance.