Bess Ramey
Bess Ramey began her ballet career at the age of 3, attending Kingsport Ballet’s Angelina Ballerina camp. She is now a 17-year-old homeschool senior who plans to pursue a career in dance. In January, she auditioned for a spot in the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts and received a full scholarship for the three-week program held at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. While there, she attended classes in classical ballet, jazz and contemporary dance.
Bess has danced at Kingsport Ballet and attended their yearly summer intensives, studying pas de deux, contemporary, character and acting classes in addition to ballet and pointe.
Kingsport Ballet is a classical ballet school focusing on the Vaganova Method of ballet. She started learning pointe at the age of 10 under the direction of Valeria Sinyavskaya. Moving up in the ranks to Senior Company, she trains under the direction of Leonid Flegmatov, the artistic director of Kingsport Ballet. Flegmatov joined Kingsport Ballet in 2019 and has worked with Bess, helping her with her technique and nurturing her into a true performer.
Bess made the decision to audition for GSFTA to push herself out of her comfort zone.
GSFTA teachers focused on artistry and helped her develop her style as a dancer. Although ballet is her first love; she enjoys training in character and contemporary dance. GSFTA teachers challenged her and encouraged her to be the best dancer she could be and taught her some very important mindsets that will be with her for the rest of her life.
She looks forward to Kingsport Ballet’s upcoming production of “The Nutcracker,” which takes place at the Ballad Health Performing Arts Center/Northeast State, Dec. 12-15. She takes on some of her favorite roles, including Arabian, as well as new roles for this year’s performance.
In the future, Bess plans to attend Northeast State Community College, majoring in art and English. She also plans to continue her training at Kingsport Ballet during her time at Northeast State with the goal of auditioning to other ballet companies upon graduation.
