Rori Dawes is a native of the Lakes Region and first fell in love with the art of movement at the age of six when she started taking Highland dance classes. Two years later she switched to tap, jazz, and ballet at Cantin Dance Studio under George Cantin and Joan Frates. After moving to Greensboro, NC with her family, she chose to focus primarily on ballet, studying with Emily Adams–a former dancer with New York Repertory Ballet Company–at Ballet Arts Studio and with Patricia Tarter Moore of Frates Creative Arts Center upon returning to New Hampshire. She attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY where she studied ballet and various modern techniques under Leslie Norton, Elaine Heekin, and Bruce Walczyk and was invited to perform in multiple original choreographic works featured in semester showcases. Rori has since performed and taught with ARTSFEST Company in Laconia and has appeared on stage in Boston Ballet productions of Ivan Liska’s “Le Corsaire” and Sir Frederic Ashton’s “The Sleeping Beauty”. She has also choreographed for the Winni Players Community Theatre production of “Nunsense II”. Rori joined Ballet Misha in 2011; some of her favorite roles with the company have been Rosebud in “The Nutcracker,” Starling in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and the Swan Corps in “The Wild Swans.”