For 40 years, owning her own business has put Kathy Chamberlain in a coveted position—the opportunity to teach students of dance in a way that is both challenging and in line with her personal principles.

The Chamberlain School of Ballet, located near 15th Street and Independence Parkway in Plano, offers programs for students seeking a general dance education alongside another track for more serious students interested in a professional dance-related career.

Chamberlain’s most promising former students have gone on to perform on Broadway, in prominent dance companies and other top performance groups, she said.

However, maintaining a life balance for her students in the highly competitive world of dance is one of the primary purposes of her company, she said.

After graduating from high school, Chamberlain got a job teaching dance at the Dallas-area ballet school where she was once a student. There, she said, she was forced to confront an ethical dilemma. Some students were pressured, she said, to maintain unhealthy body weights. They were also discouraged from investing too much time on their academic pursuits, as if dance studies were, for these students, the only means to a future.

“At that moment is when I got really upset, and I thought this North Texas community needs an option for excellent training in a more healthy and nurturing environment,” Chamberlain said.

This was the impetus for founding Chamberlain School of Ballet, which she opened in a Dallas shopping center in 1977 before moving the business to Plano in 1984.

Through the ballet school and Chamberlain Performing Arts nonprofit, Chamberlain also organizes ballet productions and other shows for audiences of primarily disadvantaged groups—providing her own students with valuable performing experience, too.