Gay Porter has been directing the Charlotte Youth Ballet for 43 years. Prior to that, she directed the Charlotte Regional Ballet from 1974-1980. Gay founded the ballet department at Central Piedmont Community College where she taught for thirteen years. She now teaches at the Charlotte School of Ballet, which she owns.

Gay was trained at the Arts Educational School in London, England. Her first professional job was at Stratford-on-Avon in a musical version of Wind in the Willows. As a member of the British Equity, she danced professionally for seven years, touring the British Isles for nine months at age sixteen, and dancing in London’s West End in the original productions of The King and I and Kismet. She danced in Spain with Festival Ballet and the Ballet de M.Grandjear, and toured Germany for four months.

Gay also danced in film and television, and swam and danced in the Esther Williams Spectacular in London. After coming to the United States, Gay danced with the Southern California Ballet. She then moved to Charlotte where, for six seasons, she danced as a resident member of the Charlotte Summer Theater, performing in a different musical every week, all summer at Ovens Auditorium.

As a director, Gay has worked with Central Piedmont Community College and the Charlottetown Players. Her credits include The Hollow Crown, The Glass Menagerie, I’ Enfant Prodigue, and Trial by Jury.

As a choreographer, Gay’s credits include many Charlotte Opera productions, the Lollipop Concerts with the Charlotte Symphony, and over thirty ballets for the Youth and Regional Ballets, including The Nutcracker.

In May 1994, Gay received the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts Teacher of the Year award. She continues to teach ballet at The Charlotte School of Ballet