DONNA CARVER began formal dance training at age 7 in her hometown of Tampa, Florida. She danced with two civic ballet companies and went to New York City to continue her training. Donna performed professionally with the Florida Ballet Company and, training there with Jean Spear, she passed examinations of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, London, England – Cecchetti Method. In Nashville, Donna opened her studio, The Dance Center, and founded Tennessee Dance Theatre as its Artistic Director and resident choreographer before it became a famous modern dance company. Tennessee Dance Theatre presented productions and sponsored local choreographers in its annual Choreographer’s Showcases paving the way for other professional dance companies in the city including Nashville City Ballet, now known as Nashville Ballet.

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She served as the Secretary and Teacher Representative to the Board of Directors for Tennessee Association of Dance, judged talent and dance competitions, and taught in local dance studios including Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, and Nashville Ballet. Donna directed Circle Players’ musical productions of “Brigadoon”, “Camelot”, and “Hello, Dolly” presented at TPAC. She was the creator of The Ballet Book Student Workbooks, a series designed for a written study for ballet students used as textbooks around the country. Donna has been on the dance faculty at Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts since 2013. Currently she teaches at Sevier Park through Metro Parks Dance Division.