Betsie Schaeffer

Betsie Schaeffer began dancing with Northeastern Ballet Theatre in New Hampshire under Boston Ballet principal dancer Edra Toth. She attended Belhaven University in Jackson, MS where she received awards for outstanding artistic creativity, high scholastic achievements, and was inducted into the National Dance Honors Society. Schaeffer has attended the professional Bates Dance Festival, guested in local theaters, and performed for adjudicators at the National American College Dance Association Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. After graduating from Belhaven in 2018 with a BFA in Dance, Schaeffer danced professionally with Ballet Hartford in Connecticut and performed at the NYC Alvin Ailey Theater in works by artistic director Elizabeth McMillan and New York City Ballet dancer Silas Farley. She then joined Verb Ballets in 2019 and was asked to participate in “Feast,” a dance documentary which received the Gold Award for Best Dance Documentary in the Virgin Spring Cinefest. Schaeffer is currently a teaching artist with Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio and has also taught and choreographed many works in dance schools around the northeast. It gives her great joy to inspire others and provide students with the opportunity to find their passion and joy through dance as she has.