Jenny Reynolds

  Success, like beauty, lies in the eyes of the beholder.  For some, it means great wealth while others define it as how much power they wield.  Still others define success by the size of their address book rather than their bank account.
    But success, by any measure, can also be defined by a person's legacy-the mark he or she leaves on the people which they make contact or the impact they have had on people's lives.  By that measure, Sherri Davis, owner and creative director of the Georgia Academy of Dance in Peachtree City, has been hugely successful.   Her legacy will surely be the number of students who have gone on to careers in dance or the arts.  It is a legacy, however, that continues to grow.  

      This year, three of her students are attending or will be attending, prestigious fellowships  with  nationally acclaimed professional dance companies.  Katie Rourke, 17, of Peachtree City, will be one of 35 students, selected nationwide, attending Kaatspaan International Dance Center in Tivoli, New York.  The center was founded by a group that includes Martine Van Hamel and Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre In New York. Rourke, a junior at Starr's Mill High School, is among the top five percent of her class, takes Advanced Placement Science and performs on the school dance team.

    One of the resident mothers at Georgia Academy of Dance, office manager Brenda Reynolds, has two reasons to be grinning ear to ear this year.  Her daughter Jennifer, 18, was accepted to dance with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City, while her son Josh who is a year younger, has been awarded full scholarships to the advanced studies programs of the Miami City Ballet, School of American Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre of New York.  Josh has chosen to attend the School of American Ballet in New York this summer.  Each position could potentially lead to an apprenticeship and eventually a full-time position with the dance companies.  
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 Josh Reynolds 
 Photo by Keiko Guest