Voting is now open for Jezebel Magazine’s “Best of Atlanta 2017” issue! Please take a moment and vote for Atlanta Ballet Company dancer Kiara Felder as “Best Local Athlete” under the arts section at the end of the ballot. Voting closes February 24. Please share with your friends on social media too!

Kiara, who is in her third season with Atlanta Ballet, began her ballet training at age 6 in Cary, N.C. at Cary Ballet Conservatory. She spent summers training at Boston Ballet, Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she continued her training as a Professional Division student at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School on full scholarship. As a student, she performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet in the corps de ballet of George Balanchine’s Le Baiser de la Fée and Coppélia and in Kent Stowell’s Nutcracker. With Atlanta Ballet, she has enjoyed performing in Ohad Naharin's Secus and Minus 16, David Bintley's Carmina Burana, and Jean-Christophe Maillot's Roméo et Juliette.  She was named one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2015 and one of the “Best Bodies 2016” by Jezebel Magazine.