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Discover Fauquier
May 2026
16
The variety of businesses run by knowledgeable
and dedicated entrepreneurs adds so much value
to our community. While patrons are greeted with
cheerful smiles and benefit from the expertise of
these business owners and their trained staff,
each business addresses various obstacles with
creative solutions and determination. This is the
first installment in a series of articles that explore
the hidden challenges our our area businesses
can sometimes face. As
Warrenton Ballet
Center (WBC) enters its fourth year mentoring
emerging local dancers, owner Ariana Myers
reflects on her formative years as a dancer and
her entrepreneurial journey.
Ariana has had a
lifelong passion for
d a n c e w h i c h
began as a child in
Winchester. Her
parents recognized
her natural ability,
and her joy and
commitment to the
art of dance. While
in high school,
Ariana underwent
a r i g o r o u s
selection process
and was accepted
into an exclusive
ballet boarding school in Washington, DC. The
school focused on the Vaganova ballet method, a
world-renowned classical method of ballet that was
codified in the early- to mid-1900s. Vaganova is
rooted in movement, scientific observations, and
anatomy to create stronger, more graceful
performers that execute beautiful and technically
precise movements. Ariana learned how to work
with her body's unique range of motion and push
its limits. Unfortunately, her years of performing
on bad flooring in her formative years contributed
to a career-ending injury.
Rather than give up on years of sacrifice and
intense training, Ariana chose to pivot. She lobbied
her dance school to become a certified Vaganova
instructor. She began a unique learning experience
at the age of 18 in a method of dance so exclusive
that its curriculum--which includes anatomy and
music theory--is passed from mentor to student.
She began her professional teaching career at 19
years old.
Acknowledging the tremendous sacrifices her
family made for her training, Ariana became
dedicated to making exclusive Vaganova dance
instruction accessible to a wider community. She
taught in Michigan and Texas, following
opportunities wherever they led. Once she married
and resettled in Virginia, her husband was offered
a job in Dulles, not far from Ariana's hometown of
Winchester. The pair researched desirable locales
to live, settling on Warrenton so that Ariana could
realize her dream of opening her own studio--
Fauquier, Rappahannock, and Culpeper counties
didn't have Vaganova studios. They saved diligently
while Ariana completed her accounting degree in
2021 to ensure a debt-free start.
Ariana enlisted the help of a commercial broker
who believed in her vision and introduced her to a
contractor who appreciated her commitment to the
safety of her dancers. Through lived experience,
Ariana knows that good floors reduce injury and
bad floors increase them. Her contractor
researched and consulted with Ariana to design a
spring floor that incorporates construction grade
foam, plywood, and patterned reinforcements, and
then is topped with Marley dance flooring so that it
is not slippery for students who dance on pointe.
Flooring was so important to her that it was her
most significant initial expense, consuming 50% of
her budget.
The expenses are greatest at the launch of any
new business, and Ariana was new to the area with
no established following. She opened her doors in
2022 with two students. By her second year she
was able to host two in-studio performances with
costumes made by parent volunteers. By her third
year, WBC's Nutcracker
was performed in the
auditorium of Liberty
H i g h S c h o o l w i t h
purchased costumes.
In 2025, the ballet
s c h o o l ' s h o l i d a y
N u t c r a c k e r w a s
p e r f o r m e d i n t h e
auditorium of Fauquier
High School. This
June, WBC will perform their original children's
ballet adaptation of The Enchanted Dollhouse
which is appropriate for children of all ages. Tickets
will be available for purchase on the WBC website
(
warrentonballetcenter.com) in May. The ballet
school has always held annual ballet exams, but
its older students now participate in world-
r e n o w n e d
competitions and
intensives, and
Ariana is able to
bring in guest
instructors for
a d d i t i o n a l
s u m m e r
intensives. The
s c h o o l h a s
g r o w n f r o m
A r iana's sole
instruction to
employing four
additional instructors who carefully train students
following the WBC curriculum and culture.
As an independent business owner, Ariana
reinvests the majority of her revenue, often making
herself the last in line for payment. Her strategic
approach involves purchasing costumes for future
dancers to ensure consistency in fabric, style, and
detail, rather than just covering immediate needs.
With expenses like costumes, props, venue rentals,
and quality instructors, recouping the cost of a
single show can take up to 10 years. Like many
small business owners, Ariana has not always
gotten regular paychecks in her first four years of
business due to reinvestment in her dance school.
Her husband's outside employment has made this
sacrifice more manageable, but she recognizes the
strain other businesses experience when both
spouses/partners rely on their business for income.
Ariana deeply appreciates the people who have
encouraged her growth and believed in her on her
journey. She encourages others to look for ways to
grow, learn, and keep trying when they experience
setbacks. After 12 years of perseverance in her
own physical recovery, Ariana is now fully healed
from the injury that forever changed her trajectory.
Empowerment is a core principle of Warrenton
Ballet Center--a value that has been honed
through authentic experiences. To learn more,
call
(540) 200-8212.
Warrenton Ballet Center Exemplifies
Flexibility, Planning, and Perseverance
Ariana Myers
~ Katie Quadrini