Artistic Director
Molly Koon Quist

Having grown up as a solosit for the Oak Ridge Civic Ballet, Mrs. Quist has served as ORCBA's Artistic Director for more than 20 seasons. She studied under many talented teachers and directors, including Anna Marie Holmes, David Holmes, Suzanne Skeel, Steve McBride, Leslie Swazee, Cristian Addams, Jill Hollingsworth, Bruce Alan Ewing, Bill Martin-Viscount, and Southwest Ballet Center. Mrs. Quist holds a B.A. from the University of South Alabama (where she attended on scholarship), and a M.S. from the University of Tennessee. She was a dancer on the University of South Alabama Dance Team. Mrs. Quist is the owner and director of The Dance Centre of Oak Ridge. Her dancers have received many awards over the years in both regional and national competitions. Mrs. Quist resides in Knoxville with her husband, Knoxville attorney Brian Quist, and their three children (Katrina, Andy, and Alex). 

Assistant Artistic Director 
​Katrina Quist Rouse

Katrina was born and raised in her mother's dance studio in Knoxville, TN. As her love for dance started at the age of 3 years old, she has experienced much in her dance career. She is a long time member of the Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Company, where she still dances as a soloist. She began teaching dance when she was in high school, at the same time she was a member of the Farragut Varsity Dance Team. Her 11th year in school, her team placed 6th in the nation in jazz at the UDA National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, FL. She was Knoxville's Junior Miss 2008 and went on to win the physical fitness and talent categories at the Tennessee Junior Miss Pageant. She has practiced as a registered nurse since 2012. She graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2018 with her MSN, and is now a board certified family nurse practitioner. She is married to her husband, Preston, and they have a hound dog named Bailey. Katrina still has time to teach the advanced and elite dance groups at the Dance Centre of Oak Ridge, and direct alongside her mother for ORCBA. 

Rehearsal Mistress/Choreographer
Courtney Lynne Wills

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After studying Classical Ballet at Point Park University's Conservatory of Performing Arts, Courtney has returned to Knoxville to teach and perform.  She began dancing with ORCBA in 2007 performing lead roles in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Into the Woods & Firebird and is now First Principal.  As a member of GO! Contemporary Dance Works she‘s performed lead roles in The Barbarosa, Persephone, Alice, Unsung Heroes: The Women of World War II, Runaway, among others. She’s trained under Lisa Hall McKee, Laura Shields, Denise Njuguna, Keisha Lalama, Svetlana Novodran, Girard Holt, Peter LeBreton Merz, Cynthia Ridler, Parker Esse, Christopher Mohnani, Greg & Laurie Merriman, among others; & attended various dance intensives, including TN Governor's School for the Arts.  As a classically trained soprano & an advocate for the arts in her community, she’s performed with the Oak Ridge Playhouse in Hairspray, The Music Man, & 1776.  Courtney received her BS in Marketing from the University of Tennessee in May, 2021, and currently teaches ballet at The Dance Centre of Oak Ridge and A Dancer's Place in Knoxville; is the Media Director for ACE (Alliance for Creative Excellence); and the social marketing manager and head pointe shoe fitter at Tutu's A Dancers Boutique.