Mari Mori
Director of CVB
Mari Mori began her ballet training at the Yasuko Miyashita Ballet School in Kyoto, Japan. She studied with Hideo Fukagawa and subsequently joined his ballet company. She furthered her studies with Madam Nora Kiss (Paris, France), Jean Clould Ruiz (Strasburg, France), Finis Jhung (New York City), and Zvi Gotheiner (New York City). Mari has been a member of the American Repertory Dance Theatre and the Covenant Ballet Theatre in New York. She has also appeared as a guest artist with numerous ballet schools and companies in California, New York, and Japan. After moving to the East Coast, she taught at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Wake Forest University, and the North Carolina Dance Festival.
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Mari moved to Lynchburg, VA, in 2009 to teach ballet at Sweet Briar College and the Virginia School of the Arts (VSA). Upon the closure of VSA, she founded the Central Virginia Ballet in 2011 to continue to provide instruction to her Lynchburg-area students. She is also working with Charlottesville Ballet’s professional company and serves as an Artistic Associate since 2014.
At just four years old, Blythe set her aspirations on becoming a professional ballerina. Her early training took her through highly respected ballet institutions, including New Jersey Ballet School,
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and the renowned summer intensive at the School of American Ballet. From 8th through 11th grade, she immersed herself in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s pre‑professional program, dancing more than 25 hours each week. At 14 years old, God opened doors that allowed Blythe to perform alongside Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s professional company in productions such as The Nutcracker, Ballet Imperial, Giselle, Aurora’s Wedding, and The Four Temperaments.
At 16, she earned a rare honor—being selected by Patricia Wilde to perform a solo variation and the Raymonda pas de deux for the Balanchine Archives documentary project. After graduating high school a year early, she auditioned for PBT’s company and soon found herself
dancing professionally in works like Who Cares?, Western Symphony, Romeo and Juliet, Jewels, Don Quixote, and Symphony in C.
Today, with more than two decades of teaching experience and a degree in elementary education, Blythe has shaped dancers in a wide range of settings—including nine years at the
prestigious Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, NC. Her passion remains constant: to provide exceptional training and guide young dancers in developing their gifts with excellence.
Blythe Roycroft
Ballet teacher
Brianna Merritt
CVB Dance Teacher
Brianna Merritt began her ballet training at the age of three in Oklahoma. She has attended multiple intensives in New York with the American Academy of Ballet, Giordano in Chicago, and the Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma. Brianna has performed in roles as Clara, Snow Queen, Arabian Princess, and the Flower Fairy, as well as corps de ballet pieces from The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Certified in the Nan Giordano Technique, Brianna currently teaches at Central Virginia Ballet and Amherst Dance Academy.
Lillian Merrit
CVB Dance Teacher
At the age of two, Lillian Merritt began taking dance classes and after moving to Virginia in 2015, she continued her traditional ballet training under the expert leadership of Mari Mori at Central Virginia Ballet. Lillian has attended multiple intensives with Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma, as well as with the American Academy of Ballet and Giordano. She has performed multiple productions of the Nutcracker as well as performing the Gamzatti Variation from La Bayadere, Jewels from Sleeping Beauty, and one of the four dancers in the Pas de Quatre ballet. Lillian currently teaches ballet at Central Virginia Ballet.
