Tara Lee received her dance training from Donna Bonasera of Connecticut Dance Theatre, and received a full scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School. While dancing with Joffrey II in New York City, John McFall invited her to join Atlanta Ballet, where she became a principal artist for 21 years. Tara has also been a member of Ballet British Columbia and a guest artist with New Orleans Ballet Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre in Houston. She has performed internationally in London, Toronto, Beijing, Seoul, and at the Kennedy Center, Joyce Theatre, and Lincoln Center. She has performed work by celebrated choreographers such as Gerald Arpino, Jorma Elo, Christopher Hampson, James Kudelka, Jiri Kylian, Wayne McGregor, Ohad Naharin, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gina Patterson, Helen Pickett, Michael Pink, Crystal Pite, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ramantsky, Liam Scarlett, Lauri Stallings, Ben Stevenson, Twyla Tharp and Stanton Welch. Principal roles include Odette in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Ophelia in Hamlet, Mina in Dracula, Faith/Death in Rite of Spring, Esmeralda in Camino Real, Shee in Big, and the title roles in Madame Butterfly, Cinderella, and Firebird.
In 2017, Tara co-founded Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, where she is currently rehearsal director, choreographer and teacher. She has created several critically-acclaimed works for TMBT, Atlanta Ballet, New Orleans Ballet Theatre, NYC’s Joyce Theatre and Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, Emory Dance Company, and was named Atlanta Magazine’s “Best Choreographer to Watch in 2018”. Her first dance film, The Poet - a collaboration with Joseph Guay premiered in 2021 and was featured on Marquee TV. It was awarded Official Selection at several film festivals, including Montreal Independent Film Festival, Berlin International Art Film Festival and San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival. She is very grateful to have had a long and joyful career in dance, and to have collaborated with so many inspired artists.