Since Elizabeth Karns opened The South Dayton School of Dance in 1984, many SDSD students have gone on to professional dance careers with Atlanta Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Koresh, The Metropolitan Opera, Johannes Wieland, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Doug Varone and Lula Washington. Even more have gone on to attend esteemed college dance programs such as: Ohio State, NYU, Wright State University, Butler University, The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Fordham University, SUNY Purchase, Southern Methodist University, and Point Park University in Pittsburgh, many on scholarship. This demonstrates the outstanding training that takes place at SDSD.