We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly Yankle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I grew up not having a lot on the financial side, but always had the most supportive family. I was always passionate and not having a lot taught me how to work. Because of this, I was very fortunate to always be able to support myself in my craft, but it wasn’t always just one full time job. For example, I was a full time (full scholarship) college student-at The University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of music, double major, while also working full time as a professional dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet, as well as teaching for the academy and outreach programs to support my self . This dual experience was huge for me. After leaving New York at a very young age, the idea of professional dancers going to college was not yet really a thing. Doing both was unheard of. I made it happen because I wanted both experiences. At a very young age, I was fortunate to be shown in all of my international training and professional experience, all of the different career avenues there were in dance. I couldn’t just dance, but I could also choreograph and teach and do costuming, and set design, and lighting, and sing, and act, and do hair and makeup, and it just sort of catapulted me into all of the other career avenues that the dance world offers, and we as artists so willingly give everything of ourselves, because we want to. It’s innate, and with that can come the difficulty to set boundaries and have the conversations about being paid appropriately, benefits, time off, breaking the stigma that this isn’t a real job etc. After a 15 year professional dance career, owning a school, traveling the world, choreographing, directing festivals, judging dance competitions, all of it, I tell my students all the time, you CAN have the life you want- you just need to WORK for it and not give up. So many curve balls will be thrown. Keep going, get all of the experience you can, soak it up and keep going. Be kind, be generous, be helpful, be open and keep going!

Kelly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Kelly Yankle, was born in Canton, Ohio. Over the past 22 years, she has made a career as an internationally recognized professional dancer, teacher, coach, and choreographer. Kelly began studying ballet at The School of Canton Ballet on scholarship at the age of ten, training in Vaganova, Cuban and Balanchine techniques. She received scholarships to prestigious ballet schools such as; Pacific Northwest Ballet, The School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and The Chautauqua Institution, in addition to training opportunities in Cuba under international master teacher, Laura Alonso.

Kelly was recognized and awarded at a young age for dramatic, artistic performances, and often reviewed as a “dynamic powerhouse.”

As an international guest principal artist, and member of the Cincinnati Ballet, and Sarasota Ballet, she danced a wide range of repertoire by George Balanchine, Rudolph Nureyev, Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Christopher Bruce, Trey McIntyre, Jorma Elo, Amedeo Amodio, Alonzo King, Stanton Welch, Victoria Morgan, Devon Carney, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Adam Hougland, Matthew Heart, and Jiang Qi.

While dancing professionally, Kelly also studied at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music on full dance scholarship and was featured in Dance Teacher Magazine. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance performance and pedagogy, with an emphasis on anatomy and physiology, in addition to being bilingual in Spanish and English (and working on French!) Kelly offers personal mentorship for aspiring professionals, and is well versed in teaching all age ranges, ballet technique, pointe technique, variations, pas de deux, contemporary, modern (Horton Technique), choreography, as well as pilates and injury prevention. Kelly served as a faculty member at The School of Canton Ballet, The Cincinnati Ballet School, The Sarasota Ballet School, and was heavily involved with outreach programs that focused on bringing ballet to struggling areas, as well as fundraising and grant writing.

Upon retirement from full time professional dance, Kelly founded and directed Ballet Academy North, an award winning pre-professional training program in Leander, Texas. She is widely credited for her generous commitment to the arts and integrity of formal dance education, and bringing her full length productions to the community; The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, and Cinderella. She led the Ballet Academy North program and its dancers to international acclaim, receiving “Outstanding school” awards, and “Outstanding Choreographer” awards. Dancer’s trained by Kelly have received top ranking placements and awards for all soloists and ensembles, in addition to multiple scholarship offers and international invitations, college dance scholarships and professional contracts.

She served as the Principal of The Vitacca Vocational School for Dance in Houston and The Woodlands before becoming the Executive Artistic Director of The Austin Dance Conservatory. She is a co-founder of the Connec(TX)ions Dance Festival in Austin, TX and continues to promote the love and support of the arts and collaboration wherever she goes.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like my whole life has been a pivot and what initially always seemed like the worst thing that could happen, it was exactly as they say, it had to happen to turn me into who I am and to allow me to be vulnerable enough to keep on becoming who I will be. I’ll try to be brief (brevity is not my strong suit lol.)
Finances were always an issue and so when I was invited to audition the ballet school in my town, we couldn’t afford it, so I thought my dream was over before it started. Then to my surprise, I was offered a scholarship, and I was able to attend the pre- professional ballet school (The School of Canton Ballet) at the age of 10. Because of the amazing guidance I received there, I was getting offers to go all over the world, and accepted an offer with the School of American Ballet in New York City. It was a dream come true and what I thought I always wanted. And while I adored my time there and the chance to be in City Ballet was unforgettable, in the end it wasn’t the fit for me, and I left after two years. It was a huge shock, to everyone and I had to rebuild and prove to myself and everyone that I could do this a different way. Then, I got injured. Two ankle surgeries and concern of never dancing again. I rehabbed and came back stronger than before and went on to dance with Alonzo King, Cincinnati Ballet, The University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Sarasota Ballet. At the pinnacle of my career , I was taken out with a knee injury. Again, they told me I wouldn’t dance again. But I wouldn’t take no for an answer. While I did return, I was ultimately reinjured and the injury would end my full time dance career. I was engaged to be married, and thought a certain life was a head of me, and it was all over on one horrible Saturday after receiving the results from an MRI. Everything fell apart. Everything I worked for my whole life, the only career I had ever had- being a professional dancer was now over, as well as my relationship with my fiancé, and I couldn’t decide weather the pain in my limping knee or the pain in my shattered heart was worse. But the reality was, I had to get a job to pay my bills, survival doesn’t wait for you to recover. Thankfully I had also been teaching and began to look for full time teaching jobs and applying to graduate school for physical therapy.

With a plethora of offers, I moved to Austin, TX and began teaching, programming and rebranding, in dance schools, which catapulted into international award winning preprofessional dance programs, and the co-ownership offered and funding to direct my own conservatory- The Austin Dance Conservatory, thriving in just two years since its nascence, and I am also co-founder of the connec(TX)ions Dance Festival. Pivoting got me here:)

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

So much to uncover and discuss here, right ?! Ah, I think any professional creative can tell you the struggles of having to explain, justify our careers to non-creatives, and the ignorance pertaining to what we do, it’s just so unfortunate. We train, we study, we prepare, we dedicate our whole lives to our crafts, and at such a young age. We have discipline and passion, and end up still being willing to sacrifice in ways that many would not be willing to, in order to have this career. I strongly believe if more people outside of the artistic world exposed themselves to the beauty, vulnerability, creativity, that exists in the welcoming world of the artist, everyone would benefit greatly. Even just being able to be in Europe and seeing how different artists are paid, treated, and respected, versus the United States. It’s sad how we are viewed and treated here. But the only way to make a change is to keep at it, keep showing up at the tables you get turned away from and bring your own seat. Get the information out there. Educate, and keep moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theaustindanceconaervatory.com
• Instagram: @kelly_yankle

Image Credits

Peter Mueller and Ashkan Royaee