Senior has no plans to kick up her heels

From jazz to contemporary, tap to ballet, Kelly McKinley, senior, loves dancing – so much so, that she is hoping to make a career out of it.

“I want to dance in a contemporary company,” McKinley said, “something like Hubbard Street Chicago, or I want to tour with a contemporary company or even tour with a musical artist for concerts. I would love to do movies, TV shows, [or] music videos.”

McKinley, who began dancing at age three, says that dance is her way of communicating with the world.

“I just love performing on stage in front of an audience,” McKinley said. “I love making the audience feel something and, for me, dance is a way to express my emotions or what I am wanting to say with my new ideas. It’s like communicating without words; that’s my favorite part.”

Because of her passion for performing, McKinley has made sure to make time for dance in her life. 

“I always leave room for things like my schoolwork and everything, but I also placed a big priority on working really hard at dance and I’ve always made time for it,” McKinley said. 

McKinley says that although dance is a lot of work, performing is “worth it one hundred percent,” which is why one of McKinley’s favorite aspects of dancing is participating in competitions. 

“[I]t’s always fun spending so much time with your friends [and] then getting to dance with them on stage is one of the best feelings,” McKinley said.

According to McKinley, being able to spend time and perform with others at competitions is one of the best parts of dance. One of McKinley’s fellow dancers talked about her experience with McKinley.

“Kelly is the best dancer I know. Her movements [are] just so smooth and so beautiful to watch,” Eva Krastev, sophomore, said.

Krastev and McKinely both acknowledged that it can require a lot of effort in order to be a successful dancer.

“I do about six dances, so it’s many rehearsals, many hours put into those dances. We do a lot of cleaning, but we also work on the artistry of it and the feeling of it so that we can portray that [so] the audience can feel it as well,” McKinley said.

Even though McKinley has danced for a long time, it has not come without its challenges. 

“I’ve done [dance] for so long. There’s always ways to improve, but sometimes it can just be really overwhelming,” McKinley said. “There’s just a lot to think about when you’re performing on stage, and there can be a lot of pressure sometimes to do well, but I think everyone overcomes it.”