KAYLA DAME
BIOGRAPHY
One of the most formative experiences in Kayla's dance journey has been her relationship with The Urban Nutcracker. She spent six years as a youth cast member, gaining valuable experience as a young performer while developing her confidence, discipline, and understanding of what it means to be part of a professional production. After six years as a youth cast member, Kayla transitioned into a leadership role as Rehearsal Director, serving in that position for three years. Moving from performer to Rehearsal Director allowed Kayla to experience the production from an entirely different perspective while developing her leadership, communication, organization, and rehearsal skills.
Her nine years with The Urban Nutcracker represent a significant chapter in Kayla's growth as an artist. Experiencing the production first as a young dancer and later as a leader gave her a unique understanding of the importance of mentorship and creating opportunities for younger dancers to feel supported, challenged, and valued. That experience continues to influence the way she approaches teaching, directing, and working with dancers today.
As an educator, Kayla is entering her third year teaching with the Colleges of the Fenway program, where she teaches Hip Hop and Heels, as well as her second year as a dance teacher at Boston Renaissance Charter Public Schools. She has also completed three summers teaching with American Dance Training Camp (ADTC), teaching in North Carolina for three summers and Wisconsin for two. Her additional teaching experience includes Expanding Communities in Connecticut, jazz funk intensives at Bayside School of Dance in East Providence, Rhode Island, and Studio 109 in New Hampshire.
Across her teaching experiences, Kayla has worked with dancers of different ages, backgrounds, personalities, and skill levels. These experiences have strengthened her belief that dance should be accessible to everyone. She strives to meet dancers where they are and adapt her teaching to support their individual needs while still challenging them to grow. Kayla wants her students to leave her classes with more than choreography or technique; she wants them to leave feeling confident, capable, and proud of themselves.
Kayla is also the founder and director of Dynasty Dame Dance Company. Entering her second year leading the company, she continues to grow its adult program while expanding into youth training. Through Dynasty Dame, Kayla is building a community centered around artistry, confidence, growth, and connection. Her vision for the company extends beyond creating dancers; she hopes to create a space where people can train, perform, collaborate, challenge themselves, and feel a genuine sense of belonging.
As a leader, Kayla is passionate about creating opportunities for dancers to discover their own identities and voices through movement. Her belief that everybody can move and dance is at the heart of her work with Dynasty Dame. She hopes to create an environment where dancers from all backgrounds and experience levels can see themselves as artists and feel that they have a place within the dance community.
As a performer, Kayla has worked professionally with Luke Bar$, Alcina Tran, The Urban Nutcracker, and Aliyah's Interlude. Her professional performance experiences have allowed her to continue growing as an artist while gaining insight into the discipline, adaptability, vulnerability, and collaboration required of dancers working in professional environments.
Kayla continues to invest in her own artistic development and believes that being an educator also means remaining a student. She is currently training under Lauren Hanna, Director of Head to Heels, through the Academy program for Heels. Continued training allows Kayla to challenge her own movement, discover new perspectives, and bring fresh ideas and experiences back into the classroom, rehearsal space, and her own artistic practice.
At the heart of Kayla's work is the belief that dance is more than movement—it is a way of understanding yourself, expressing who you are, connecting with others, and creating space for joy. From her first steps at three years old to her work today as a performer, choreographer, educator, and artistic director, Kayla continues to evolve while holding onto the belief that has guided her throughout her 23 years of experience: everybody can move, everybody can dance, and everybody deserves the opportunity to find themselves through movement.
With 23 years of dance experience, Kayla has dedicated her life to movement as a form of self-identity, self-expression, connection, and joy. What began at just three years old as a young dancer exploring Tap, African, and Jazz has grown into a lifelong journey that has taken her from student to performer, choreographer, educator, rehearsal director, and founder of her own dance company. Now 26, Kayla continues to evolve as an artist while creating spaces where others can discover their own voices through movement.
Kayla believes that dance belongs to everyone. Regardless of background, experience, age, or skill level, she believes everybody can move and everybody can dance. Her mission as an educator and artist is to create safe, welcoming, and encouraging environments where dancers feel empowered to explore, make mistakes, take risks, and challenge themselves without fear of judgment. She believes that while technique is important, individuality, confidence, vulnerability, and self-expression are equally essential. For Kayla, there is no single way to be a dancer—there is an opportunity for everyone to move, express, grow, and connect.
Kayla began her dance training at the age of three at OrigiNations Cultural Arts Center, where she studied Tap, African, and Jazz. At eleven, she transferred to Tony Williams Dance Center, where she expanded her training to Ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, and Contemporary. These early experiences introduced Kayla to a diverse range of movement styles and established the foundation for the versatile dancer and artist she would become.
While attending Wellesley High School, Kayla continued to develop both as a performer and choreographer. She served as Dance Captain and was a featured dancer in two fall musicals. She also spent three years as a member of the Moving Company dance program, where she further developed her performance abilities and explored her choreographic voice. During high school, Kayla choreographed her first contemporary lyrical piece, marking an important milestone in her development as a choreographer and beginning her journey toward creating work of her own.
Kayla began her collegiate studies at Bridgewater State University in 2018, where she attended through 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her education transitioned online. She later transferred to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, continuing her studies remotely before eventually returning to campus in Fall 2020. Despite the challenges of navigating college and dance education during the pandemic, Kayla's love for dance continued to deepen. While attending both institutions, she challenged herself technically and artistically through training in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, African, and Hip Hop.
In May 2023, Kayla graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, focusing on performance and choreography with a specialization in Jazz and Hip Hop. Her time at UMass Amherst played a significant role in strengthening her choreographic development and encouraging her to explore the relationship between movement, musicality, storytelling, and individuality.
As a choreographer, Kayla draws inspiration from artists such as Kenny Ortega and Sir Ryan Heffington. Their work has influenced her understanding of choreography as more than simply creating movement to music. Kayla is interested in using movement to communicate character, emotion, story, and identity. She strives to create choreography that feels intentional and authentic to the dancers performing it while giving them space to bring their own individuality into the work. Her diverse training and experiences as both a performer and educator continue to shape and evolve her artistic voice.
