Author: McKee (Shelby McKee)

Shelby McKee has been active in the dance industry for over 17 years as an instructor, choreographer, professional dancer and Director.  Shelby began her dance journey at Little Theater Culture Center, Inc. in Littleton where she studied ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical for 14 years.  As a teen she participated in many dance competitions and conventions.  After graduating high school, Shelby trained for seven years under Carla Parks at the Academy of Classical Ballet in Arvada.  She taught, choreographed, and was a principal dancer in Ms. Parks’ Classical Dance Theatre.  During her time with Parks, she performed in many classical ballets, including “The Nutcracker”, “Don Quixote”, “Giselle”, “Le Corsire”, and “Swan Lake”, among others.  She then danced professionally with Denver-based Davis Contemporary Dance Company.  During four years at Davis, Shelby discovered her strong passion for lyrical and contemporary dance.  Shelby’s numerous performance, competition, and workshop opportunities have paved the way for her teaching career.  She is classically trained in Vaganova and Cecchetti methods of ballet and has studied lyrical, contemporary, modern, jazz, musical theater and tap from master teachers all over the United States.  She keeps up to date on her dance education through online teacher-training courses, attending local conventions and taking class.

Although Shelby enjoys performing, her true happiness is found in choreographing, teaching and connecting with her students.  She loves to highlight the unique skill sets of each dancer she works with while giving them new, unfamiliar movement to push them out of their comfort zone and reach new levels.  Shelby encourages her students to believe in themselves and that anything can be achieved with passion, dedication and hard work.  “Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.” – Martha Graham