Kelly Gleason, a Dallas/Fort Worth native, began her early training at Next Step Dance before joining Chamberlain Ballet under the direction of Kathy Chamberlain, Lisa Hess, and Tim Fox. In addition to her year-round training, she spent summers studying at San Francisco Ballet School, Ballet West Academy, American Ballet Theatre School, and Ellison Ballet.

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Ballet with an Outside Field in Business from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she trained under Sarah Wroth, Michael Vernon, Kyra Nichols, Carla Körbes, Sasha Janes, and Christian Claessens.During her time at IU, Kelly performed principal and soloist roles in Justin Peck’s Heatscape, Lauren Lovette’s Le Jeune, Dwight Rhoden’s Ballad Unto, Ken Ossola’s Silence, and several original works by Professor Sasha Janes. She also appeared in productions by George Balanchine, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Marius Petipa, August Bournonville, Durante Verzola, and Michael Vernon.

Kelly is excited to return to her hometown and begin her professional career with Avant Chamber Ballet as an apprentice this season.