Emily Kelley, born and raised in the Inland Empire, developed a fond love of dance at 10 years old. She started taking classes frequently at her local dance studio, training in ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, and tumbling. She competed solos, duos, and trios winning various overall awards and titles at competitions such as Kar, Move, Star Systems, Rainbow, and Act 1. She also danced in various ballets, including Swan Lake as Odette, Nutcracker as the Sugarplum, and Alice in Wonderland as Alice. During this time she taught a wide age range of students in various styles and coached competition teams.

After graduation, she studied at Cal State Fullerton earning a BA in Dance and a BS in Communication Disorders. Here she had the opportunity to train with Debra Noble, Alvin Rangel, Lisa Long, and Muriel Joyce in a range of styles, from Dunham, to Graham, to Limon, to Horton. In her time at CSUF she performed many guest works and faculty pieces, including “Umbra: The Darkest Part of the Shadow” choreographed by Yoshito Sakuraba, “Zephyr” choreographed by Sadie Weinberg, “Summer’s Night” choreographed by Muriel Joyce, and more. Additionally, she choreographed her own works for the main-stage including “Monotonous Mundane” and “Presence”. Post graduation she dances professionally with Calliopus Contemporary and shares her love of dance as an elementary dance teacher.