We All Know Balletcore as a Trend—Meet a Multitalented Dancer Redefining It
Welcome to En Pointe, a quarterly series that offers a deep dive into the intersection of beauty and dance through the eyes of up-and-coming, multidisciplinary dance talent. Expect an intimate look into the daily lives, dreams, and dance-bag beauty essentials of the industry's best young performers.
As a now-retired dancer, I remember a defining moment in my classical ballet career when, at the age of 13, I was encouraged to completely dedicate myself to the art form and leave behind any other lofty aspirations I may have had. A teacher sat me down in a chair and told me what I would need to give up in order to pursue a career in dance before outlining what the next few years would look like if I wanted to make that dream a reality.
At the time, the career paths of the dancers I admired were practically set in stone—beginning with a company role before transitioning into choreography and teaching. Now, however, a new generation of performers refuses to be pigeonholed into a single career path. They have cracked the code on extending their unique artistry beyond the dance world into content creation, acting, and more. Keep reading to meet one performer, in particular, who's completely rewritten her story.
Meet Kylie Jefferson: Ballet Dancer, Choreographer, and Actor
Kylie Jefferson's success is proof that the skills, tools, and interests fostered in one art form are almost always transferable to another. Her story starts at the age of 6, when she began training at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles. From there, Jefferson continued her training at the Boston Conservatory, earning her BFA before stepping into the concert dance world with Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
Like so many professional dancers, however, Jefferson faced her fair share of injuries and setbacks. Shortly after joining Complexions, she fractured her rib, forcing her to reevaluate her career path. "I remember healing from that injury over the course of six or seven months and getting random job offers to dance in music videos, and I just said, 'Okay!' I wasn't completely healed, but I wanted to get back into dancing and do something," Jefferson tells me. After accepting a role at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy as an artist in residence, she eventually stepped away from dance to work as a personal assistant to an executive at a high-powered Hollywood talent agency.
"I was doing everything under the sun but had 'the artist's curse,'" she continues. "One of the last things my mentor told me to do before I parted ways with him was to pursue my dreams, but I had no idea how to do it. All I knew was that I wanted to be great, but couldn't put what I wanted to do into one word, and I still can't." Then, in 2019, she got the career break she had been waiting for: the starring role in Tiny Pretty Things, an adaptation of Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra's 2015 ballet drama book. "I did not know I was auditioning for the main character, because how often is the Black girl the main character on a TV show—especially when we're talking about ballet?" she explains.
What Jefferson initially thought would be a brief appearance on a few episodes as part of the dance ensemble turned into her stepping into the spotlight as Tiny Pretty Things' main character, Neveah Stroyer. The 10-part Netflix series chronicles the trials and tribulations of teen students in an elite ballet academy. Jefferson's character is a ballet prodigy from Compton, California, who is offered a scholarship to train at the academy. Her arrival sparks debate among students and faculty, as it coincides with the sudden death of one of the academy's elite dancers. Much like Jefferson herself, Neveah is committed to staying true to herself and avoiding self-comparison as a means of measuring success.
