Meet Kelsey Boyle

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelsey Boyle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelsey, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
At the beginning, this was never a question for me. It was just something that my younger self had an innate need to do. From the moment I began dancing, and even before I began dancing (but just begging my parents to let me dance) I knew it was the career I wanted. It feels ironic because I did quite well in school, got accepted into good universities, but without hesitation chose the step forward in my dance career that was presented to me at that time. There was no other answer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What excites me about contemporary dance is that it’s a metaphor to lived experiences, big and small, emotional and pragmatic, meaningful and meaningless. It’s truly created and perceived in the eye of the beholder. As a choreographer you never know how your work will read or come across to others, as a dancer you never know how the work of a live performance looks to an audience in real time, as an audience member you seemingly never know what the exact intention of the piece you’re seeing is, because dance isn’t as cut and dry as using verbal language. That element of mystery allows us to project and perceive our own experiences within the art, which I think ultimately allows us to connect to this art form in ways where other mediums do that work for us.

Where I am today professionally is still a work in progress, and I’m coming to believe it will always feel that way. There are goals that I’ve reached, and there are many more goals ahead. This journey has been the furthest from easy, but I think on any purposeful endeavor it’s important to never forget your “why”, even if that why evolves. I can’t say that the same things keep pulling me back to dance and keep me on this path, but I can say that I always do come back, and that part of the dream never waivers.

I want the world to know that hard work and precision are different. It’s one thing to pull back the bow and exert raw strength and effort, but it’s a whole other thing to point the arrow and be precise, purposeful, and accurate. I have put in a lot of hard work over the years towards my goals, and while that’s been useful in some ways I’m now learning to transition to a space where that work becomes more tactful and intentional. Less can be more if it’s focused and has a direct place to go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oooh a good one! I would take her to Malibu first, we would spend a day at the beach, I would give her a follow up surf lesson from two years ago, we’d take class at Veritas Yoga, and eat dinner at Cholada. Throughout the week we would definitely hit the Arts District to hang with creative friends and see any current shows or installments in the area, ending that day with a cozy evening at Tea at Shiloh. I would not want bestie to miss out on a silly night out, likely hitting up some spots like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Good Times at Davey Wayne’s. I’ll take her to El Prado and El Chucho and let her decide which one, in her opinion, is more sinister. I’ll be sure that we eat breakfast at Urth Caffe and maybe come back an hour after breakfast for a second coffee. We’d hang on the west side for the afternoon with good company; wonderful people I’ve met and collected along the way in my various endeavors surfing, dancing, and teaching yoga in LA.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people come to mind but in this moment, it’s my best friend in the world who’s living my parallel life in NYC, Avni Shah. We’ve been friends since childhood in North Carolina, we convinced each other to follow our dreams as teenagers, and now mirror each other throughout our adult creative lives, never losing sight of the vision our younger selves had! On my weariest days I give her a call, she picks up and the call lasts a good four hours, and I remember what I’m doing it all for.

Instagram: @koylesey