Meet Eileen Kielty | Clairsentient Intuitive Movement Coach & Queer Artist

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

Hi Eileen, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Authenticity.

It is really important to me to be authentic, both personally and professionally, because an authentic approach to life is aligned with the deepest parts of myself. Maintaining alignment with my wants, needs, desires and intentions, I live in integrity and build a sense of trust within myself.

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.

Activation Warning: mention of suicide

I am a queer multi-disciplinary artist, teacher and performer as well as a clairsentient intuitive movement coach.

It has taken me a long time to be able to name and embody the above self description. To start, the overwhelming feedback I have received throughout my artistic career has centered around my “inability” to fulfill others’ expectations of how they perceived me and my capabilities…my overall value and impact has come into question over the years.

Let’s take the first part of my career and the titles I listed above that have, at times in my life, felt challenging for me to truly claim…

I am straight passing. I have been with my partner, a straight man, for 18 years, married for 13 of them. I am still queer. As a dancer, I am both classically and commercially trained. I am also 5’10 1/2″ which is rare in the concert dance world and I am not a size 0-2 which is rare in the musical theatre world for my height / look. I sing and act but I’m not a belter nor am I well versed in the development of a scene. I have been assisting dance classes since the age of 12 and have, as a teaching artist, led countless workshops, master classes, warm ups, cool downs and guest artist offerings but don’t specialize in any one style (I am trained in many). I have degrees in both dance and psychology and graduated with honors after 7 years of studies because I was paying for college myself. I have performed in cabarets of well known shows, at industrials (think flash mob at a pharmaceutical convention), in a walking tour immersive show throughout the West Village, as a living candelabra for someone’s wedding, as a company member in a repertory modern company, as a mermaid in an original show based off of a one page essay and everything in between but I’ve never actually “made it”. I have twice been told I would never dance again due to two career ending injuries and I have come back from both injuries completely changed yet entangled with the industry expectations of jumping right back in. I have spent countless hours behind the table at summer intensive programs and in front of the table at countless auditions. I’ve been at the front of the room for most of my career bridging the space between leadership and talent and have seen the darker reality of an industry I have aligned both my self worth and bank account with. I have made myself sick to fit into costumes I would never even be considered to wear and have been told by industry-leading professionals how they wanted me to “be better than I was” and that I “couldn’t look like THAT and then dance like THAT” – both during the fragile time I was returning to classes and rehearsals after 4 years of learning how to be able to reteach the left side of my body’s nerves to fire my muscles so they could engage again.

My artistic work, for so much of my life, was so focused on being chosen…getting the part, performing the show, building my resume and “proving” that I was a worthy hire; that my body would adapt (by whatever means necessary) to ensure I fit a narrative that was someone else’s story.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned over and over and over again is just how much impact we can have in the world. After losing my sister to suicide in 2019, it was so clear how loved she was. How much she mattered. How much value and magic and incredible support she provided for others…and she couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t access it. The criticism, judgment, negative feedback and lack of support she had experienced in her life was too loud to hear her own truth. That quiet inner knowing we all have within us. The gentle voice that says “I’m right here. And that’s enough.”

Her death exposed just how much value I had been placing in the noise of other people’s perceptions and expectations of me; my need for their stamp of approval. Her death revealed that I had been bypassing my own heart to fit a mold that I was meant to disrupt. My creative work now focuses on reimagining what being an “artist” (especially a dancer) can look like and also how movement can heal us, change us, reveal us – both as the performer and the viewer. I honor that I am both a truthseeker and truthteller and that my body always knows. I am committed to helping to facilitate the unspoken, often hidden, stories through movement.

My final self description is clairsentient intuitive movement coach…my scariest reclamation to date. Because what I want people to know about me and my brand and my story in addition to all of the above information is that I am clairsentient. This is defined as “the ability to perceive emotional or psychic energy that is imperceptible to the five standard senses,” it is also known as “clear feeling”. This means that the reason why I have been so successful as a group fitness instructor, teaching assistant and instructor trainer across several methodologies and modalities as well as a deeply layered choreographer and director within dance pieces is because I can sense the unspoken. The voice of the viscera, the somatic stories held within someone’s emotional / energetic experience and recognize where the body needs to move in order to alchemize its message. I am also a Certified Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Coach with a focus on consent-based facilitating and intimacy training and I have been working with bodies in various places and spaces for about 20 years.

As an intuitive movement coach, I help to facilitate the restoration of choice within the body by holding and creating space to allow stagnant emotions (energy in motion) to be moved, processed and released. Through somatic integration, embodiment practices and grounded witnessing, clients learn to rebuild trust in their intuition; embodying a true sense of safety, intimacy and empowerment. This is what sets me apart. As an artist, a creative, a coach, a performer, a dancer, a person.

I have been told many times in my career that I wasn’t living up to my potential. That I “should be” a better dancer, that I “should have been” cast in that show, that I “should be further along” than I am. The reality is that my body has been through a lot of physical, emotional, mental, psychological, sexual and spiritual trauma…I am not alone in this trauma as there are many others (many other artists as well) who have experienced similar breaks along their journeys. Many would maybe categorize them as breakdowns, as delays on their path towards their goals, and for the longest time that is how I have viewed my injuries, getting kicked out at 18, my self-funded education, my sister’s death…but these were not breakdowns.

These were breakthroughs…a return back to my most authentic self, revealing how I can take my experiential knowledge, training, education and passion to expand on what is possible when we are safe, connected and empowered in our bodies…I am a queer multi-disciplinary artist, teacher and performer as well as a clairsentient intuitive movement coach.

I share from my deepest parts, I feel and honor the unspoken and I create and hold space for alchemy in motion.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oooof…this question is tough. Not because I don’t have an answer but because I feel like this itinerary would just keep going.

As far as food, I would probably take them to Flushing, Queens for a soup dumpling tour. Not only can you stop at a bunch of different places throughout the neighborhood in one day but if you’re in a group, it’s really easy to share and save room for more.

Drinks would either be at various local craft breweries, too many to name throughout the city, or at one of my favorite bars in Astoria, Diamond Dogs. Owned by two brothers, there is a great craft beer selection and delicious cocktails with an outdoor space and impeccable vibes.

I would definitely take them for a walk on the High Line as it’s such a fun way to see the city and go for a ride on the Ferry; it’s the best to ride at sunset from Queens to Brooklyn with the skyline and bridges as your backdrop. The Museum of Sex is also a fun day trip with rotating exhibits – such a conversation starter and a unique and sexy artistic experience.

One of my favorite date days is grabbing sushi at the Amish Market on 9th Ave and walking up through Columbus Circle to Central Park to eat it on a bench and watch the ducks.

The most fun, interesting, exciting people, places and things are always where there is a strong intersection of diversity and culture. Food or art pop ups, street fairs, performance venues, outdoor festivals…my favorite places are where something new can be shared, learned or experienced – there is always something to share, learn and experience in new ways in NYC.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Activation Warning: mention of suicide

I want to give a shoutout to my sister, Katie, who died by suicide in 2019. I would not be where I am today without her love, support and guidance both earth side and beyond. Although her death does not define her life, it does inform it and one of my biggest takeaways from losing her in such a violent way is how important it is to extend the same grace and love we give to others to ourselves too. Her life is a testament of love and her death is a lesson in just how much the helpers need help too.

My venture, Kaia Evolutions, is not only my life’s work but a love letter to her. Because, as one of her poems said, “there is no end, there is only more.”

Website: https://www.kaiaevolutions.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ekielty/

Image Credits
Jordan Eagle Photography