Meet Kelly Nimens | Professional Dancer

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

Hi Kelly, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
First let me start by introducing my business, it is called “Runway Dance Connection” and we operate both dance competitions and conventions during the competitive dance season. My sister’s named Riley, Holly and myself (Kelly Nimens) are Co-Founders and Co-Directors of RUNWAY. Interestingly enough, the initial idea of operating dance competitions was conceived by my Mom while walking the beach because she felt it appealed to each of our individual strengths and therefore had great potential for success. We are three sisters, best friends and now business partners that grew up dancing competitively together. Childhood memories of “make believe” dance competitions performed on our fireplace hearth, in our family room, shaped our future without us even realizing it. Friends and family (especially our lucky older brother) got to judge these “incredible” performances. Little did we know, this competitive sibling rivalry would encourage us to someday work together creating RUNWAY while turning our dreams into a successful business venture.
Between us we have danced competitively for a total of 25+ years. The dedication, discipline and sheer hard work associated with competitive dance has always pushed us to be our best selves. Nothing has changed! We have employed the same fierce work ethic to ensure “RUNWAY is the most professional, unique, fun, family friendly dance competition around”. It is our vision that RUNWAY becomes the dance competition everyone talks about.
In addition to dance and sports backgrounds, my sister Riley is also a national TV producer, my sister Holly is an on-air broadcaster/social media content manager and I (Kelly) am a professionally trained dancer (Chapman University 2018 BFA graduate) who has performed in dance shows/tours and national commercials throughout North America, Japan, China and the Czech Republic. Combining these individual talents along with our incredible passion for dance is why we decided to pursue RUNWAY. It was a natural fit because we have the expertise to oversee all areas of running dance competitions/conventions.
It has repeatedly been said the first five years of any new company is the most challenging and ours is definitely not the exception. RUNWAY was launched on March 9, 2020 with great success, but regrettably Covid was declared an international pandemic on March 11, 2020. Timing is everything! Covid has definitely impacted (like so many other businesses) our growth trajectory and timeline for RUNWAY. However, we did manage two successful events in 2021 and are very happy to report we have an exciting future ahead as we plan our competition season for 2022/2023. In fact, we hope to see you on our RUNWAY reaching new heights together very soon!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and started dancing and figure skating lessons at 3 years of age because my older sisters already trained in these sports. About the same time, I also showed a strong natural ability and interest in artistic gymnastics. Therefore, by age 5, I was competing successfully in all 3 disciplines; dance (my first open solo “Sweet Nothing”), artistic gymnastics and figure skating. However, I quickly decided I did not enjoy early morning skating practices in cold arenas, so after a couple of years I focused all my time/training on dance and artistic gymnastics. (Also, my gymnastics training gave me a HUGE advantage with all my acro/open dances.) By age 8, I was competing in 20+ competitive dances per season (all genres, including multiple solos and duets) and also auditioned successfully for a national level gymnastics program that required 20 hours of training per week (7 to 10 am and 4 to 6 pm Monday to Friday). If I wasn’t at the dance studio, I was at the gym. Training simultaneously in both disciplines at this intense level for several years is what (I believe) led me to be the person I am today. I developed a work ethic, discipline and focus that set me apart from my peers at a very early age and has continued to serve me well.
Winning national titles and numerous other prestigious awards in dance just increased my passion (everyone loves to win) and helped me decide to focus solely on dance……my true passion. During my teenage years, I moved studios and trained at two of the most competitive dance studios in the Toronto area. At both these studios, I definitely received excellent training which allowed me to audition successfully for many American university dance programs. (Attending university in the states was my goal and I am incredibly thankful for my multiple offers/scholarships.) However, I feel, this intense training was sometimes at the expense of being a normal social teenager and I am sure many other professional dancers might share my feelings? For example, we were required to train Friday nights until 11:00 pm. Spring school break was referred to as “Hell week” at my studio because we always rehearsed 70-80 hours that week in preparation for the upcoming competition season. And my high school graduation conflicted with my studio’s year end dance show so because I was part of the team, I had to miss my graduation milestone. These sacrifices coupled with a knee dislocation requiring surgery at aged 14 while rehearsing and a serious concussion/facial fracture sustained mid dance performance at aged 16 required me to miss nearly 2 full seasons of competition and provided much frustration. At the time, I was obviously devastated because dance was and continues to be EVERYTHING to me. However, my “found” time during my 2 recoveries allowed me to reflect on my life and accomplishments thus far. It just reconfirmed by incredible passion for dance! I missed every second of every hour of every day that I was sidelined from dancing, due to injuries. Both times I just came back stronger, more determined and ready to perform/learn, again setting me apart from the rest of the “pack”.

My strong work ethic and self-confidence developed early on definitely provided me with many triumphs. I was a national champion at ages 7 & 8, a featured “Rising Star” in Dance Spirit Magazine and appeared on the “The Next Step” television series as a pre-teen. During my BFA Dance Program at Chapman University, I was Dance Team Captain my senior year choreographing/performing for the teams 10th Consecutive National Competition Title and also successfully auditioned for the Cirque du Soleil’s data base. Just 3 weeks post University graduation (thankfully I attended this one), I booked and departed for China where I performed in several major industrial shows (Adidas, Maserati, Martell Cognac and Shanghai Film Festival) during several different trips. I also booked dance contracts with Spirit Productions/Dublin Worldwide Entertainment for “Christmas Wonderland” shows touring North America, Japan and Canada and was the lead dancer in their “Dancing Queen” production. Most recently I performed in a Vroom national commercial dancing/tumbling that is scheduled to “air” during Super Bowl 2022.

In addition to the thrill of performing, my dance career has provided me with so many incredible friendships from all corners of the world. It has allowed me to travel and experience places as a performer that otherwise I would not have visited. These connections/friendships have shaped my career and provided other exciting opportunities such as teaching master classes and judging dance competitions. I am forever grateful!

Every audition is a new experience and my advice to anyone starting out is BE PREPARED! It would be a “perfect world” if you could book every audition you attend. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t happen! For every booking, there will likely be many rejections because you are too tall/too short/too blonde/wrong eye colour or even worse……..no reason provided. In order to survive these rejections (trust me, they are never easy to accept), you will need to develop a “thick skin” and rely on those incredible friends (discussed in the previous paragraph) who can remind you how truly talented/wonderful you really are.

Finally, as a Canadian living/performing in the United States I am very fortunate to be on an O-IB Visa (commonly referred to as an exceptional artist’s visa). This is just one more challenge because I have to renew this visa every 3 years and the application process requires meticulous documentation of all dance contracts/performances, several employer testimonials and character references. (Initially I was told by my first lawyer, I would not successfully get this visa. Fortunately, I proved him wrong thanks to my work ethic and talent.) If anyone reading this article is going through a similar process, please reach out? I would be happy to share my knowledge, it is definitely a challenging time in your career.

Would I change anything? Very little! All these experiences/challenges that I have discussed have shaped me into the person I am today. I feel I am very hard working, determined, confident. Writing this article has just reinforced my confidence in my abilities and made me excited for what the future might hold? Stay tuned!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since LA is now home and I grew up on the other coast, I have already had the opportunity to host family/friends and play “tour guide” many times. Usually when people visit, I love to take them hiking in several different locations because hiking is great for reconnecting and allows people to see the beauty of the LA area. My favorite hikes are probably Runyan Canyon to show off the famous “Hollywood” sign in the distance, Escondido Falls because of their beauty and also “Top of the World” in Laguna. One memorable hike at “Top of the World” with my Mom (early on a Sunday morning) involved a rather large coiled rattle snake right beside our path which thankfully we managed to avoid, but made for a very memorable day.
Renting “duffy boats” in Newport is another extremely fun way to show off this gorgeous area and then follow up with a Newport Beach visit, of course. And beach sunsets are a MUST because our west coast geography lends itself to the BEST sunsets. I personally love Santa Monica pier at sunset, it always has such a great vibe.

Lots of outdoor activities always dominate when people visit, but that just helps offset all the great restaurants we also enjoy while catching up. Right now, my personal favorites in LA are Elephante, Toca Madera, Laurel Hardware and Catch LA. I also love rooftop bars for cocktails while catching those Pacific sunsets, it is an awesome way to end a day touring. I would highly recommend the following; E.P & L.P, Perch and The Rooftop by JG.

Last but definitely not least would be a visit to the happiest place on earth……….Disneyland. Disneyland just allows you to enjoy being a “kid” again for a day, it is such fun for every age group and the food is incredible!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This answer is incredibly easy for me! 100% my wonderful parents (“shoutout” to Brian and Kathy Nimens) are why I and my sisters are where we are today, both individually and collectively with RUNWAY (remember Momma Nims came up with the initial idea that got us started). My parents are the most supportive, passionate, creative, successful, hard working people I know and family is EVERYTHING to them! I started dancing, gymnastics and figure skating at age 3 (as the youngest of 4 very involved active children), yet somehow my parents were by my side every step of the way making time for all of us. My Mom was the perfect “Dance Mom” always helping backstage and my Dad was the dutiful “Dance Dad” sitting in the front row (his favorite spot, lol) cheering loudly as my #1 fan. To give you an idea of their continuous level of support/enthusiasm, they were by my side when I won Nationals as an individual dancer and again as Captain of the Chapman Dance Team, many years later. My Mom insisted on spending her 60th birthday at Chapman University watching me win “skit” as Hercules for my sorority………go Alpha Phi! And during my most recent professional show (December 2021), they collectively sat front row 12 times. In fact, by the final show, the entire cast recognized them whenever they were in the audience.
Even though there is a three hour time difference between us, my Mom is still only a text/phone call away regardless of the hour? It is incredibly reassuring to know my parents are always there for me whether it is sharing my successes or consoling me when auditions don’t go as hoped? It is my goal to someday be the same type of parent, my awesome role models have been and still are for me.

Website: http://www.kellynimens.com

Instagram: @kellynimens

Facebook: Kelly Nimens

Other: RUNWAY Dance Connection website is https://www.runwaydanceconnection.com