Quick Facts

Born: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Trained: Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma and Canada’s National Ballet School
Joined: 2014
First Soloist since: 2021

Calley Skalnik is sponsored through Dancers First by an anonymous donor.

Five Things to Know

1. 1Calley started dancing at the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education when she was eight years old. In 2012, she attended the Youth America Grand Prix in New York, where she was offered a scholarship to Canada’s National Ballet School.
    
2. 2She dances the principal role of The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker as well as featured roles such as Russian Princess in Swan Lake, Calliope in Apollo and Kitty in Anna Karenina.
    
3. 3Calley’s repertoire includes The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Onegin, Frame by Frame, Manon, The Dream, Chaconne, The Second Detail, Genus, Angels’ Atlas and Orpheus Alive, among other works.
    
4. 4In 2016, Calley represented the National Ballet in The International Competition for The Erik Bruhn Prize. Choreographic Associate Robert Binet created the contemporary pas de deux, Self and Soul, for the competition.
    
5. 5During the COVID-19 pandemic, Calley began offering movement and fitness classes online. Their popularity led her to create a personal training business, Coach Calley.

Full Biography

Calley Skalnik was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and trained at Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma and Canada’s National Ballet School. Calley joined The National Ballet of Canada as a RBC Apprentice in 2014 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2021. 

Most recently, Calley debuted as Cinderella in Cinderella and performed in the Canadian premieres of David Dawson’s Anima Animus and Alonzo King’s The Collective Agreement. She has danced roles such as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Russian Dance in Swan Lake and Kitty in the North American premiere of Anna Karenina. Her repertoire includes Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Onegin, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Winter’s Tale, Nijinsky, The Merry Widow, Pinocchio, A Streetcar Named Desire, Manon, La Sylphide, The Dream, Paquita, The Four Seasons, The Second Detail, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, The Four Temperaments, Genus, MADDADDAM, Symphony #9, Emergence, Angels’ Atlas, Serenade, Symphony in C, Paz de la Jolla, After the Rain, Concerto, Frame by Frame, Le Petit Prince, Skyward and Self and Soul. 

In 2016 Calley represented the National Ballet in The International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize.