Career Pathways In the Arts

Kellianne Floyd is a native of Spartanburg, SC.  She began dancing at the age of 2 and has had a passion for dance and the arts for her entire life.  Kellianne taught dance in the public schools in South Carolina for 19 years where she worked to build and expand dance programs in Fairfield County School District (Fairfield Central High), Lexington-Richland School District 5 (Chapin and Dutch Fork High), Spartanburg School District 2 (Hendrix Elementary) and Spartanburg School District 1 (GT Dance at all six elementary schools and expanded the program to middle and high schools; most recently full-time at Campobello-Gramling School teaching K5-8th).  She holds a BA in Dance Education from Winthrop University, MS in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management (with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation) from Clemson University, and an Ed. S in Elementary School Administration from Converse University. While earning her Masters at Clemson, she also taught several dance courses including ballroom, Carolina Shag, modern and tap dance.  She has also taught dance in a studio setting including jazz, tap and contemporary.  

She has worked with master choreographers from across the country including Charles Goddertz, Jason Samuels Smith, Savion Glover, and several former Radio City Rockettes, including Lori Axelrod owner of Miss Marion’s School of Dance in Spartanburg, and was a featured dancer in the 1996 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia. She currently serves on the Palmetto State Arts Education (PSAE) Board of Directors, most recently serving as PSAE Conference Committee Chair in 2023. She was also the 2020 recipient of the PSAE Ray Doughty Arts Integration Award as well as the 2023 Polk County Foundation Slater Award for Excellence in Teaching.  

While dance will always be her first love, arts outreach has become a passion throughout her career in dance education.  She has always enjoyed working with teachers to help them to plan arts integration lessons for their own classrooms and is passionate about advocating for the arts and encouraging others to do the same. She believes in the power of field trip opportunities for students as she often brought her former students to the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities to participate in dance workshops and campus tours.

She has also been a part of South Carolina Department of Education grant reviewer/rater teams including Arts Curricular Innovation grants as well as writing assessments with the South Carolina Arts Assessment Program (SCAAP) through the Research, Evaluation and Measurement Center (REM) at University of South Carolina and participating in Arts in Basic Curriculum Institute certification review teams.

When she is not teaching dance or engaging in outreach for the arts, Kellianne enjoys spending time at the lake and traveling with her husband, Grant, and their son, Curt.