New York City · Class of 2027
Virtue-Frohberg
call me Kaela
I’ve spent the last ten years learning how many ways there are to be an artist — as a writer, dancer, actor, painter, and, most recently, talent manager. I want a life that lets me use all of it: to perform, imagine, shape, and build work that makes room for other artists too.
Who's dancing
I'm a senior and Dance major at Brooklyn High School of the Arts, but I entered the school as an Acting major after training outside of school for a year. As a neurodivergent kid, acting helped me embrace my voice, my individuality, and the parts of myself I once struggled to express. It gave language to what my body was already holding.
Over time, dance became another way to speak.
Today, I spend two hours of every school day studying movement and strengthening my technique. Twice a week after school, I continue my training in ballet and pointe at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Fort Greene.
The more I train, the more I understand that technique is only half of it. The other half is having something to say. Acting taught me to trust my voice; dance showed me how much I could say without speaking.
This summer, I worked as a talent manager at Ballet Hispánico through the Bloomberg Arts Internship. I also had the opportunity to choreograph and perform a solo of my own.
Moving between those roles — supporting artists behind the scenes and stepping onto the stage myself — changed the way I imagine my future. I became curious about the entire life of a creative idea: how it is developed, produced, communicated, and finally brought before an audience.
I discovered that I don't have to choose between being in the work and helping to build it.
This year, I'm especially excited to study AP Art History and explore the ideas, cultures, and movements that have shaped the art we make today.
As I consider college, I'm looking for a program where I can continue developing as a performer while exploring creative direction, producing, and arts leadership. I don't know exactly what my future title will be — and I'm excited by that. What I do know is that I want a life in the arts: imagining meaningful work, helping bring it into the world, and creating space for other artists to flourish alongside me.
proud of who i am—and excited by who i'm becoming
Personal statement
Storytelling is a part of life. No, not just a part; it’s what makes life so beautiful. You can find it in anything if you look closely enough. I grew up in New York City. From buses to trains to sidewalks, a place where stories are everywhere.
The board
I've kept a Pinterest board since I was twelve. Think of this as the smaller, more personal version — a collection of images, spaces, colors, and words that have stayed with me, and a little about why they matter.
Choreography is writing on your feet.Bob Fosse
I am a museum of everything I have loved.Anonymous
Earth without art is just “eh.”Seen on a wall
The thread i feel myself inside all these things … nature, movement, femininity — as much within my hair as in a waterfall. as much in the moon as on the sidewalks of nyc.
The work so far
Newest first — performances, the rooms I help run, and the training underneath all of it.
Where I'm headed
Performing taught me what a room feels like from the inside. The internship taught me that somebody decides what happens in it — who gets programmed, who gets paid, who gets asked back. I'd like that to be me one day, and I'd like the rooms I run to be easier to walk into than some of the ones I've walked into.
let us in
Deciding what a piece is about before anyone steps into it — the through-line, the look, the reason.
The unglamorous half: schedules, budgets, contracts, the emails that make a season exist. I learned the shape of it at Bloomberg Arts and I want more of it.
Long term, a space where young artists can be bad at something in front of other people and keep going. Free or close to it, in New York, for kids who don't already have the connections.
If any of this is something you're working on too — a program, a season, a company, a class — I'd like to hear from you.
The one-pager
Say hello
If you're casting, hiring, programming a season, running a program, or building something you think I'd be good for — write to me. I answer everything. Students and younger dancers with questions, that goes for you too.
kaelivf@gmail.com