Yvonne Racz Key

Artistic Director

Under her artistic direction, Yvonne Racz Key has established Ballet Lubbock as a nationally recognized pre-professional ballet school that is home to a regional performing company and an outreach program.

Passionate about dance education and young dancers’ development, she actively oversees Ballet Lubbock’s curriculum by teaching regularly and developing and focusing its syllabus and programs.

Her guest teaching includes dance workshops worldwide, including NOW Dance, Mexico, and Budapest Dance Theatre. Ms. Racz has also given a TEDx talk on the positive effects of ballet training on young people. She is a member of the Corps De Ballet International, has served on the Texas Commission on the Arts for the Young Masters Program Dance Panel, and her awards include: The Arts Alliance Dynamic Force ACE Award, YWCA’s Woman of Excellence, LHUCA’s “Performing Arts Award,” and a designation as one of Lubbock’s 100 Most Influential Persons from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

She appears in publications such as Vogue, TIME, and Southern Living for her artistic achievements. Dance Magazine‘s review quotes: “Yvonne Racz…with legs and arms as fluid as a Kirov Swan as well as a poignancy that is emotionally wrenching”.

Ms. Racz began her dance training with Deborah Boughton in Syracuse, New York, and continued her training with Lubbock Civic Ballet under founder Suzanne Aker and Leonid Lubarsky. She attended the University of Utah, where she performed in the Utah Ballet Company under teachers Li-Chou Cheng, Bene Arnold, Conrad Ludlow, and Attila Ficzre. After graduating with a B.A. in Humanities, Yvonne danced professionally with the Maryland Ballet, Desrosiers Dance Theatre (Canada), Urban Ballet Theater (New York), Ballet Hispanico of New York, and Cirque Du Soleil. She has performed in professional theater productions, including Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage. She frequently presents her research on Theater Education in the Ballet Class at national conferences such as ATHE and recently received her MFA in Performance and Pedagogy from Texas Tech University. Yvonne is 2021-2022 School of American Ballet Visiting Fellow of their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative. She completed her certification in Functional Awareness® and Anatomy in Action and is now a FA®ME educator. Yvonne has presented at the Association of Theater Education (ATHE), Texas Educational
Theatre Association (TETA), CORPS de Ballet International, MoBB (Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet) and Dance Studies Association.

My Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

I recognize we have a responsibility to look within our school and challenge areas affected by racial inequality. How one teaches now is vital to a community. Rather than focusing on past detrimental practices, we resolve to implement inclusive pedagogy practices within ballet technique. I believe in our mission to teach young adults to embrace the study of dance as a focused, dedicated passion. We must strive to strengthen our practice enhancing cultural vibrancy and inclusive representation through our performances. For a ballet school, that means continuing to examine our curriculum, our representation in our faculty and dance history education, and reflecting how we present our stories onstage. We are holding ourselves to the high standard of doing better. Our goal is to maintain the rigorous demand for technique, simultaneously developing connections and propelling students forward as we promote cognitive, informed, and culturally aware dancers.