By Steve Sucato

Celebrated as Ohio Contemporary Ballet’s (OCB) quintessential ballerina and featured in many of the company’s most memorable pas de deux over the past several years, dancer Kelly Korfhage will take her final bow with the company this Saturday, August 1, 2026.

OCB’s free outdoor concert Celebrating a Decade of Grace at Lincoln Park in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood will honor the company star with a repertory program that includes some of her favorite ballets and the Cleveland premiere of choreographer Danielle Diniz’s Spanish-flavored ballet “Red Rhythm.” 

A native of Cleveland, the statuesque Korfhage began her dance training at age 3 and serious ballet training under Royal School of Ballet, Inc.’s Joanne H. Morscher and former Cleveland San Jose Ballet dancer Ana Lobe at age 10. She then attended the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, graduating with a BFA in Ballet Performance. Her professional career began with Kansas City Ballet 2 before joining Ohio Contemporary Ballet (then Verb Ballets) in 2016. With OCB, she has originated several roles in new ballets and has toured with the company to Cuba and Taiwan. 

Dr. Margaret Carlson, Producing Artistic Director of Ohio Contemporary Ballet, reflected on Korfhage’s time with the company: “Kelly’s artistry has been a gift to this company and to our audiences for a decade. Her exquisite technique and beautiful use of line have elevated every work she has touched. But what makes Kelly truly irreplaceable is her kind heart and quiet leadership. She has shaped the culture of this company in ways that will long outlast her final bow.” 

I spoke with Korfhage recently about her career, company life, and what’s next for the 34-year-old.

What was it that drew you to dance?
When I was very young, my mother put me in dance at a local recital studio for an hour a week. I was involved in competitive gymnastics growing up, and taking dance classes helped with my coordination. I got serious about dance and ballet at age ten.

What was it about ballet that had you choose it over gymnastics?
From my first class at ten at a new studio where there was a power failure, and we didn’t have music to dance to, I knew I loved ballet. There was something about ballet technique and its structure that spoke to me. I liked the strictness of it and the idea that this is right, and this is wrong, and then being given detailed instructions on how to do it properly.

Were there other things that influenced you to pursue ballet?
I remember seeing the ballet movie Center Stage when I was young, and that had an impact on me. Also, Pennsylvania Ballet came one year to perform The Nutcracker at Playhouse Square, and I auditioned and was chosen to be a soldier in it. Being backstage and seeing the professional dancers was very exciting.

Did you have any other career aspirations growing up?
No. Once I reached high school, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but dance. 

Why the choice to go to the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music instead of joining a professional ballet company after high school?
At the time, I wanted to do a trainee or apprenticeship with a ballet company, but others convinced me I needed to get a college degree. I don’t regret my decision to do so; I got a scholarship to attend, and I enjoyed my time there learning other ballet styles.

How did you end up joining Ohio Contemporary Ballet (formerly Verb Ballets)?
After college, I joined Kansas City Ballet 2, and our company manager was Anthony Krutzkamp, who had previously choreographed a work on Verb Ballets. I was at the end of my tenure at Kansas City Ballet 2, and he told me about the company and put in a recommendation for me. I was hired as an apprentice in 2016.

What kept you at OCB?
I felt fulfilled. I loved the family atmosphere. Everyone here was important and filled a niche, and there were a lot more opportunities to dance being a smaller company.

Why retire from OCB now?
There are a lot of reasons: age, finances, and your body gets tired. I have other goals I need to fulfill, including wanting to have a family, and I can’t complete those goals working full-time as a dancer. It feels like now is the right time to move on. 

What will you miss about dance company life?
I will miss the camaraderie. It is not like a normal job; the intimacy you share with your co-workers is unique. I will miss coming to work every day and rehearsing with them. I will also miss the adrenaline rush of performing and the feelings you get after a performance.

Will you miss performing?
Performing was probably my least favorite thing about being a dancer. I struggled with performance anxiety in my career. I think it had a lot to do with wanting to be perfect and being hard on myself, thinking that rehearsals went way better than the shows. As I got older and more mature as an artist, I was able to let go of seeking to be perfect and enjoy showcasing what we had worked on so long in the studio and providing audiences with a form of escapism from life’s troubles.   

What won’t you miss?
I won’t miss the financial struggle of being a dancer in a small company, and I won’t miss relying on my body and its health to do everything. 

What is your biggest strength as a dancer?
I think my adagio work and anything where I can make a nice line.

Do you have a favorite step or trick you are known for?
Grand allegro (large, expansive jumps and leaps that cover significant space across the floor). 

What were some favorite roles or ballets that you have danced in at OCB?
I love the restagings of historical works, so I have really enjoyed dancing the Heinz Poll ballets the company has presented, including the Andante Sostenuto duet from the ballet Triptych, the pas de deux from Rococo Variations, and the ballet Schubert Waltzes. I also enjoyed the pas de deux from Gerald Arpino’s Light Rain and his ballet Celebration.

What ballets were at the top of your list that you didn’t get to dance?
Earlier in my career, I got to dance George Balanchine’s Serenade and The Four Temperaments, but it would have been fun to have danced more of Balanchine’s ballets.

What is the best piece of advice you got about dancing?
To keep showing up even when it is hard. You will improve as long as you keep trying your best.

Do you have any hobbies outside of dance?
I enjoy taking care of plants. I love cruising (Cruise Ship vacations) and going to theme parks.

What is next career-wise? I know you studied to be a real estate agent not long ago.
I may revisit being a real estate agent someday, but for now I am going back to school to become a physical therapy assistant. 

You are also engaged to former OCB dancer Antonio Morillo; when’s the wedding?
December.

Do you see yourself freelancing as a dancer, choreographing, teaching, or doing something else in dance in the future?
Teaching. Over the years, I have begun to realize I love teaching as much or more than dancing. I haven’t decided on whether I will dance again, but I will take class when I can. 

What advice do you have for young dancers wanting to pursue a dance career?
Never compare yourself to someone else. It is a tough career to find your way, and a lot of the time, it is being in the right place at the right time. If you really want it, you have to stick to it to make it happen.

For this Saturday’s Celebrating a Decade of Grace, Korfhage will perform one of her most celebrated pas de duex, Poll’s “Adagio for Two Dancers” (1973) with dancer Isaac Hileman. Set to Tomaso Albinoni’s “Adagio for Strings and Organ,” it is one of the late German choreographer’s finest works, with daring partnered lifts and sculptural body positions. Its imagery is of a man and woman dancing under the ethereal light of a cathedral window.

Korfhage will also perform in Richard Dickinson’s “Paganini Rhapsody” (2019), a contemporary ballet set to Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” It is said to capture the intricate rhythms and emotional depth of Rachmaninoff’s music, with choreography that embodies the dynamic shifts in tempo and mood. In it, she will be paired with her fiancé Morillo as a guest dancer.

She will also be featured in the Paul Taylor masterwork “Airs” (1978) danced to music by George Frideric Handel. The 25-minute work in Taylor’s signature classic modern dance style has its seven dancers moving through spatial patterns that utilize a flow of energy from shape to shape within them.

The aforementioned “Red Rhythm” rounds out the program with 15 minutes of energetic dancing that blends tango, Broadway, and ballet styles with fiery Flamenco dance attitude. 

Ohio Contemporary Ballet performs Celebrating a Decade of Grace, 8:30 p.m., Saturday, August 1, 2026, at Lincoln Park in Cleveland, Ohio’s Tremont neighborhood. 1200 Starkweather Avenue. The show is FREE thanks to the generosity of OCB’s summer performance series sponsor, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. Reservations are highly recommended. Visit ocballet.org/tremont26. Guests are invited to bring blankets and/or a chair for lawn seating.