Website: https://balletlubbock.org/leadership/yvonne-racz-key/

Yvonne Racz Key is the artistic director of Ballet Lubbock and a faculty member at Texas Tech University. Her teaching approach blends inclusive pedagogy with functional anatomy. Under her leadership, Ballet Lubbock was appointed as a resident artist organization at the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences.

Her teaching and leadership philosophy includes inclusive methods and anatomical knowledge, diverse casting and storytelling, and community collaborations.  Yvonne is the 2022 recipient of the National Dance Education Organization Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Independent Sector. A School of American Ballet Visiting Fellow, she is also a Fulbright Scholar, set to impart her teaching at the Hungarian Dance University in Budapest in 2024. Yvonne holds a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Utah. She performed with Maryland Ballet, Desrosiers Dance Theatre, Urban Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hispanico of N.Y., Arena Stage, and Cirque Du Soleil, earning acclaim in VOGUE, TIME, and Dance Magazine, and touring across Canada, South America, and South Korea. As a choreographer, her collaborations with the Texas Tech School of Music, Lubbock Symphony, and Texas Tech Women's Choir showcase her artistic versatility. She has shared her insights on ballet's positive impacts in a TEDx talk, earning accolades such as The Arts Alliance Dynamic Force ACE award, YWCA's Woman of Excellence in Culture, and the Louise Hopkins Underwood Arts Center's "Performing Arts Award." Yvonne has been a guest teacher at several institutions, from Dallas Black Dance Theatre to Ballet Hispanico to Budapest Dance Theatre.