Kierstyn Zaykoski is National Director for the New York Institute of Dance & Education, Reaching for Higher Ground Consulting, and part of the Executive Implementation team for Global Initiatives. She is an Executive Coach and Organizational Health Manager Nationally, guiding clients to solutions that set trends and answer necessary questions. Kierstyn has a diverse experience and expertise in the arts, business, and performance; but also, universal and specific understanding others may not, being a white woman who has earned her way to helping to lead a Black and women led arts organization for more than a decade. As a designer and producer, she is extremely well versed in event operations, graphic and film design, marketing and advertising, and leads the Media Production division for the Institute’s Global and National footprint.
Kierstyn is a McLeod Technique and Reinforced Motor Function ® expert, and worked with Ph.D. Alison C. DeSimone, Ph.D. Alison H. Graettinger, and Karen Brown (Ballet legend, Dance Theatre of Harlem) all University of Missouri at Kansas City Professors, as well as with McLeod Technique Founder Sean McLeod (President, New York Institute of Dance & Education) creating a UMKC version of a national College Course. Dance Science: McLeod Technique Reinforced Motor Function (a Black-created dance Technique); gained approval from the UMKC Essentials Executive Committee and the Assessment Committee, and became an Essential Course at the University in 2021, one of the country’s only Black-created dance vocabularies taught at university.
As a facilitator, Kierstyn has led many political and corporate forums and was the Chair of IGNITE – Cayuga County’s Young Professionals Organization as part of the Chamber of Commerce. She has hosted Republican and Democratic Debates, Political Town Halls, and facilitated training and Panel Discussions. Kierstyn has taught and tutored all ages Internationally for over a decade both in person and online, She co-founded the Kid Land University Language Company and specialized in global teaching of English as a second language.
Ms. Zaykoski is a certified Master Teacher and a graduate of the State University of New York at Potsdam with a degree in Early Childhood/ Childhood Education and a minor in Dance. She is a New York Dance Festival Choreographic Fellow at the School of American Ballet and preparing works for premiere in Europe in 2024. Kierstyn is a Principal Soloist of Classical Ballet and Modern Dance, and a choreographer with the Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre. In a tour through Europe, she premiered a new choreographic work Oublié: Le Don de la Pandémie, for Pointe, exploring the impact of Covid, at the Dora Stratou Theatre in Athens Greece in June of 2023. The work was created by American Director and Choreographer, Sean McLeod, and composed by Emmy Nominated Composer Ryan Chase. Additionally, she has toured, teaching, and lecturing internationally to Barbados, Italy, and Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece and has performed on professional stages in New York City, Kansas, Italy, Greece, and Barbados.