At just 22-years-old, McKinlee Phillips is the Owner of Next Generation Dance Company in Peterborough.
Being a dancer since she was just 6-years-old, Phillips quickly turned to the teaching side of things when she became a teacher’s assistant at 9, and an official teacher when she was 16-years-old.
She made the decision to open Next Generation after her former teacher, Julie Fallis, closed her studio in June 2021. McKinlee says Julie helped encourage her to take on the challenge of opening another studio, as there was now dozens of kids in the Peterborough-area without a dance school.
Phillips doesn’t take days off either, as she studies at York University and Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto during the week, and teaches all day on Saturday and Sundays. As a young business owner, she says her biggest challenge is self-doubt, which she feels like lots of young people deal with.
When it comes to advice for other young people who want to transition into teaching dance, she says education is the most important thing you can do. The ability to never stop learning is important, both while dancing and while mentoring others.
Phillips adds that in the next five to ten years, she’d love to see her studio expand past the 50-or-so students she has now, as well as potentially opening another location.
To learn more about McKinlee and her story, listen here:
(Written by: Matt Latour)
