Yaman Kelemet was born in Chicago, Illinois, and began her dance education at the Salt Creek Ballet in Westmont, Illinois (2001-2014). At the age of fifteen, she began attending the high school dance program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the direction of Susan Jaffe. During her education there, she worked with many well-known dance educators and choreographers including Natalia Makarova, Helen Pickett, Eva Draw, and Ethan Stiefl. During this time, she earned the prestigious Gillian Murphy Scholarship for her schooling.
In 2017, she graduated and joined the Washington Ballet, where she worked as a trainee under the artistic direction of Julie Kent and danced in a number of repertoire performances there, such as Les Sylphides by Mikhail Fokin, Romeo and Juliet by John Cranko and Serenade by George Balanchine.
In July 2018, she was among a handful of dancers selected to represent the United States at the prestigious Jackson International Ballet Competition in Mississippi.
In August 2018, she joined SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana as a demi-soloist and was promoted to soloist in January 2022. She originated the role of Myrtha in Howard Quintero Lopez’s Giselle, Myrtle Wilson in Leo Mujić’s The Great Gatsby, and the Angel in Eno Peçi’s production of Angel. Some of her other roles include Juliet in Renato Zanella’s Romeo and Juliet, Christmas Spirit in Youri Vámos’s The Nutcracker, Medora and Gulnara in José Carlos Martínez’s Le Corsaire, Silver Soloist in Renato Zanella’s Opus 73, and the Lilac Fairy in Irek Mukhamedov’s production of The Sleeping Beauty.
She joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza in September 2022 as a soloist under the direction of Joaquín De Luz.
Instagram: @yamansballetblog
