For seven years, Shelby Elsbree ’19GS worked as a professional ballerina, dancing for the world’s most renowned companies including The Royal Danish Ballet and Boston Ballet. Originally from Sarasota, Florida, Elsbree began her career when she was only 9 years old. She retired from the stage in 2016 to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at Columbia University School of General Studies.
During recent years, Elsbree received multiple yoga teacher certifications through Modo Yoga International, and she has made a career as a corporate and personal yoga instructor.
“As a former ballerina, I believe with my whole heart that mindful movement, music, and performing arts hold the power to change the world,” Elsbree said.
Elsbree found joy in striving to master the precision and technique of ballet as well as the immersion into the present moment that it provided.
“When you are dancing,” she said, “You really can’t be anywhere else but in that moment. It is one of the things I miss the most about not dancing anymore—that ease and access to the fullness of presence.”
When the global pandemic hit in 2020, it had a deleterious impact on performing arts and artists. Elsbree and her roommate in New York City, Jessica Cohen, also a former ballerina and Broadway star, wanted to support the mental health and wellness of performing artists who do not have financial access to often expensive wellness resources.
Combining her understanding of the power of presence through movement techniques, her Columbia psychology degree, and her yoga and wellness studies, in April 2021, the roommates launched Artists Becoming. The program is a four-week wellness workshop designed for performing artists to support their holistic well-being through mindful practice and a mentorship community. It combines yoga practices, visual guided meditations, and conversations with influential artists and psychologists in and around the industry.
The program invites a new cohort at the beginning of every month through a private Instagram feed @ArtistsBecoming. Elsbree said they have had overwhelming interest from artists of all types and ages, including Broadway stars, Olympians, ballet dancers, and opera singers ranging in age from 14 to 45.
"Artists Becoming resonates with artists who have been experiencing and processing their complicated emotions amid isolation. Most artists have been going through an identity crisis—their art form was taken away from them and with that, a large portion of their identity. You’re left to grapple with who you are, who are you without your art, who are you without your purpose. There has been a lot of deep digging, and to do that in isolation can be overwhelming,” said Elsbree. Artists Becoming provides a community where an artist can feel seen and proactively supported.
“I don’t see a world where the arts will squander the losses of this past year. I think it is going to metabolize the hardships of 2020 and turn out some of the most extraordinary artwork we have yet to experience.”
This article appears in the Fall 2021 print edition of The Owl, the alumni magazine of the Columbia University School of General Studies, with the title "Access to the Fullness of Presence: Shelby Elsbree ’19."
