Penn State Came to Hauppauge:
Kelsey Mickey's X Factor Class

If your dancer has ever watched a Penn State Lionettes gameday video and tried to pick up the pom sequence in the living room, this one was for them. On Monday, July 20, a current Lionette taught right here in Hauppauge.

Her name is Kelsey Mickey, and she was one of the headliners of the X Factor Series, the summer program from the DXNY Placement Collective that brings current college dancers to the studio to teach. Her class was open to dancers in grades 5 through 12, from any studio, whether the goal is making a college team one day or simply spending an afternoon learning from someone who is living it right now.

Who is Kelsey Mickey

Kelsey is a rising senior at Penn State University, where she studies Biomedical Engineering and dances as a fourth-year member of the Penn State Lionettes Dance Team. This fall she heads into her final season with the team.

For the past three years she has competed at UDA Nationals in both pom and jazz, two of the most demanding disciplines in college dance. Pom rewards sharpness, timing, and the kind of unison that only comes from hours of reps. Jazz rewards clean technique and the confidence to perform. Kelsey has spent three national seasons chasing both.

She also knows the other side of the room. Back home she teaches and choreographs at her hometown studio, and she works with Company 12 Pom and Dance to mentor and prepare younger dancers for the collegiate level. So this is not a champion who happens to be visiting. This is a teacher who has already spent years helping dancers exactly like yours get better.

What dancers worked on

Kelsey's class centered on pom and jazz technique: the foundations that carry a dancer from the studio floor to a college sideline. Real work on precision, timing, and performance quality, taught by someone who competes at that level every season.

More than the steps, dancers got a window into what collegiate dance actually asks of you. What the training looks like. What the standard feels like up close. For a dancer with a college team on their vision board, an afternoon like this is worth a season of guessing.

Who it was for

Two sessions, grouped by grade so every dancer was in the right room:

• Grades 5 to 7 at 12:00 PM
• Grades 8 to 12 at 2:00 PM

Dancers didn't need to be from DXNY or on a competition team. Any studio was welcome.

Want to see the rest of the summer lineup? The full X Factor Series runs through August, with current dancers from Ohio State, Michigan, Delaware, Wisconsin, and more. Any one of them could be the class your dancer remembers all year.