Michaela J. Smallwood (she/her/hers) was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland. She started dancing at the age of three, at the City Ballet School under Lauren Clowser. She attended Barbara Ingram School for the Fine Arts for dance, under the direction of Andrea Masciocchi. She was a former dancer with SEED Dance Company under the direction of Chelsea Shelton. She also trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet for two years in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She is now attending Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester Virginia, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Dance and her Bachelor of Science in Sociology. She recently attended the American College Dance Association to continue furthering her dance training in March 2022. Her performance highlights include performing in works by Tiffanie Carson, Maurice Fraga, and Erica Helm. She is an activist and a creator, her goals for her dance career are to push the ideas of change when it comes to body image and diversity in dance, showing the world that dance is not one set “look.”