How did your interest in dance come about?
My dad was a police officer and a DJ on the side. He passed away from a fatal car accident when I was a year old. When my mom was pregnant with me, he put his headset around my mother’s stomach and I would respond to it. I would start kicking. My mom said it was very uncomfortable for her but was amazing to feel that I was responding to sound in that way. My dad had a big influence on my love for music and my reaction to it–which is movement. I would say that it started before I existed into the world. When I came out, I was moving to music.
I started dancing on the praise dance team in the church when I was three. My mom paid attention to what I loved to do and what I was good at. I thank my mom for that. When I was four, I started Tap. This was the first time I was in a dance class, getting technical training. I got bored with that–they weren’t promoting me because of my age. I was frustrated so I stopped but didn’t stop dancing in church.
My mom came across a dance studio called Uptown Dance Academy. My mom was very involved. At nine years old, that’s when I started to learn everything–Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Jazz, African, Acrobatics. The director wanted her students to be well-rounded, so wherever we went in the dance industry, we would be equipped. This is when I really started to think about what I wanted to do in the future, as a profession. I didn’t know how that would look but I knew I wanted to dance.
How did you get a vision for where you could go with dance?
I wanted to be on Broadway or music videos because I didn’t really see any representation for me to be a concert dancer or ballet dancer. I didn’t see that for me because I didn’t see anyone hit that mark. Then, there were different teachers that would come into the school that would encourage me to get outside of the little box of Uptown Dance Academy and branch off because they saw how talented I was.
I wanted to go into a performing arts school–PPAS, Professional Performing Arts School. All of my peers that I looked up to went to that school. It was also connected to Alvin Alley. The people at PPAS went to Alvin Alley junior division to get their training.
This was the time when I started to know who Alvin Alley was. I saw commercials, buses, and I saw people that looked like me. People also used to tell me that I looked like an Alvin Alley dancer, so Alvin Alley started to be in my scope. Then I said, ‘I think this is what I want to go for. I think I can do this’.
In retrospect, how have you seen God’s hand on your life as you were pursuing dance?
I wanted to go to PPAS, but I didn’t get in. This is where God really showed up in my story. So I went to LaGuardia High School which is technically the number one high school in New York City. It’s the “Fame” school. Nicki Minaj, Wesley Snipes, Samuel Jackson, the Wayne brothers went to this school. And Desmond Richardson, Linda Celeste Sims, all of these dance legends went to LaGuardia. I had no knowledge of this though.
So I got into LaGuardia High School and I did not like it. I cried at first because again, I wanted to be at PPAS. However, God knew his plans for me. He had plans to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me “hope and a future”. That’s where I saw this scripture really take place in my life. My time at LaGuardia was really hard for me being a young adolescent just trying to find my identity and my place, and wanting to fit in. But I met my best friend at LaGuardia High School and I met my mentor there as well, and actually got the amazing training that I was able to get. It was a re-direction. God was like, “No, you’re not going to PPAS. Yes, you’re going to LaGuardia because I have plans for you.”
How did you break into the world of dance as a professional and into Alvin Ailey?
When someone believes in you, it gives you the courage to believe in yourself as well. The ounce of faith that my mentor had in me helped me to be the woman that I am and the artist that I am now. After all that [my high school journey], I saw my success starting to skyrocket from just being under my mentor’s wing. I was casted [in a show] and someone saw the show, then I was casted to be in Aida in Taiwan when I was 18. From Aida, I started getting freelance work. I worked with George Faison and that’s when I went to the Ailey School, then [ultimately] I got into Alvin Ailey’s dance company. Right out of high school I started my professional dance career, by the grace of God. And this is what I mean by the plans to prosper me because at this time is when I really started to seek God for myself.
God gave me [opportunity] to persevere in getting into [Alvin Ailey] the company. It took some time. I got to the school when I was 20 or 21 and I got into the second company when I was [about] 24. So it was years, and I auditioned for the company [about] five times. When I got into the second company, that was a great encouragement. But still I wanted to be in the [main] company, so there was still work to be done. I think I had to just keep pushing, keep the faith.
I got a job in Europe for a couple of weeks, in Germany, and I had come to a place of surrender. That was the year I got it [the Alvin Ailey company]. When you’re surrendered, that means complete peace. You’re at peace with whatever decision God decides to make. And so that allowed more freedom in my movement in the room. I wasn’t so intense, and I mean it is intense. I said ‘I’m just going to have fun. I’m going to do my best and whatever it is, it is’. Being surrendered allowed me to perform better in the audition room. It didn’t take away the intensity of it, but I was able to enjoy it and be in the moment. And I got the job that year.
How did your childhood influence you to seek God?
I grew up pretty religious–traditional, especially [living] in the African-American community–you go to church every Sunday. My grandmother was heavily involved in the church as well. So I was put into different ministries [including] the praise dance team. I was in the choir. I was in the youth group. But I really wasn’t connected to the “why”. I was just doing the things because this is what you do. But it did give me a foundation and I did gain a genuine love for God.
My grandmother planted that seed in me and I’m very grateful for that. But as a teenager I was very sheltered so I wanted to do what my friends were doing. The world became attractive to me. So I just wanted a little taste of that freedom–what I thought freedom was. It was really me being enslaved by my sin because I couldn’t say “no”. Freedom is actually having a choice to say “yes” or “no”. The big one was relationships with men. With the absence of a father, wanting to be loved and protected, I ventured out. I think God [let me] hit rock bottom because of these things. This is what allowed me to seek God for myself again.
How did you become a disciple of Jesus?
My high school years were a mess, but I reflected on my life and was like “whoa”. My success started to rise when I was 18. It’s like, “How am I even getting these jobs? This is totally God how my career is evolving in this way”. So, I started to go to different churches because I wasn’t being spiritually fed anymore at the church that I went to–whatever that meant at the time. I was just trying to find my way, trying to find the truth. I still didn’t really quite get it–I just had this urge to fully commit my life to God again. And this is when the idea of baptism kept coming up for me. I didn’t know what that meant–I just knew that I wanted to be baptized. I was baptized or “christened” as a baby, but I knew that was not my doing. It wasn’t my faith, it was my grandmother’s. So as an adult who is seeking a personal relationship with God for herself, I wanted to get baptized and really connect and commit my life to God because of the miracles he was doing in my life.
In 2018, after an Alvin Ailey show, two disciples, Shannon and Ernest, came to the show and invited me to church along with my two other friends. Because of my religious pride, I said, “I go to church. No thank you”. That was it. I wasn’t ready. I still have a message from Shannon inviting me to an open mic and I ignored it. A year later, 2019, my best friend Raven was studying the Bible after someone reached out to her. There was a Bible discussion that happened every week for people to join and talk about faith openly and candidly. I went with Raven to the Bible discussion. One of the women, Dara, asked me if I wanted to study the Bible, and started that night. That was the beginning of my discipleship. I studied the Bible and I really understood the “why”. This is how I’m supposed to live my life. I finally got Christianity, the cross, Jesus. I finally got it.
One of the studies we call, The Cross, broke me apart. I really got to see how my sin put Jesus on the cross, and that he was willing to go through such agonizing pain for me to be reconciled with him. Really seeing and facing my sin, whoa. I was totally heartbroken by my sin and what it did to God, and I was overwhelmed by his love to endure such pain so that I can live a life on earth that is free. Live a life here on earth that brings forth healing and peace and ultimately so that I can have access to eternity. I said, “Wow, yes, where’s the water?” That’s when I got baptized, July 21, 2019 across from Radio City Music Hall.
What’s one of the challenges that you face at work as a dancer?
Not conforming to the patterns of the world (Romans 12:1-2). I think I needed to gain convictions about modesty in dance because I think in my early discipleship, I would rationalize it. “Well, this is just dance. It’s not real life. I’m not being openly promiscuous. We’re telling a story. We’re acting.” Then a scripture that really helped me sit down and reflect was Deuteronomy 14:2, which basically says, ‘you’re holy and you’re set apart’. And then there’s another one in 1 Corinthians 10:31 where it says, ‘whether you eat or drink, do it for the glory of God’. And so I really had to sit down and think, ‘is what I’m doing glorifying God? And do I look like everyone else? Am I set apart? Am I representing Christ in a way that he would want to be represented?’
When I became a disciple, my identity was no longer in my craft, but in Christ. And when your identity is in Christ, everything else proceeds what you do–your actions, the way you think, everything follows that. I think that has really helped me to be set apart and to build certain convictions. How I go about it is just simply having a conversation with them or telling them, ‘I am not comfortable with this outfit. Is there something else that I can wear?’ A lot of photo shoots were like that for me.
It wasn’t like that at first though. I really struggled with this. I think I was scared to lose my status because I worked my way up so far. So now to tell them I can’t do this or I can’t wear that, I was thinking, what if they no longer choose me for things or what if I don’t get the success that I want now. The core was a lack of trust in God. What really helped me with this challenge is Esther. Esther Chapter 4, when Modecai says ‘you have come to your position for such a time as this.’ The royal position is Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in the world. Since it’s prestigious, people would say it’s “dance royalty”. But if I lose this job, if I don’t get the parts, if I don’t get the success, it is what it is. “If I perish, I perish.”
This verse implies that for me, I was put into this royal position to glorify God. I was put into this royal position to bring a knowledge of truth to all men. Just like Esther was put into that position to save her people, so was I. I was in that position to save souls. Not for status. Not for fame. And so I think that’s what helped ground me.
I remember going to one of my directors, a well-known choreographer, and telling them that I was not going to do a lead part and I wanted to be taken out of a piece. I was actually taken out of a dance piece because of my convictions. I still got my dream role though. Nothing changed really, but I believe I made a greater impact without compromising my faith.
What does your morning routine look like?
I start my day praying and getting into the Word of God. I’m not perfect and sometimes struggle with distractions, but I need it. It’s my living water and I need that to set my mind on things above. I need that so that I’m walking like Jesus, that when people see me, they see Him. I don’t really have a big morning routine. I think the most prominent and special part of my morning is my times with God. I would sometimes play music. In the morning, you can wake up feeling all types of things. So I listen to music to soften my heart and to get me into the mood to be in his presence. Sometimes I’ll sing, sometimes I’ll dance–just dancing with God. And then I read my Bible.
Right now I’m trying to read through the Bible again and working on my discipline as well. Because I can go with how I’m feeling that day, I think this year I’m working on really sticking to a structure–sticking to the plan. Faith comes from hearing the Word and so I want to read through the Bible again.
And then I will go to different resources, maybe Enduring Word or text analysis, sometimes Chat GBT–to really go in depth of what I’m reading. I usually pray before or after. It can look like me going on a prayer walk overlooking the highway. I’m not too far from Riverside–that’s like my garden of Gethsemane.
I would typically eat something–I’m not really a big breakfast person. But if I do, I would cook maybe turkey sausage and potatoes–home fries with peppers, onions, and all the things. If not, I’m buying something from the store. And then it could look like getting into a Bible study. And right now I’m producing a show called “Glory“ and I set up a schedule to really put my time into that. I’m reaching out to people, doing all the things that I need to do for the show.
What is God teaching you right now?
At this season of my life, God is calling me to greater intimacy with him. I think with me reading through the Bible, all of the great leaders, Moses, Abraham, David, the theme is, they were successful or they led Israel to victories because they knew and walked closely with God. And that word “knew” means (I actually got it from Lauren who is on a podcast called “Call It Candid – the Purity Podcast”) the intimacy that you would have between a husband and wife or that you would have with a friend, a close friend. In scripture it will always say [something like] ‘Cain knew his wife’. And then there’s a scripture that says ‘Get away from me. I never knew you’. Those two words are the same. He wants to know me like that–as if He is my husband. That connection between a husband and wife is that intimacy that God wants from us. And so this is the intimacy that Abraham, Moses, and David had with God.
I think he’s calling me into greater intimacy specifically because of the show. It says David was successful because he walked closely with God. I think the success of this show I’m trying to do for God is not going to come from my striving or my effort. It’s going to come from me inquiring of the Lord and walking closely with him.
When it comes to the desires of my heart, I desire to be married and all of the things. I think what I am desiring most is intimacy. I’m 31, I’m at the season where I’m desiring intimacy with a person that God might have for me, but that intimacy, I can get that from God and more. I think that’s what I actually want as a woman at this age. It’s good to have that desire, but that intimacy you get from God…“Is He enough?” Yeah. So that’s what I think the intimacy part of this season of my life [is about].
I think I will be fulfilled when it comes to the desires of my heart. He’s the only one that can ultimately fulfill me. It’s not going to come from a man or a relationship. And even the seasons of disappointment, David allowed his hardships to draw him into deeper intimacy with God. That’s how we have the Psalms. I feel like it comes back to being a woman that walks closely with God and everything else will fall into place. That’s what I’m learning.
If you live in the New York area and would like to do a Bible study with Khalia or with her ministry, email info@riseandshinebright.com or contact Khalia directly by direct message on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/khalia.campbell
If you’d like to support and/or see the debut of her upcoming show in September 2025 called “Glory”, go to https://www.glorydance.org