Ashley grew up in Richmond, Missouri and began her studies in dance at the age of three. She received her formal training at age nine from the Kansas City Ballet School on full merit scholarship. After spending her senior year as a Student Apprentice with KCB she went on to study Ballet and Journalism through Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. There she had the privilege of being coached by Violette Verdy, Cynthia Gregory, Helen Starr, Michael Vernon, and Deborah Wingert, and was awarded the Friends of Music Scholarship and the National Society of Arts and Letters award.

In 2008 Ashley joined Louisville Ballet and enjoys dancing in the classics reimagined by Val Caniparoli, Robert Curran, Ronald Hynd, Alun Jones, André Prokovsky, and Bruce Simpson, as well as new works by Ma Cong, Tim Harbour, Adam Hougland, Lucas Jervies, Daniel Riley, Andrea Schermoly, and Amy Seiwert. So far her favorite experiences on the KPA stage have been the role of Ballerina in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Soloist in George Balanchine’s Rubies, and as The Sugar Plum Fairy in Val Caniparoli’s The Brown-Forman Nutcracker.

Ashley is a passionate advocate for the power performance art gives to a community, and was honored in receiving the 2015 Artist Enrichment Grant for her choreography through the Kentucky Foundation for Women. This springboard has led her to collaborate with Louisville Free Public Library, 21c Museum Hotel, and Kentucky Refugee Ministries. After a day of dancing, Ashley teaches within The Louisville Ballet School, Core Fluency Pilates, and manages the mind. body. balance. Adult Division.