Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Alana Melene Yost began her dance studies at age 11, training privately with Dawn Haas-Rhude and Becky Szimart. From 2002-2006, “Miss Alana” trained at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a B.S.B.A. in Dance. Yost performed with the resident company where she was awarded the Deane Lenhart Scholarship for Excellence in Dance. In the meantime, she started training at Steps on Broadway under the direction of David Howard and Kathryn Sullivan.
In 2007, she was invited to attend the Steps on Broadway Contemporary Intensive where she was a guest dancer with Heidi Latsky Dance Company. From 2007-2010, Yost was a scholarship student at Steps on Broadway where she advanced her training with Wilhelm Burmann, Max Stone, Lisa Lockwood and Brice Mousett.
During this time, she stood as Assistant Choreographer at the 80th Annual Academy Awards under the direction of cinema dance legend John O’Connell. In the fall of 2009, she choreographed the closing to Malan Breton’s runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.
Recently, Yost received one of two partial scholarships given annually to The Mark Morris Summer Dance Intensive. She also presented her work for Fashion Week in September, 2011 at Lincoln Center and was just awarded a scholarship to the Mark Morris Winter Dance Intensive. This is her first year with A2D and she is very excited to be bringing her experience to the students!
