Shelby grew up in the St. Louis dance community. She began pre-professional dance training under the direction of Lee Nolting and Alicia Graf Mack at the Center of Creative Arts. As a member of COCAdance she worked with Cecil Slaughter, Kate Skarpetowska, Jon Lehrer, Darrel Grand Moultrie as well as Emily and Matt Kent of Pilobolus. She studied further at NYU’s Tisch Summer Residency Festival (Repertoire by Robert Battle, Gina Gibney, and Ronald K. Brown), Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts (Repertoire by Kevin Wynn, Robin Dunn, Marlena Wolfe and Alenka Cizmesija), Alvin Ailey Professional Summer Intensive (Repertoire by Kirven Douthit-Boyd and Sonia Dawkins), and Complexions Professional Summer Intensive (Repertoire by Dwight Rhoden, Desmond Richardson and Jae Man Joo).

Graduating magna cum laude with a BFA in Modern Performance from the University of the Arts, she received the Stella Moore Prize for Four Years of Achievement and the Philadelphia Ballet Choreography Award. Shelby was a jazz instructor for the Pre-College Festival at UArts and rehearsal assistant for Hope Boykin, Mark Caserta, Meredith Rainey, and Gary Jeter. She danced professionally as a principal company member of Eleone Dance Theatre as well as a guest artist with both Waheed Works and DanceSpora in Philadelphia. 

Shelby’s the Founder & Creator ENERGY SPACE ® – a hybrid wellness center where she guides people along their journey to HEAL & ALIGN the connection between the body, mind, soul & spirit. As a traveling Teaching Artist, she instructs trainees in the Saint Louis Ballet Professional Training Program in Chesterfield as well as the DPU Company at Dance Productions Unlimited in Arnold as the Head of the Modern Department. She’s a Certified Pilates Instructor at Studio Ivanhoe in Lindenwood Park and at St. Louis City Fitness in Brentwood where she’s also the Media Marketing Manager. She’s an internationally certified Meditation Teacher specializing in Pranayama and Third Eye Awakening Techniques as well as an Usui Holy Fire® III Reiki Master Practitioner.