Keelan Whitmore began creative movement classes in the C.A.P.A. program at West Middle School in Rockford, Illinois where he also studied acting, choreography, clarinet, technical theater, and voice.

He went on to train at Rockford Dance Company and later graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 1999. As a charter member of the Joffrey Ballet School/New School University, Whitmore continued his training with David Howard, Rebecca Wright, Trinette Singleton, Elanor D’Antuano, and John Magnus.

In 2001, he was invited by artistic director William Whitener to join Kansas City Ballet. In his five seasons with KCB, his repertory included George Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, Agon, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Square Dance, Concerto Barrocco, Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Nacho Duato’s Jardi Tancat, Merce Cunningham’s Duets, Todd Bolender’s Danses Concertante, Voyager, Chopin Piano Pieces, and Daniel Nagrin’s solo A Strange Hero.

In 2005, Whitmore co-founded the Kansas City-based multi-disciplinary 
Quixotic Performance Ensemble with local media artist and musician Anthony Magliano. Together, they assembled various arts organizations in abandoned downtown storefronts and turned the raw spaces into performance venues for visual art installations, dance, multi-media, classical and world music, and opera—all in one evening, under one roof.

After departing Kansas City in 2006, Whitmore joined Alonzo King LINES Ballet where was involved in more than a dozen nationally and internationally touring creations over seven seasons.

In 2006, he joined the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, traveling to the Edinburgh Dance Festival and also performing at the Kennedy Center.

From 2014-2021 he was a member of Tanz Theater Münster (Germany) performing works by Hans Henning Paar, Thomas Noone, Toula Limnaios, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, and James Wilton and where he was awarded the prize for Outstanding Artist by the Gesellschaft der Musik- und Theaterfreunde Münsters und des Münsterlandes e.V.

Whitmore returned to Theater Münster Tanz for their 2022/2023 season as a guest artist and coordinator of Community Outreach and Diversity.  He is currently pursuing his M.A. in Arts and Cultural Management at the Leuphana University/Goethe Institute in Lüneburg, Germany and is the designated Rehearsal Director and Community Liaison for Philadelphia’s premiere contemporary ballet company, BalletX .