Marlayna Locklear hails from Milwaukee, WI. She began her training at the age of 12 at City Ballet Theatre and went on to graduate from Milwaukee High School of the Arts and University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA with a BFA in Ballet and Jazz. Marlayna was one of the founding members of The Milwaukee Dance Connection and has gone on to dance with Eleone Dance Theatre, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dallas Black Dance Theatre II , Owen Cox Dance group , NuWorld Contemporary Danse Theatre,
Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company where she served as the company Jazz and Contemporary instructor as well as Resident Choreographer for DCDC II.
Marlayna is a freelance artist and teaches and choreographs at Universities around the nation.