Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, she began her training with Alecia Good and also at the Kansas City Ballet School under the direction of Karen P. Brown, spending her summers at the School of American Ballet in New York City.  They continued their training at the Professional Division program at Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle, WA., where they regularly performed with the company. 

Professionally, Elayna has danced with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Colorado Ballet/Colorado Ballet Studio Company, Black Label Movement, BodyCartography Project, and with Cie. Ismael Ivo at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival and in São Paulo, Brazil.

She was a member of TU Dance from 2012 to 2019, performing works by Alvin Ailey, Dwight Rhoden, Jawole Willa Jo Zoller, Katrin Hall, Francesca Harper, Stephanie Batten-Bland, Gioconda Barbuto, and Gregory Dolbashian among others. They were part of the original creation team of Come Through, the collaboration between TU Dance and Grammy-award winning musical group Bon Iver. Through this collaboration Elayna performed at the Hollywood Bowl (LA, CA), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), and at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (Manchester, TN).

Elayna is 2019 recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Dance, through which they worked with choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith on an original solo.

Previous choreographic commissions include Minnesota Dance Theatre, University of Minnesota Dance Department (2022 Cowles Visiting Artist), Carleton College Dance Department, Threads Dance Project, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, University of Minnesota Opera Theatre, and Zenon Dance Zone among others.