Kendra is a New York-based dancer, choreographer, and culinary and events producer. Throughout her journey, Kendra has performed original works by renowned artists such as Laja Field, Lauren Edson, Rena Butler, Tamisha Guy, Wesley Ensminger, and Yin Yue. She has showcased her own choreographic works in platforms including Arts on Site, Moving Forward Dance, Gibney Pro, and Columbia Ballet Collaborative’s 2021 Choreographic Mentorship Program. Her training includes completion of the inaugural 2022 Gibney Pro cohort as a Ready Fellow, alongside holding a dual BA in Dance and Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Columbia University. Additionally, she has attended training programs including Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago and Orsolina28 in Italy, both times as an Alexa Rose Grantee. Her research at Columbia on vulnerability as a catalyst for deeper connection and meaning in dance has been shared with the Crystal Pite Foundation and Barnard Dance. Beyond dance, she co-founded ‘Be Home for Dinner!’, a cookout blending F&B industry with design via direct sourcing and community engagement.

As an artist, I am fascinated by the connection between kinesthesia, empathy, and dance. Integrating my classical dance training with academic background in research, I seek to understand how dance cultivates moments of vulnerability- in the rehearsal process, on stage, and in moments following work. Expanding outwards to include the world beyond dance, I continuously draw inspiration from, and practice applications of my understanding onto, the dynamic relationships we have among ourselves, each other, and with the world. This dynamism then translates physically into my work as a joy in playing between expansive movement and intricate specificity to develop narratives and evoke feeling. In the long term, I hope to apply the communication and critical thinking tools utilized in dance to provide a unique perspective on these ever-growing issues.

Photo by Gretchen Lemay