Kendra Kimbrough Barnes

​​Kendra Kimbrough Barnes has studied Contemporary, African, Brazilian, Indian, Dunham & Horton Techniques. She has performed with the late Malonga Casquelourd’s Fua Dia Congo, Chitresh Das’ Chhandam School of Kathak Dance, and Carlos Aceituno as well as projects with Donald Byrd, Robert Moses, Bebe Miller, Bill T. Jones, and Rosangela Silvestre. In 1996 she founded the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble (KKDE). Most recent works include notable dance-dramas: Home Is That Way?, with the mentorship of Rhodessa Jones, In The Meantime, and Angst in collaboration with Delina Patrice Brooks. In The Meantime was the 2017 recipient of PUSHfest Audience Choice Award for Best Choreography. Currently Ms. Barnes is collaborating with Oakland veteran vocalist Jennifer Johns on ReD zONE, a work dedicated to the ritual of healing from sexual assault. She has been a guest choreographer for San Francisco State University Dance Department, Dimensions Extensions Youth Performance Ensemble, Move Dance Theater of Oakland, and Abundant Life Christian Fellowship (staging a 100+ cast for a 4,000+ audience). KKDE has presented work at the East Bay Dance Festival, Alice Arts Center, the Black Choreographers Festival, Summerfest/WestWave Dance Festival, ODC Pilot, PUSHfest and Dance Mosaic. Barnes has taught dance to adults and children of all ages through Dimension’s Rites of Passage program in Oakland at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts and jazz, Pilates and yoga at San Mateo, Laney and SF City Colleges. She has been an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts and CounterPULSE. Her work as co-choreographer (with Latanya d Tigner) for CalShakes’ Black Odyssey was a finalist for the Theater Bay Area Best Choreography Award and she was the 2018 recipient of a Broadway World award for Best Choreography as Choreographer for the African American Shakespeare Company’s (AASC) production of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Other work includes AASC's "Black Eagles" and Crowded Fire Theater's "INKED Baby" Barnes is also co-founder/director for the Black Choreographers Festival (BCF), along with Laura Elaine Ellis (AAAPAC). Since 2005 BCF has served local, national and international artists with over 150 public events, acknowledging the diverse artistic expression within the context of African and African American dance and culture. Under her direction, K*Star*Productions, the presenting organization for BCF and KKDE, has received funding from the City of Oakland Cultural Arts Program, CA$H, The Irvine Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Fund, Alameda County Arts Commission, East Bay Community Foundation, California Arts Council, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, and The Walter and Elise Haas Fund Foundation.​ Barnes holds a BA in Dance from San Francisco State University and a MA in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University. She graduated with honors and is a recipient of the "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges" Award and "Who's Who Among American Women.” ​A long time community and adjunct dance instructor she currently teaches dance at UC Berkeley and freelances as an administrator, teacher, and choreographer.