Ms Kristen Barnes

Ms. Kristen, coming from three generations of dancers, also has a passion for dance. Growing up in Mandeville, Louisiana, she started attending dance class at three years old at Pembo Cieutat Dance Academy under the direction of Kim Speziale, a certified Dance Master of America and Louisiana Association of Dance Masters teacher. Ms Kristen has been trained in tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical and acrobatics. During her high school years, she was also involved in musical theater under the direction of Patricia Shaff, a musical theater director and Mary Dee Brinkman, a DMA certified instructor with training from ABT. Ms. Kristen performed choreography taken straight from Broadway for productions of Beauty and the Beast, George M!, Singing in the Rain, and Anything Goes. In her senior year of high school she was chosen among candidates from across the country to perform with Kelly Clarkson, Trace Adkins and Ashlee Simpson during the halftime show of the 2005 Orange Bowl in Miami, FL. Ms. Kristen attended college at The University of Southern Mississippi where she  was part of the Dixie Darlings, a precision dance team, under the direction of Tracy Smith. Her performing highlight of college was dancing in the pregame and halftime show at Lambeau field in Green Bay, WI.