Kendra Portier

the real: kendra loves dance. loves to dance. heartbreakingly. movement is integral. its the way we first learn. unspoken language. secret codifications. secret agreements. without a common tongue, the skin, the pupils, the heart: speaking on their own. make things. do things. see things. listen.

the rub: Originally from Columbus, Ohio; Kendra was born and raised commune style. She trained and performed with BalletMet and later received a BFA in dance from the Ohio State University, but not before she pursued professional photography, worked for the Smithsonian Institute, and served briefly in the US Army... we all make “odd” decisions at one point or another, or REPEATEDLY. Since relocating to NYC, she has had the fortune of working with brilliant beings such as Lisa Race/Scott Cohen, Jennifer Nugent, White Road Dance Media, 5’4”, Hoi Polloi, Nicole Wolcott Dance, and collaborations with Launch Movement Experiment, In 2008, Kendra created and implemented “dancepants”, a donation based community dance program dedicated to experimental pedagogies and in support of the Brooklyn based dance space, Triskelion Arts. She has been a guest artist and/or presented work at a variety of colleges, universities, dancespaces, rooftops, and festivals; newly under the moniker BandPortier. Currently, Kendra is on faculty at Hunter College and Dance New Amsterdam, and is performing with Vanessa Justice Dance, MVWorks, Michael and the Go-Getters, Annie Kloppenberg Dance, and, most recently, David Dorfman Dance.