photo by Sloan Timson
Kyla Barkin, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, was raised in Tempe, AZ. She studied with “La Mariquilla” at the Academia de Ballet Flamenco in Granada, Spain then received her B.A. in Dance from UCLA. Ms. Barkin has toured internationally, is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Jean Irwin Award, and has been described as having an “exciting, physically expansive attack” by The New York Times.
Barkin’s choreography has been widely shown including at The Staller Center for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow 80th Anniversary at Inside/Out, Jazz at Lincoln Center, West End Theater, Boston’s Dance Complex, Touhill PAC (St. Louis, MO), Bryant Park, and the 92nd St Y. Her work has also been presented internationally at venues in Berlin (Germany), Edinburgh (Scotland), Yogyakarta (Indonesia), and more. Notable collaborations include dance films made with Juano Castillo, FALKOR Systems’ autonomous pet drone, Reggie Watts for Sally Taylor’s ConSenses, James Simons, Sirius String Quartet, and Nel Shelby on Differential Cohomology & its documentary, and an on-going artistic partnership with composer James Guastaferro.
Barkin has been working with Janis Brenner & Dancers since 1998 and has taught and set works, both of Brenner’s and her own, at institutions such as NCSA, The Juilliard School, The Joffrey School, Stony Brook University, the Creative Arts Studio in Brooklyn, and Tanzakademie Balance 1 in Berlin. She has danced with other major companies including Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends, The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, and The Doug Elkins Dance Company. She has been on faculty at USDAN Center for Performing Arts and continues to teach classes, private lessons and workshops both in the United States and internationally. Ms. Barkin is also proud to serve on the board of the Foundation for a Just Society.