Katy Barnhill started dancing ballet at age three, then started samba at age five. Over the last two decades of Katy's dance career she has studied over 20 forms of cultural dance in addition to ballet, modern, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. At 7 she was awarded a scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School and continued to study latin dance in her community. She attended high schools of the arts in San Francisco and Los Angeles and expanded her study of cultural dance with Chitresh Das (Kathak of India), Michelle Martin (Afro-Haitian), Vladimir Riasantsev (Russian Character), El Farruquito (Flamenco), and Juana Amaya (Flamenco). Katy received a Dance scholarship to UCLA's World Arts and Cultures program. Katy left UCLA for a year to attended S.F. State's Ethnodansology department to be exposed to different forms of cultural dance. She has danced with Deli Ritmo Flamenco Company, Mora Reyna, Ballet Afsaneh, Nai-Ni Chen, Axe Brazilian Dance Company, Mara Reggae, Neva Russian Dance Ensemble, the Movement Company, and Mirwa Sacre, the first Haitian Vodou tour in the US. Katy now integrates her training into her World Dance Fusion choreography. Katy now travels the globe enriching her practice of cultural dance and teaching World Dance Fusion choreography that integrates her years of study.

photo © 2004 Michael Nagle