Meet Kendahl The Kreative | Dancer, Choreographer, Arts Administrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kendahl The Kreative and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kendahl, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
Even before deciding to work for myself, I had to make a decision to go back to dancing, choreographing, and performing. I had decided to go to school for kinesiology and while completing my pre-requisites, I realized that even though I wanted to help everyone I could, my heart wasn’t in the kind of kinesiology I was doing. When I made the decision to go into kinesiology it was based around dancers and dance therapy and once I started working separate from dance, I realized that, my true passion was based in everything dance, from counts to how dancers move. That influenced my initial reentry to dance as an art form, Shortly after that I was working for a dance company in Houston and while I learned so much, and I genuinely enjoyed arts administration, I wanted to be working on the other side of the programs and curtain. These decisions in itself were very hard to make because of my own self doubt but stepping out allowed me to reach success in these areas.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a dancer, choreographer, arts administrator, creative director, and I have started some work in graphic design and these passions completely found me.

This journey started at a public high school in Palm Coast, Florida. At 15, a late age (for a dancer), I started dancing with the high school hip hop and jazz dance team under the late great Wendy Ellis’s direction. I was one of the least technical dancers as I started much later than many other dancers on the team. I was given the title of secretary for the team handling attendance, team finances, costume fees, and costume orders, my first step as an arts administrator. After I graduated from high school I attended Florida School of the Arts participating in some of the first classically structured ballet and modern classes. I learned a lot, but still found myself in the lower end of technical training. My ballet and modern professors, Jessica Mayhew-Borrero and Mary Love Ward, told me was that I worked so hard I made monumental improvements over my two years there. You see, my largest challenge was time, I was so late to the game but I made the most of the time I had. I am most proud of the desire I have to be better than me 3 minutes ago, 3 days ago, 3 years ago. In the art I create, I demonstrate passion for the art form that I was not able to show during that brief hiatus I took to pursue kinesiology. I realized how much I really missed art forms and participating in them. Now, I am able to tap into that emptiness I felt during that time and bring it to the stage and choreography wholeheartedly.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Funny you ask, Lawrence just came to town for my first production and I took him to Breakfast Klub to eat chicken and waffles. Another favorite place,

Underground Hall to visit Bird Haus Hot Chicken for one of the best chicken sandwiches in Houston. I would take my best friend to Hermann Park to walk around, run, work out. The Menil Collection is a great place to be immersed in art. More than likely, I would take them to drive around Houston just to see the art displayed all over the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to my brother, Lawrence. From the first day of my journey, he’s been there encouraging me and helping me up when I fall. Every time I feel I fall short, he reminds me that if I tried my best, I did what I was meant to. Any chance he gets to support me, he’s right there to celebrate and remind me that I am loved and laugh off any unfortunate events. To my brother, thank you for always reminding me how monumental things are in my journey even if I’m so ready to get to the next step, but never letting it go to my head.

Website: Kendahlthekreative.wixsite.com/kreative

Instagram: @kthe.kreative

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendahl-bermudez-498b24157

Image Credits
Vertical: V Dance Photography Emilio Villanueva Horizontal: Orange Pants, hands and face, sketching – IV Scene Media / Gabe Simon IV Laying in orange outfit, black shirt – V Dance Photography Emilio Villanueva