ABOUT the AUTHOR

Hello everyone and welcome to the Elemental Studios blog. My name is Coral Barnes, I am the author and writer of the posts that you will be seeing on this blog. I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself to you all so I hope you enjoy my biography as well as some other fun things I would like to add as a student of the studio as well.

I am an Austin, Texas native who moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on December 1st, 2022. I started to take dance classes as a little kid for a few years, doing ballet during elementary school, but I eventually quit that a few years later to do tumbling gymnastics for a few years. I got interested in taking dance classes again during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austin, and during this time, I met my long-time friend and dance mentor, Haley Sikes, who I met at a K-pop dance night event and who encouraged and motivated me to start taking hip-hop classes with her and at ElectrikCity Dance Movement. I was also inspired by my favorite K-pop group, Verivery, to take my dance journey seriously and expand my curiosity of learning different styles and dance cultures. 

While taking classes in Austin, I met many amazing people and learned many styles, such as hip-hop, R&B, K-pop, breakdancing, and many others. I was also a part of 2 dance teams, KpopCity, a K-pop dance team in the Austin area, and the training team for New Genesis, an adult exhibition company team. Daniel Broxton, the founder and director of New Genesis as well as my 2nd dance mentor, encouraged and pushed me to pursue my dance goals as well as gave me a lot of growth in my dance journey. 

I took breakdancing classes when I first went to ElectrikCity Dance Movement, like most people I was very intimidated by the idea of that style but my breaking mentor Rylei Brown really taught me a lot of great foundations and moves that I still can do to this day. I really enjoyed taking his class because it was different but also a fun experience that really opened my eyes to how unique dance really is.

I started to take dance classes in Colorado, when I found the K-pop community and met a friend who introduced me to my now close friend and one of my favorite teachers, Nicki D’Portillo, a K-pop dance teacher who taught in the Denver area. Even though it was a long drive, I took my first class with her which was to the K-pop group ATEEZ’ song “Halazia” specifically the dance break part, which was one of my biggest dance challenges but also still one of my favorite dance experiences to this day with her. Nicki has always made me feel like I am improving, growing, and challenges me to be better so I will always appreciate her.

When I first came to Elemental Studios, it was mainly because I followed Nicki over to take her class but I was also craving a dance community that I had similar to the one I had back home in Austin. I was honestly really nervous about coming to a new place mainly cause I have social anxiety around new places and people, but as soon as I came all my fears and anxieties about the studio went away. I got even more curious about the classes that were offered, the staff and people were so friendly and accepting me as a new student. 

My favorite class since day 1 of coming to the studio besides Nicki’s K-pop Class is Jake’s Begineer Femme Funk Class on Thursdays at 5:15pm, this class I have seen myself grow in more ways than one, I feel like Jake encourages you to always be yourself in class, he gives great guidance and support, and also challenges you with each new choreo he comes out with each week.

For this blog, I hope that I can inspire people to look into and appreciate all the diverse dance cultures and styles offered here at Elemental Studios and that it inspires them to advocate for themselves to try out a new experience even if it scares them just like I did when I first came to Elemental Studios 3 years ago. A quote I currently live by is this: “New Challenges create more growth.” I hope that I can encourage you to try out Elemental Studios!

If you ever run into me at the studio, please don’t be afraid to say hi to me, I’d love to meet you!