Caroline Rocher Barnes

Caroline Rocher Barnes

Caroline Rocher Barnes is an assistant professor of dance at Towson University. She trained at the Conservatoire de Montpellier in France, the Rudra Béjart Art School in Switzerland, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. In 1999, Mrs. Rocher Barnes joined The Dance Theatre of Harlem under Arthur Mitchell's mentorship, was promoted to Soloist in 2000, and then Principal Dancer the following year. Her professional career extends to the Bavarian State Ballet in Germany, the Lyon Opera Ballet in France, and Alonzo King's Lines Ballet in San Francisco. In 2001 Mrs. Rocher Barnes was named "25 to watch" in Dance Magazine. She has taught at numerous dance institutions worldwide, such as the Alonzo King Lines Training and Summer Programs, the University of Oklahoma, the Bates Dance Festival, the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Washington School of Ballet, the University of Cincinnati Conservatory Program, the Collage Dance Collective Summer Program, George Mason University, Howard University, Georgetown University, the LEAP Dance Academy in Cape Town South Africa, the Conservatoire Mozart and Conservatoire de Montpellier in France, to name a few.
Mrs. Rocher Barnes is a current member of IABD, (the International Association of Blacks in Dance), and of CORPS de Ballet International (Council of Organized Researchers in Pedagogical Studies of Ballet). Mrs. Rocher Barnes holds a certification in the Gyrotonic® & Gyrokinesis® expansion systems, the FA® Functional Awareness method, and the Progressing Ballet Technique®. She is an ABT® Certified teacher who has completed the ABT® Teacher training intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5. Mrs. Rocher Barnes graduated Summa Cum Laude from Saint Mary's College of California with a BA in Performing Arts. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park.