Chandra Kuykendall Oral History, 2020

Interview with Chandra Kuykendall conducted by Christin Crampton-Day. Interviews for 2020 Legends of Dance were conducted over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chandra Kuykendall is from Parker and has worked in the Colorado ballet community her entire life. She trained at the Academy of Colorado Ballet beginning in 1988. Chandra was the recipient of the Florence Rustin Award in 1996 and won the Denver Ballet Guild Competition. She joined Colorado Ballet in 1997 and became a principal dancer in 2007. The company's director, Gil Boggs, says it is rare that a dancer spends 22 seasons with a single company and even more rare for a dancer to spend the majority of her career in her hometown. She has performed all major parts in classical productions, neoclassical, modern, and contemporary choreographed master works. Chandra looks forward to taking on a larger role at the ballet school, Denver Academy of Ballet, that she and her husband began in 2001 in Centennial.