KRISTIN MCKNIGHT

Kristin McKnight has been dancing since she was 5 years old…and has never stopped.   Her early training emphasized classical ballet and jazz but it was her discovery of a local All Star Competitive Dance Team captained by Heather and Hollie Bettencourt that introduced her to the hard hitting contemporary Hip Hop and the highly technical Pom/ Jazz genres of dance.  “Coming mostly from a ballet background, my movements were very fluid and graceful, so one of the most important things I learned from them was how to really attack my movement.  Hollie and Heather were always challenging us as dancers and pushing us to the next level while teaching us how to be a part of and perform as a group.  However, we were not just a group, Hollie and Heather made us a family and I think that showed in our winning performances.”  Ms. McKnight danced for and with the Bettencourt’s from high school through her first year of college then continued her dance training at California State University, Sacramento where she joined the Xtreme Dance Team and performed at many faculty and collegiate events.  From there she transferred to California State University, Long Beach to step up her dance training and finish her education.  That’s when she entered the commercial dance world and realized that the competitive edge she had developed during her years on a competitive team was vital to making it in a world full of dancers and auditions.  She waited a year and a half for her first big break.  “On the set of David Bisbal’s ’24 Horas’ music video I met members of the Jagged Contemporary Pole Dance Company.  I was looking for something new and challenging and I missed being part of a group as I was with the dance team so I joined the company.”  In April 2011 Kristin and her group appeared on America’s Best Dance Crew, Season 6 as Jag6ed.  In 2012, Jagged CPDC was featured on an episode of FOX’s ‘Mobbed’ Jagged Los Angeles and Jagged CPDC was also named Raw Artists Los Angeles Performing Artist of the Year.  Currently, Jagged continues to teach classes and perform throughout the Los Angeles area and is finishing a documentary featuring Jagged, titled Off The Floor: The Rise of Contemporary Pole Dance (to be released later this year).  “All my training throughout the years has gotten me to where I am today however; I owe a lot to my All Star teammates and especially Hollie and Heather Bettencourt.  I will forever remember everything they taught me and all my experiences with them.”