Kristine Bendul

Kristine Bendul is a dancer, choreographer, director, and author/illustrator whose career spans classical ballet, Broadway, concert dance, and film/TV. She broke barriers as the first professional female Asian-American ballerina with the New Jersey Ballet Company and made history again with Abdiel Jacobsen as America’s first professional gender-neutral ballroom couple in the Pro American Rhythm division—exchanging lead/follow roles across all five dances—a milestone captured in the documentary Follow Lead Love.

She appeared in seven Broadway shows, including original casts of On the Town, Swing!, Come Fly Away, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (assistant choreographer/partnering consultant). Kristine earned a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer in Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, and performed in Tharp’s Come Fly Away (matinee lead). Additional credits include five City Center Encores! productions, Lincoln Center’s live Camelot, and guest artist work with Ron De Jesús Dance.

She has pioneered original works for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway Barkada's Lumipad, Dancers For Good, and Camp Broadway Indonesia. Immersive creations include The Blues Brothers (Radial Park), For Madmen Only, and The Color Iz (book/director/co-choreographer, lauded by BroadwayWorld), and the award-winning short film 2 of Us. Learn more at kristinebendulny.com.