Graham E. Barnes

From Kingsport, Tennessee 
With Nashville Ballet since 2025

Training and Education
Kingsport Ballet, The HARID Conservatory

Previously
NB2

BIO
Graham Barnes, a Kingsport, TN native, began dancing at age 4 with Kingsport Ballet, training under Valeria Sinyavskaya from 2012–2019. He competed at Youth America Grand Prix in 2018 and 2019, earning 2nd place in the Junior Men’s Division Semi-Finals. He also trained with Jessica Barrett and Erika Ballard and attended prestigious summer intensives as a scholarship student at the; Bolshoi Ballet Academy CT, Dutch National Ballet Academy, and Royal Danish Ballet. Graham completed four years at The HARID Conservatory, studying under renowned faculty and receiving multiple awards in dance; including the Jeannot B. Cerrone Award for “Excellence in Dance Performance”. He studied under: Victoria Schnider, Alexey Kulpin, Meelis Pakri, and Svetlana Osiyeva. 
 
In 2023, he joined Nashville Ballet II under Maria Konrad, working with Artistic Director Nick Mullikin and coach Anais Chalendard. Graham has performed in the Nashville Dance Festival and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Summer Concert Series. At NBII, he danced soloist roles in Maria Konrad’s Día de Los Muertos and Maestro, Durante Verzola’s Bach Drama, and as Basilio in Don Quixote Suite and Paquita (staged by Anais Chalendard). He also appeared in Nashville Ballet’s productions of “Nashville’s Nutcracker” and The Sleeping Beauty by Paul Vasterling as well as works by Rika Okamoto, Alexander Brady, Mark Godden and others. He was recently promoted to Apprentice with Nashville Ballet’s main company for its 40th anniversary season. Outside of performing, Graham teaches at the School of Nashville Ballet amongst all divisions of the school, including their Adult and Summer Intensives.