Beychella Dancer Kendra “K.O.” Oyesanya Opens Up About Her Career Journey

Dancer. Actress. Creative. Those are just some of the words to describe Glambergirlblog’s May Artist Spotlight: Kendra “K.O.” Oyesanya. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, OK, Kendra, who had no official dance training, got the opportunity of a lifetime that altered her future and sent her on the path to stardom.

Back in 2013, Oyesanya won Pepsi’s “Dance for a Chance” and got to work with Beyoncè’s choreographer Chris Grant and meet Queen Bey herself. (We’ll get to her full circle moment in a bit) Grant was the one that convinced Kendra moving to LA to pursue dance was the right career move for her and off she went. Kendra has since worked with big names like P Diddy, J Balvin, Paul McCartney, Neyo, and more, but her viral social media videos have really blown her name up not only in the dance community, but in pop culture.

Her “Black Panther” dance video caught the attention of 750K viewers plus and gained her national attention with the video appearing on talk shows like Good Morning America and The Real. Kendra’s “Us” inspired dance video received praise from the film’s star Lupita Nyong’o and film writer/director Jordan Peele.

Photo: Imogenethemua

“A lot of the times I pull inspiration from music. My inspiration comes from knowing something as big as ‘Black Panther’ is just a huge moment for African-Americans and having Black Marvel movies so it was one of those things where I didn’t even plan on doing ‘Black Panther’ until the day of. I just really like being creative. I love creating, concepts, directing, and storytelling. So it’s my practice to get all these crazy ideas out of my head.”

Those crazy ideas turn into social media videos that she spends hours creating to get less than a minute clip. From casting, choreographing, editing, and directing (all roles Kendra takes on), the final product always shows the hard work put in. “While we’re working it doesn’t feel like that long which is cool because it’s always fun.”

If you think dancing is all Mizz K.O has to offer think again. In 2017, Kendra landed her first acting role in the YouTube Originals series Step Up: High Water as Poppy Martinez. “She’s a little more outspoken than me, but it’s crazy now I am becoming Poppy, but in a good way,” the actress said about her character adding, “She’s helped me to be more confident in my real life to say what I want to say and not be afraid to say it.”

During her dabble into acting, a full circle moment came that Kendra couldn’t pass; working with Beyoncè, but on a much bigger scale. “At the time I didn’t even audition to do Coachella because I had just finished season 1 of Step Up and I really just wanted to focus on acting. It’s what I’ve been transitioning to doing.” The very person, Chris Grant, who convinced her to move to LA convinced her to audition for Beyoncè’s now iconic 2018 Beychella Coachella performance and she got it!

Photo: Kendra Oyesanya Instagram

“It didn’t hit me until after I got off stage like wow, I really just danced for Beyoncè five years later after that winning that contest. Even having a small moment with her on stage where I’m literally right by her side was super cool.” Living in purpose and following your dreams is a true testament for Kendra. She also had some straightforward advice for aspiring dancers.

“It sounds so simple, but it’s so real. Be yourself because all the best dancers move to LA to make it, but only a few are the ones really booking because it’s something about them that people want more of and that something is them.” Kendra added, “A lot of people come to LA and try to dance like their favorite dancer or people on IG, but really [it’s] when they’re just being themselves and they’re doing something that sticks out. Be yourself and believing in yourself. People can see a confident dancer. [It] speaks much volume.”

Coming up, Kendra is working on some projects she can’t yet mention, but is hoping for season 3 of the YouTube Originals series Step Up:High Water. Most recently she can be spotted dancing in Chris Brown’s new music video for “Wobble Up.”

Keep up with all the projects Kendra has coming up by following her on social media. Her official handles are: @Mizzk.o (Instagram), @OfficialKO (Facebook), and @MizzKO_(Twitter). Check out just how hard Kendra works to bring her visions to life in the clip below.

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Photo: Mayhem Entertainment PR