Iyalorisa Ifasehinde Osunbumni Abeni Oyintola
New York City native Kristen Dream Cornwall (Osunbunmi Abeni, Ifásehinde, Oyintola) is a multifaceted artist and community leader with a focus on dance, performance, and cultural enrichment. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies with minors in Africana Studies and Dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and set to graduate in May 2026.
This multidisciplinary scholarly artist groundwork centers on Black performance, Black body politics, and dance as it intersects with the Black lifestyle. She has danced for Camille A. Brown at The National Black Theater Institute, in the "Everybody Move Celebration" alongside the DeVore Dance Center in June 2017. Subsequently, she was accepted into the Dance Theater of Harlem Summer Intensive in March 2018. Kristen assumed the role of Assistant Choreographer at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School and choreographed pieces such as "Calling All the Monster" (October 2021), "Amour Hystérique" (June 2022) and "Strange Fruit - An Ode to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone" (February 2022). She has also danced for Body and The Stage Showcase at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Beyond the stage, Kristen is involved in community, cultural preservation, social advocacy, and ethnographic work. As a leader in Ile Ijosin Ifá Otito Ile Aye in NYC, Kristen functions as the assistant to spiritual head Chief Èrèlú Awo and is a trained Priestess of Osun, Orunmila and Egbe. Kristen also serves as a Child/Youth Development Coordinator, providing invaluable leadership, guidance, and support to the organization's children.
Kristen has also been published in the New York University(NYU) anthology project Everyday Echoes: Undergraduate Perspectives on Performance with her piece titled “Awakening the Spirit: Rest, Dreams, and Resistance in African Diasporic Religions”.