Hayley Rose Barker is a St. Louis–based dance artist, choreographer, and teacher. Born in England and raised in Chicagoland, she holds bachelor's degrees in Dance and Exercise Science from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2017. Her movement background began in color guard, eventually leading her to pursue a career in dance.

A dedicated student of Countertechnique since 2017, Hayley completed the Countertechnique Teacher Training in 2026. Her practice is informed by improvisation, physical organization, and an interest in the relationship between attention and artistic choice. She is particularly interested in the process of making oneself available to ideas, rather than insisting on where they should come from.

Hayley has performed with independent artists and companies in Melbourne, Chicago, and St. Louis, working with choreographers including Sidra Bell and Merce Cunningham. She has been a guest artist with MADCO, RESILIENCE Dance Company, and Karlovsky & Company Dance, and has worked with The Seldoms and independent St. Louis artists. Her choreographic work has been presented at MADCO's Dare to Dance Festival, SEEN STL, and Space Station. She was a selected Dancers Making Moves artist in 2025 and was invited to create new work for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2024 and 2026.

Hayley has been a Teaching Artist at COCA since 2022 and teaches Countertechnique with several St. Louis–based dance companies. Outside the studio, she works as a personal trainer and Dynamic Stretch Lead at Life Time Fitness, where she trains clients and leads a team of stretch specialists. Her background in exercise science informs her approach to teaching movement across a wide range of experience levels.

For Hayley, dancing is a way to practice being a person: navigating adversity, taking on challenges, building confidence, and remembering to have fun. She maintains a serious relationship with her work, a curious relationship with the world, and a healthy suspicion of taking any of it too seriously. She has a long-term plan to live in every city in the world, though the timeline remains unclear.