Candace Haynes
About Candace Haynes
Background
Candace Marie Haynes, also known as "C-Marie", grew up in a home filled with music, imagination and love. On any given day, she would spend hours in the family room dancing to music, singing songs and directing skits, where she would cast her three siblings as the main characters. Throughout grade school, Candace and her siblings, Garrett, Carmin and Justin, formed a quartet and played their string instruments at various events throughout Atlanta, Georgia. Her fascination and desire to becoming an all-around creative grew as she watched her mom, Linda Bratton, write, direct and choreograph church plays. During this time, Candace learned about production coordination, from both the creative and business sides. At the young age of 7, Candace assisted her mom in choreographing a piece for the angels in the Christmas play.
Candace was born and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors in Communication Studies in 2014. She was heavily involved in the Arts and Entertainment community on campus and in the city of Athens. Some activities she was involved in were directing and choreographing pageants, performing at various venues as the lead singer of a band and created a dance team that competed and won competitions around the city. After graduating, Candace moved to Atlanta, Georgia to continue pursuing her passions.
Training
Candace’s top-tier, entertainment industry experiences combined with her innovative, natural talents makes her a quadruple threat. Some of her talents include consulting, brand/artist development, casting, acting, dancing, directing, choreographing, hosting, public speaking and more. Candace has been fortunate to train under amazing creatives like Nicole Smith, JaQuel Knight, Tasha Bryant, TLC and others. She’s worked with various talent like Teyanna Taylor, Iman Shumpert, Gabrielle Union, 112, Teddy Riley, Tank, Johnny Gill and Silento, to name a few. She also is trained in Meisner-based technique under the guidance of Robert Mello at Robert Mello’s Studio. Projects such as “American Soul” on BET, “Greenleaf” on OWN, “HONEY: Rise Up and Dance” on Netflix and other productions gave Candace invaluable on-camera and crew experience.
Past Projects
The most notable projects Candace participated in are dancing as a principal dancer for the hit TV series on BET “The Quad”, lead dancer on the stage play Drumline LIVE, and assistant choreographer and performer for the Trumpet Awards. She also was featured on the show Wild-n-Out, where her video reached over five million views. Candace received the award of “Best Director and Best Show at the Black Theatre Festival” as creative director for Super Star Dreamz LIVE. Along with the many ventures that Candace is involved in, she concluded a three-year national tour in 2020 as a backup dancer for the King of R&B, Keith Sweat.
Present-Day
Candace is currently preparing to choreograph for Celine Dion’s international tour in 2022 for her opening set with world renown saxophonist, Isaiah Tatum. Candace also works as the Outreach Director for a nonprofit called the Association of Controls Professionals (ACP) where she produces, directs and choreographs a musical entitled "A STEP in S.T.E.M – Automation Skills, Training, Education and Promotion in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics”. She also hosts a podcast called “ACP Automation Adventure”, where she interviews national leaders in Building Automation Systems and STEM discussing opportunities of high-tech, creative career opportunities for the youth. She also consults and manages projects at I-Inspire Studios. Candace enjoys recording music under her stage name “C-Marie” and running multiple businesses – CHARMED by Candace, LLC: luxury mink eyelash boutique, Consulting for Creatives: entertainment consulting agency and the Breakfast Klub: young adult bible study.
Out of all the things that Candace is involved in, she is most passionate about being a leader for the youth and doing things in an unorthodox way. She is excited to bring this energy to I-inspire Studios as we develop the go-to training facility for all levels of talent in all aspects of entertainment. Candace hopes to teach as many youth as possible to “Perform to Transform”. She lives by this quote, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me’ ".