In the forties, an American engineer called Henry Barnes created the green phase for traffic lights and also the so-called Barnes Dance. This term refers to traffic lights that allow all pedestrians at a crossroads to have green at the same time enabling them to cross in whatever direction, including diagonally, so that they come together and go apart. 

Based on this idea, the first choreographic network in North Rhine -Westfalia was founded in March 2006 by five Cologne choreographers, choosing the name Barnes Crossing after this pedestrian-friendly street crossing.