Dance
Photo by Matthew Young
"I am everyday exploring the intersection of thought and movement, my thinking, my movement, and the movement of whatever environment I find myself in
Observing personal habits, old and new, that are strong or barely hanging on.
Seeing moments of art revealed.
living with a sense of readiness, to go, to stop, to change direction – also to see, so I don’t miss what is happening around me.
My mission as a choreographer is to make dances that hint at our commonalities; that offer a passerby or audience member an opportunity to see something of themselves in the movement they see on stage. Where one person finds humor, another may find a quiet thought on which to reflect. And another may simply see bodies moving in relationship to one another.
When I make a dance with a group of dancers, I look at each individual, and I ask them to look at each other. We train ourselves to really see each other, learn each other’s patterns, expressions, timing, responses. I then build a vocabulary based on my own choreographic curiosities and what each dancer brings to the floor. How does one dancer’s strength compliment another’s? I am interested in observing where our comfort levels lie and what happens when we extend to our edges. How do we each respond at that moment? Each dance depends on the dancers."
Julie began studying Modern Dance at Western Reserve Academy in 1983. Upon graduating from Colorado College with a degree in Sociology in 1991, she began to pursue her career in dance and movement arts. She taught in the Dance Departments at Emory University and University of Georgia. She has been a guest artist at Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico; with Myriad Dance in Wexford, Ireland; Zoetic Dance in Atlanta, GA; with KACICO Dance in Kansas City, MO; and worked as an apprentice with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
Julie began working with the Zen Monkey Project in 1998 and continues to collaborate, perform and teach with this collective of artists.
Julie has choreographed 30+ documented works, including solo projects, multi-media collaborations, site-specific work, choreography on professional dancers, as well as work for elementary thru high school students. Her work has been presented in Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Tennessee, Ireland, and Mexico. Most recently, Julie set a new work on KACICO Dance Company in Kansas City, MO.
Julie has performed in works by Zap McConnell, Allison Waddell, George Staib, David Dorfman, Celeste Miller, Bala Sarasvati, Marvin Webb, Kazu Nakamura, Ray Eliot Schwartz, Katherine Birdsall, Tiina Molder, Miki Liszt, Michelle Diane Brown, Candi Baker, Garry Riegenborn, Cathy Ward, Emilie Zonsius Bromley, and many other choreographers.
Collaborated with composers: Leslie Helpert, Heather McIntosh, Dan Nettles, Louis Romanos, and Craig Owens.
Collaborated with visual artists: Andi Steele, and Kevin Hoth.
Collaborated with choreographers: Laura Hoffman, Rebecca Enghauser, Laura Glenn, Lisa Yaconelli, Denise Posnak, Katharine Birdsall, Allison Waddell, Ray Schwartz, and Zap McConnell.
While living in Athens, GA, she co-founded Floorspace Movement Arts Studio, and was curator and producer of "The Handful Series" for 5 years.
Julie currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.
photo by Bill Starr