Julie B. Johnson, Phd​dance artistEducator

Past Events

Dance Canvas Artist to Artist Series
Contemporary Dance & Diaspora w/Julie B. Johnson
3 Wednesdays in July 2018
July 11, 18, 25, 
7:00-8:30pm
FREE!!

Ferst Performing Arts Center
at Georgia Tech
Limited Space!! Grab your spot by registering here. 


This contemporary dance class emphasizes African Diaspora movement aesthetics,, drawing on West African dance forms, jazz dance, and hip hop. An upbeat warmup gets our energy percolating while we find fluidity in our spines and buoyancy in our limbs. Through center technique phrases and progressions across the floor, we dig into strength, balance, and, precision - we play with propulsion and expansive use of space. In our choreographic phrases, we explore our unique body rhythms, percussive flow, and dynamic energy shifts. ​​Questions? Email [email protected]

Dr. Julie B. Johnson and StoryGround... a dance collective
present "Moving Our Stories: Erasure, Resistance, and Survival"
​The Dancer-Citizen Live 2018: MOVING THE MAP
Sunday, June 24, 2018
FREE and OPEN to the public!!
streamed live online at Howlround.tv


On June 24, 2018, The Dancer-Citizen will present a single day, multiple site, live-streamed dance event: The Dancer-Citizen Live 2018: MOVING THE MAP

Contributors to the first five issues of The Dancer-Citizen were invited into a collaborative process with the journal toward the development of this live, curated event, with the aim of more deeply exploring themes generated by the journal issues.

Hosted by editor Julie B. Johnson in Atlanta, and with live feed originating from New York City and Los Angeles in the US, and Hamburg, Germany, MOVING THE MAP will invite audiences both on-site and on-line to performances, workshops, and discussion. Sequential scheduling will allow audiences to move among events or stay engaged with one site; the full event can be re/visited via the journal archive.

For further details and to see previews of collaborating artsits' work, visit http://dancercitizen.org/moving-the-map/ .

"Moving Our Stories: Erasure, Resistance, and Survival," is supported by the Alternate ROOTS Artistic Assistance Program grant, made possible by funds from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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photo credit: Renata Irving

Did you attend this event in person or via the livestream? Please share your feedback!!


Inside the Dancers' Studio
Curated by Dr. Julie B. Johnson
"The Business of Dance: Building and Preserving Legacies"

Wednesday 4/25 and Thursday 4/26
6:00 - 9:00pm
FREE to the public!!

​
Registration is required for the workshops.
​Click here to register.

Spelman College Department of
Dance Performance and Choreography
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 

This 2-day symposium will focus on entrepreneurial and legal strategies to help dance practices thrive.

Topics include:
Intellectual Property
Copyrights & Choreography
Effective Media & Social Marketing Strategies
... and more!

The event is free, but registration is required for the workshops.
​Click here to register.
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Moving Our Stories Workshop
Community Day at 
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
Facilitated by Dr. Julie B. Johnson
In collaboration with StoryGround... a dance collective
featuring live music by Okorie Johnson/OkCello

Saturday, April 21, 2018
1:30 - 2:30pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!

Registration is required. RSVP by email or [email protected] or call 404.270.5607

​Spelman College Museum of Fine Art  
350 Spelman Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 30314


About Moving Our Stories
Moving Our Stories explores how memory lives and move in our bodies. Accompanied by Okorie Johnson (OkCello) and a group of multifaceted dance artists, Join us as we move through Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi and find connections between her art and our own physical realities. 

This Moving Our Stories workshop is supported by the
 Alternate ROOTS Artistic Assistance Program grant, made possible by funds from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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"Black Angels" an art installation by Charmaine Minniefield
Choreography by Dr. Julie B. Johnson
in collaboration with StoryGround... a dance collective
featuring: Tambra Harris, Nneka Kelly, and Kalah Byrd.


Friday, April 15th
​3:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!

Auburn Avenue Research Library on 
African American Culture and History
101 Auburn Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30303


StoryGround… a dance collective, contributes a movement meditation on erasure and survival - an interactive performance within Charmaine Minniefield's art installation. 

​Contemplating parallels to Ring Shout rituals and Gullah-Geechee communities (whose existence is a testament to survival amidst the rapid and widespread impact of gentrification and cultural erasure) the core question, “what does it mean to erase/to be erased?” provided a guiding prompt for our movement exploration for Minniefield’s work, “Remembrance as Resistance: Digitally Mapping the Ring Shout.” Stories of ‘erasure’ - whether an act of eradication or remnants of the past that mark our survival - illuminate what lingers in the face of displacement or destruction, and how collective memory can serve as a practice of survival and empowerment.


We strive to honor past and present Ring Shout practitioners by acknowledging that we are not performing a traditional Ring Shout. We navigate its history and traditions in the context of contemporary dance forms and African Diaspora movement aesthetics.

This work is part of Johnson's "Moving Our Stories: Erasure, Resistance, and Survival,"
 supported by the Alternate ROOTS Artistic Assistance Program grant, made possible by funds from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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Spelman Dance Theatre's "Meet Me on the Porch"
Friday and Saturday, 3/24 and 3/25
8:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!

​
Spelman College Department of
Dance Performance and Choreography
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 30310

​
Following 8 months of research, rehearsals, and drafts, Spelman Dance Theater will premiere Meet Me on the Porch on the front porches of three South Gordon Street residents.

For this final iteration, Spelman has teamed up with David James, professor of computer science at George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, to create software that generates sound in real time. James developed this movement-tracking software for iPhone and Android, and the dancers will wear their smartphones throughout the performance. Inspired by the bell tones of sound healing rituals and blended with ATLien frequencies, the sounds (created and mixed by Dr. Simon and his students) will be triggered and amplified by movement. Atlanta-based fiber artist and costume designer Grace Kisa created spring knits in the spirit of rejuvenation, freedom, and rebirth. Each costume has a custom pocket on the arm for the dancer’s smart phone.
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Spelman Dance Theatre's "Draft 3 \\ Meet Me on the Porch"
Friday and Saturday, 2/23 and 2/24
8:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!

​
Spelman College Department of
Dance Performance and Choreography
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 30310

Witness the phase of our progress as we develop "Meet Me on the Porch", a site-specific collaboration between 
Spelman Dance Theatre and neighbors in the West End.
Featuring two faculty choreographers, Dr. Julie B. Johnson
and Kathleen Wessel, and two student choreographers,
Kibriya Carter and Qadry Manns, along with collaborators 
from the Spelman College music department. 
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Spelman Dance Theatre's "Studio Sessions // Draft #3"
Friday and Saturday, 11/17 and 11/18
8:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!
​
Spelman College Department of
Dance Performance and Choreography
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 30310

Witness the phase of our progress as we develop "Meet Me on the Porch", a site-specific collaboration between 
Spelman Dance Theatre and neighbors in the West End.
Featuring two faculty choreographers, Dr. Julie B. Johnson
and Kathleen Wessel, and two student choreographers,
Kibriya Carter and Qadry Manns, along with collaborators 
from the Spelman College music department. 
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Inside the Dancers' Studio
Curated by Dr. Julie B. Johnson
Presented by the Spelman College Department of 
Dance Performance and Choreography


Wednesday, October 11th
6:00 - 8:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!
​
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 30310

Inside the Dancers' Studio brings audiences and artists together to dissect unique creative practices, scholarship, and leading strategies in the field of dance.

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​"Moving Our Stories: The Embodied Memory of
Ruins, Erasure, and Survival"


Part of the Community Conversations series at the
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art



Wednesday, October 4th, 2017
3:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!


"Moving Our Stories: The Embodied Memory of Ruins, Erasure, and Survival" is an interactive movement conversation that explores embodied memory, histories, and narratives. All are welcome as we examine the concept of "ruins" as remnants of the past that linger in the body, inform our movement, and serve as testaments of survival and resilience.

Community Conversations invites artists, Atlanta University Center faculty, staff, and students, and other Friends of the Museum to connect their interests to the works of art on view in the Museums's current exhibition.
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"Remembrance as Resistance: Digitally Mapping the Ring Shout"
a projection installation by Charmaine Minniefield
Choreography by Julie B. Johnson in collaboration with Tambra Harris, Nneka Kelly, and Kalah Byrd.
Sound Design by Muthi Reed
Digital Editing by Kimberly Binns

Part of Alterate Roots' "Roots Weekend"
Thursday, 9/28

8:30pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!

Auburn Avenue Research Library on 
African American Culture and History
101 Auburn Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
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Spelman Dance Theatre's "Studio Sessions // Draft #1"
Friday and Saturday, 9/22 and 9/23
8:00pm
FREE and OPEN to the public!!
​
Spelman College Department of
Dance Performance and Choreography
Location: Spelman Dance Lab

1384 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
Atlanta, Georgia 30310

This is an introduction to our process as we develop "Meet Me on the Porch", a site-specific collaboration between 
Spelman Dance Theatre and neighbors in the West End.
Featuring two faculty choreographers, Dr. Julie B. Johnson
and Kathleen Wessel, and two student choreographers,
Kibriya Carter and Qadry Manns, along with collaborators 
from the Spelman College music department. 
Picture

Dance Canvas Artist to Artist Series
Contemporary Dance & Diaspora w/Julie B. Johnson
3 Wednesdays in July
July 12, 19, 26, 2017
7:00-8:30pm
FREE!!

Ferst Performing Arts Center
at Georgia Tech
20 spaces only! Register at [email protected]


This contemporary dance class emphasizes African Diaspora movement aesthetics,, drawing on West African dance forms, jazz dance, and hip hop. An upbeat warmup gets our energy percolating while we find fluidity in our spines and buoyancy in our limbs. Through center technique phrases and progressions across the floor, we dig into strength, balance, and, precision - we play with propulsion and expansive use of space. In our choreographic phrases, we explore our unique body rhythms, percussive flow, and dynamic energy shifts. ​

CONTEMPORARY DANCE & DIASPORA WITH JULIE B. JOHNSON
3 Wednesdays in March
March 1, 8, 15, 2017
7:30 - 9:00pm

$12 single class; $10/class when you register for all three classes.

This contemporary dance class emphasizes African Diaspora movement aesthetics, drawing on West African dance forms, jazz dance, and hip hop forms. An upbeat warmup gets our energy percolating while we find fluidity in our spines and buoyancy in our limbs. Through center technique phrases and progressions across the floor, we dig into strength, balance, and, precision - we play with propulsion and expansive use of space. In our choreographic phrases, we explore our unique body rhythms, percussive flow, and dynamic energy shifts. 

"MOVING OUR STORIES: EMBODIMENT, DANCE, & SOCIAL JUSTICE" 
Friends of Dance Lecture Series at Emory University
Co-sponsored by the Department of African American Students
February 7th, 2017, 7:30pm


Moving Our Stories explores relationships between embodied processes and social justice activism. In this interactive presentation, Johnson will introduce participants to Dancing for Justice Philadelphia (DFJ Philly), a local initiative coordinated by Lela Aisha Jones and a diverse team of collaborators as part of a national multi-city DFJ movement to honor Black lives lost to police violence and creates spaces to convene around racial injustice. She will engage participants in a multi-modal embodied storytelling practice that begins with sensory exploration and body memory as an effort to build empathic connections between individual and collective experience, and demonstrates intersections of embodiment and social justice practices.

Moving Our Stories 
​October 3, 10, & 17, 2015
10:00 am - 1:00 pm


Community Education Center (CEC)
3500 Lancaster Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

This event is part of Re-Place-ing Philadelphia, a project of Painted Bride Art Center that uses the arts and public dialogue to bring seemingly invisible cultural memories to light and enrich our city's history. Visit www.re-place-ing.org for more information and to share your Philadelphia story.

Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
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  • Welcome
  • Julie B. Johnson
  • Moving Our Stories
  • Recent Work
  • Gallery/News
  • Let’s Work Together!
  • Welcome
  • Julie B. Johnson
  • Moving Our Stories
  • Recent Work
  • Gallery/News
  • Let’s Work Together!