holly johnston

Biography

holly johnston is the creator and director of RESPONSIVE BODY, a social movement and body liberation practice expanding the arts and sciences of loving. Through RESPONSIVE BODY she has cultivated a biodynamic ecology of support for body-based resiliency, social connection, personal, and professional development. holly’s curious about everything and is fascinated by learning almost anything. She is the descendant of artists and social justice workers. Her identity was formed through the love of her family’s matriarch- a white, queer, single-parent of three adopted children, social worker, fierce defender of human rights who loved cats and llamas more than people.  She is an award-winning performer and choreographer and was the artistic director/choreographer for the national touring dance company, LEDGES AND BONES. The foundation of holly’s early career began with Stephanie Gilliand/TONGUE Contemporary dance as performing artist, rehearsal director, and artistic collaborator. She has performed with Victoria Marks, Maria Gillespie, Stephanie Nugent, and String Theory Performance Ensemble. For a blip in time, she performed in the commercial industry for The Grammys After-Party and was rejected from many auditions without even dancing. holly has worked as bodyworker and movement coach for pro-athletes training and working in the NFL, NHL, and NBA. She has BA in Dance from Loyola Marymount University and MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University.

She has synthesized her study of biodynamic craniosacral therapies, structural integration, barefoot shiatsu, connective tissue mobilization, functional movement, kinesiology, anatomy and physiology, Polyvagal theory, art therapy, epigenetics, yoga, energy medicine and choreography into her healing practices and profession as a coordinator of human(ized) systems for liberated labor, work, and workplace conditions. Her work has been supported by Zellerbach Family Foundation, Joyce A.W.A.R.D.S! Finalist grant, SCUBA National Touring Network, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, NEFA/NDP Production Finalist grant, National Performance Network, MANCC Choreographic Fellowship, ODC Theater Artist in Residence, and private donors. She has presented her work at The RedCat Theater, The Ford Amphitheater, Highways Performance Space, NYC Fringe Festival, and ODC Theater. She has been on the teaching faculties of Loyola Marymount University, CalArts, Cal State Long Beach, Chapman University, Pomona College, Cal State Los Angeles, University of California-Irvine and currently at University of California- San Diego. She has been guest artist for Stanford University, University of Tampa, UCLA, Scottsdale Community College, Irvine Valley College, Orange Coast College, Moorpark College, Cal State Fullerton, Temple University, and University of Oregon.  She has been a panelist for Dance USA/virtual conference, APAP conference, Women in Dance Leadership, American College Dance Association, UNWRAP symposium; and has served on the APAP Honors Awards Advisory Committee, Board of Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles, and Board of TONGUE Contemporary Dance.

holly works as a consultant, mentor, educator, choreographer, artist, relationship bonder, and community builder. She facilitates certification programs in RESPONSIVE BODY and workshops, mentors creative and professional development, works therapeutically with individuals, partners, and families, and travels frequently to dance programs as a guest artist. She writes poems and essays describing a life-long bewilderment with being a human person. Her podcast A Space To Be discusses subjects related to current events, culture, politics, embodiment, creativity, history, and futurity. holly’s work is rooted throughout California with Long Beach and San Francisco/Bay Area as her home regions. holly is the somatic ecologist and social wellness director for CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater. She unites artistic forces with Ana Maria Alvarez and CONTRA-TIEMPO in the creation of Roots of Loving Us- grounding us in the origins of family through adoption, foster care, community and the choice to love forever.

Office

Wagner Dance Bldg.