Holly JOhnston

(SHE/HER)

holly johnston is the creator and director of Responsive Body, a biodynamic ecology of support for body-based resiliency, social connection, personal, and professional development. She is an award-winning performer and choreographer and was the artistic director/choreographer for the national touring dance company, LEDGES AND BONES. holly is bewildered by most things and is fascinated by learning. 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 more than people.

holly has experienced the benefits and deterrents of acquiring a BA in Dance and MFA in Choreography. 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 work as a developer and coordinator for human(ized) systems of performance and production. She integrates Responsive Body into her role as human systems performance and production coordinator for CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater.

holly works as a consultant, mentor, educator, choreographer, artist, relationship bonder and community builder. She facilitates certification programs in Responsive Body, 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 through California in Long Beach and San Francisco/Bay Area. She remains wildly in love with her partner, Peter, and their son Sky.

CONTRA-TIEMPO is a 501(C)3 non-profit arts organization. Your donations are tax-deductible. (TAX ID#20-5477825)