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November 2024: Jullianna Oke

Who is Jullianna Oke in a sentence?

A dancer, choreographer, projection designer, and arts administrator – a little bit of everything combined, but more than the sum of my parts.

Tell us a bit about your work and practice.

I am interested in movement, rhythm, and technology, and you can often find my work involving a couple different forms of presentation. I love using technology to express what my moving body feels like – I can project a different version of myself that I can learn from. I also have an adoration for how different sounds and rhythms can bring certain movements up in my body by pure nature. As a result of this, music, projection, and jamming are large part of where my practice lies technically and is the starting place for a lot of my works.

Recently, I’ve been interested in exploring and researching identity, lineage, and memory. I’m curious about what gets adopted habitually from one generation to another, and what gets either forgotten or intentionally omitted in the passage of stories. Overall, I situate my work in relation to embodied listening and adopt creation from this place of slow processing. I love letting ideas sit and marinate for a while as I explore them.

How long have you been dancing?

My mother claims I’ve been dancing since I was two when I wouldn’t stay still, but I think it’s probably about four or so when I began taking classes. I started out in tap first, and then gradually started adding in more genres of dance as I got older. The ones that stuck with me the most were tap, contemporary, and ballet, which are now the ones most incorporated into both my personal practice and the genres I teach.

How does dance fit into your life currently? 

I try to fit contemporary classes in where I can and am a big fan of Training Society’s Working Class! I like the large variety of teachers that come in, and the community that TSV has.

How would you describe dance’s impact on your life?

I hope it’s not too strange to say it’s changed the way that I listen. I can’t listen to music without picturing or feeling some type of movement, I’ve become better able to listen to others both verbally and kinesthetically, and I’m better able to decipher and listen to what my body needs or how I’m feeling a certain point in time. Dance and movement in general have made me a better listener, which I feel has directly translated into me having better responses in all the above scenarios.

What three core values drive your engagement with dance? 

• Exploration
• Rumination
• Collaboration

Do you have a particular practice that you carry out each day or have you implemented new practices over these last few years?

During a class in my undergrad, we had to create “working contracts” for how we will approach our personal artistic practice. I wrote about wanting to embrace everything I do not know and take in new experiences like an eternal child. This idea has stuck with me and has made it a little easier to throw myself into new learning environments – all information is good and something I can learn from, instead of fearing failure.

What would you say are the most significant benefits for you in being a Dance Centre member?

The community and opportunities for sure! Having access to discounted workshops and studio space is a huge plus as an emerging artist and being able to apply for 12 Minutes Max and the Reboot Grants are a massive benefit. The newsletter is also a great way of learning about what’s going on in BC and any calls for artists that are active.

Jullianna’s Member Profile
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Photos by Evergreen Cultural Centre and Tiffany Au