Royall Tyler Theatre, Room 305
116 University Pl
Burlington, VT 05405
United States
- M.F.A., University of the Arts, Philadelphia
- M.A., ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands
- B.F.A., New York University
Area(s) of expertise
Contemporary dance; composition; improvisation; performance studies
BIO
Julian Barnett is a choreographer, performer, educator, and arts advocate whose work moves across disciplines to imagine performance as a site of empathy and transformation. Informed by philosophy, music, science, and the supernatural, his research explores intimacy in performance and often positions his mixed-race identity as a fulcrum for inquiry and possibility. As an educator committed to dance as a catalyst for curiosity and social change, he has taught extensively across Europe, Asia, and North America. At UVM, he has served as Program Coordinator for Dance and Arts Director for the Liberal Arts Scholars Program, while collaborating with Environmental Studies and the Honors College, where he has led courses and advised numerous thesis projects. Internationally, he is a regular presence at venues such as Gibney (New York), b12 Festival (Berlin), and Dance Italia (Lucca), among others, and has also taught at Princeton, Juilliard, NYU Tisch, CalArts, Middlebury, and universities across North America and Europe.
Barnett’s choreography has been commissioned and presented across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Europe, most notably by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ormao Dance Company, Jacob’s Pillow Festival, Danspace Project, The Joyce Theater, Movement Research at Judson Church, Tangente (Montreal), Kampnagel (Hamburg), Dansateliers (Rotterdam), La Briqueterie (Paris), i-dance Festival (Hong Kong), Body Arts Lab (Tokyo), and the International Improvisation Dance Festival (Istanbul), among others. He has held residencies at the Bates Dance Festival, Springboard Danse Montréal, K3 Tanzplan Hamburg, and The Joyce Theater Foundation, and has been recognized with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award nomination, a danceWEB scholarship, and a US/Japan Creative Artist Fellowship to study Butoh in Yokohama. He is also a founding member of "soft rocks", a Vermont-based collective that brings together live music and dance in unexpected, spontaneous encounters.
As a performer, Barnett has collaborated with Johannes Wieland, Lar Lubovitch, Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Kevin Wynn, and the Metropolitan Opera with Doug Varone. More recently, he has performed with Steve Paxton, Wally Cardona, Abigail Levine, Jeanine Durning, Kota Yamazaki, Julie Mayo, Paul Besaw/Dance Tramp, and Laurel Jenkins, amongst others. His theater work has appeared at the Berkshire Theater Festival, Spoleto Festival, and Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, alongside stage and film acting roles.
Born in Tokyo, Barnett began as a breakdancer before training at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He holds an MA in Choreography/Theatre Practices from ArtEZ University (Netherlands) and an MFA in Dance from the University of the Arts (Philadelphia).
Bio
Julian Barnett is a choreographer, performer, educator, and arts advocate whose work moves across disciplines to imagine performance as a site of empathy and transformation. Informed by philosophy, music, science, and the supernatural, his research explores intimacy in performance and often positions his mixed-race identity as a fulcrum for inquiry and possibility. As an educator committed to dance as a catalyst for curiosity and social change, he has taught extensively across Europe, Asia, and North America. At UVM, he has served as Program Coordinator for Dance and Arts Director for the Liberal Arts Scholars Program, while collaborating with Environmental Studies and the Honors College, where he has led courses and advised numerous thesis projects. Internationally, he is a regular presence at venues such as Gibney (New York), b12 Festival (Berlin), and Dance Italia (Lucca), among others, and has also taught at Princeton, Juilliard, NYU Tisch, CalArts, Middlebury, and universities across North America and Europe.
Barnett’s choreography has been commissioned and presented across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Europe, most notably by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ormao Dance Company, Jacob’s Pillow Festival, Danspace Project, The Joyce Theater, Movement Research at Judson Church, Tangente (Montreal), Kampnagel (Hamburg), Dansateliers (Rotterdam), La Briqueterie (Paris), i-dance Festival (Hong Kong), Body Arts Lab (Tokyo), and the International Improvisation Dance Festival (Istanbul), among others. He has held residencies at the Bates Dance Festival, Springboard Danse Montréal, K3 Tanzplan Hamburg, and The Joyce Theater Foundation, and has been recognized with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award nomination, a danceWEB scholarship, and a US/Japan Creative Artist Fellowship to study Butoh in Yokohama. He is also a founding member of "soft rocks", a Vermont-based collective that brings together live music and dance in unexpected, spontaneous encounters.
As a performer, Barnett has collaborated with Johannes Wieland, Lar Lubovitch, Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Kevin Wynn, and the Metropolitan Opera with Doug Varone. More recently, he has performed with Steve Paxton, Wally Cardona, Abigail Levine, Jeanine Durning, Kota Yamazaki, Julie Mayo, Paul Besaw/Dance Tramp, and Laurel Jenkins, amongst others. His theater work has appeared at the Berkshire Theater Festival, Spoleto Festival, and Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, alongside stage and film acting roles.
Born in Tokyo, Barnett began as a breakdancer before training at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He holds an MA in Choreography/Theatre Practices from ArtEZ University (Netherlands) and an MFA in Dance from the University of the Arts (Philadelphia).