Julia began her career as a classical dancer with The Australian Ballet,
later joined contemporary dance company Australian Dance Theatre and was a
founding member and co-director of Etcetera, a visual performing group appearing
in festivals in Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
As a choreographer Julia has worked with Company B Belvoir – Frogs (directed by Geoffrey Rush),
Sydney Theatre Company - The Way of the World (directed by Gale Edwards), Kim Carpenter’s Theatre
of Image – Exotic Pleasures and The Gypsy Boy and The Australian Ballet – Super Man. Other
choreographic credits include productions by Australian Dance Theatre, Etcetera, Tasdance,
State Opera of South Australia and SA Youth Opera, Sidetrack Performance Group, Freewheels,
Death Defying Theatre and Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
Julia was the director of Etcetera’s In Which Case and co-director of For Example
and Etcetera Incorporated. She directed Bitumen Street Theatre for the Adelaide Festival
of Arts; Spare Parts Puppet Theatre for the Perth International Festival; and was
Artistic Director of Australian Theatre of the Deaf where she directed Savant,
Language of One and Shape Up.
Julia worked at NIDA for 15 years first with esteemed movement teacher Keith Bain
OAM and then on his retirement she became Head of Movement for the Acting Department
and Head of the post-graduate Movement Studies course. As well as choreographing many
theatre productions at NIDA Julia has also directed Ionesco’s Man with Bags, physical
theatre productions Out of Reach, Footprints, In Transit, Time’s Up and Hypothetically
and co-directed Nick Enright’s Country Music for the opening of the Parade Theatre.
Since leaving NIDA in 2009 Julia has worked for Company B Belvoir as choreographer
on The Book of Everything (directed by Neil Armfield) and Theatre of Image’s Little
Beauty (directed by Kim Carpenter) for the National Portrait Gallery. She performed in
Drawing the Line at the Art Gallery of NSW and co-directed King Arthur for the Sydney
Philharmonic Choir. She was instrumental in the editing, publishing and launch of the
book Keith Bain on Movement. Most recently she has written, directed and choreographed
Backstage at the Ballets Russes, presented in conjunction with the National Gallery of
Australia’s exhibition Ballets Russes The Art of Costume.
