VANESSA JUSTICE DANCE
"Vanessa Justice has a native ability for intricate, satisfying movement and a formal logic that is completely captivating."
--Bebe Miller, choreographer
"It epitomizes the inexhaustible experience of ever-evolving dance."
--Brian McCormick, cultural critic
"wonderfully multi-dimensional."
--danceperfectlyfree.com
"The multiplying levels of interpretation could knock you flat."
-- The New Yorker
"Many established choreographers work with less experienced disciples, but Vanessa Justice's collaborator on a program for the New Museum may be one of the youngest on record: Liv Rylander, 3."
--The New York Times
VANESSA JUSTICE DANCE was formed in 2007 in Brooklyn, NY. Vanessa presented new dance work consistently in NYC from 2001-2019, during which time she was awarded artistic residencies at prestigious venues including New York Live Arts, Yaddo, Movement Research, The Bogliasco Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, among others. During the Covid pandemic, Vanessa relocated and her current artistic home-base is West Hartford, CT.
Vanessa constructs aesthetically layered dances that stem from rigorous investigations into form, content, and process.
She uses the term "relational choreography" to describe her research: She studies how choreography and the body act as multi-faceted, layered processes in which different sources/styles/modes of information meet and create a context for interplay. Vanessa is also inspired by the phenomenon of the body and the dynamic processes of perception, and she invents a specific movement vocabulary for each new work. Her choreography gives specific attention to tone, qualitative nuance, state-of-being, and space/place/environment.
Vanessa worked with performer Kendra Portier from 2002-2018. Additional performer-collaborators in her work have included Jasmine Hearn, Marion Spencer, Maggie Bennett, Alli Ruszkowski, Rachel Boggia, Talya Epstein, Lily Ockwell, Devika Wickremesinghe, Kristin Hapke, Yari Alcaraz, and contemporary artist, Janine Antoni.
FLATLAND (2009) Kendra Portier, Alli Ruszkowski
Photo: Ian Douglass
ABOUT
Vanessa Justice is a choreographer and Alexander Technique teacher who recently moved from New York City to West Hartford, CT. She has staged works in and been commissioned by venues in US cities, NYC, and abroad.
Vanessa's work has been seen at/supported by New York Live Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Dixon Place, Joyce Soho, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, BRIC, Kumble Theater, Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance (Austria), The Republic (Austria), San Diego State University, and Wesleyan University, among others. Her work has also been staged in Poland and Germany.
Vanessa has been a recipient of New York Live Art's Studio Series residency (2012), and has been an artist-in-residence with Movement Research, Liguria Study Center (Bogliasco Fellowship), Joyce Soho, The Corporation of Yaddo, and the Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance.
Supported by a Watson Fellowship, she spent a year studying and performing in Asia and Europe. In 2001, the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) awarded Vanessa for her research about how choreography redefines cultural beliefs about the body. In addition, Vanessa collaborates on videodance with Rachel Boggia, Professor of Dance at Connecticut College.
Though Vanessa was highly trained in ballet and postmodern dance, she researches the body, consciousness, and somatic practices to inform her choreography. She develops a unique movement vocabulary for each work. In addition to studying western forms, she has lived and danced in non-western cultures including India, Nepal, Taiwan, Java and Hawaii.
Vanessa has taught courses at Long Island University, Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, The Ohio State University, and the University of Hawaii. She also maintains a private practice teaching pilates and Alexander Technique in Brooklyn.
Vanessa graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Religious Studies: Philosophy and Buddhism from Pomona College, and earned an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University.
VANESSA JUSTICE DANCE was formed in 2007 in Brooklyn, NY. Vanessa constructs aesthetically layered dances that stem from rigorous investigations into form, content, and process.
Vanessa uses the term "relational choreography" to describe her research: She studies how choreography and the body act as multi-faceted, layered processes in which different sources/styles/modes of information meet and create a context for interplay. Vanessa is also inspired by the phenomenon of the body and the dynamic processes of perception, and she invents a specific movement vocabulary for each new work. Her choreography gives specific attention to tone, qualitative nuance, state-of-being, and space/place/environment.
BIO
Vanessa Justice is a choreographer and Alexander Technique teacher who recently moved from New York City to West Hartford, CT. She has staged works in and been commissioned by venues in US cities, NYC, and abroad.
Vanessa's work has been seen at/supported by New York Live Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Dixon Place, Joyce Soho, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, BRIC, Kumble Theater, Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance (Austria), The Republic (Austria), San Diego State University, and Wesleyan University, among others. Her work has also been staged in Poland and Germany.
Vanessa was a recipient of New York Live Art's Studio Series residency (2012), and has been an artist-in-residence with Movement Research, Liguria Study Center (Bogliasco Fellowship), Joyce Soho, The Corporation of Yaddo, and the Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance.
Supported by a Watson Fellowship, she spent a year studying and performing in Asia and Europe. In 2001, the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) awarded Vanessa for her research about how choreography redefines cultural beliefs about the body. In addition, Vanessa collaborates on videodance with Rachel Boggia, Professor of Dance at Connecticut College.
Though Vanessa was highly trained in ballet and postmodern dance, she researches the body, consciousness, and somatic practices to inform her choreography. She develops a unique movement vocabulary for each work. In addition to studying western forms, she has lived and danced in non-western cultures including India, Nepal, Taiwan, Java and Hawaii.
Vanessa has taught courses at Long Island University, Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, The Ohio State University, and the University of Hawaii. She also maintains a private practice teaching pilates, yoga, and Alexander Technique online and in West Hartford, CT and Brooklyn, NY.
Vanessa graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Religious Studies: Philosophy and Buddhism from Pomona College, and earned an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University.