Julie Lockett
Professional

Julie is based in Cloughjordan Ecovillage - a lived response to the climate crisis. She works interchangeably with the ecovillage land and is artist in residence at Instant Dissidence’s Eco Dance Space in the ecovillage.

Julie has a certificate in Permaculture Design and uses permaculture as a lens to create her work. She has a daily dance and writing practice where she forages for material around the ecovillage land and works in the studio when she needs shelter. Material she has created with the land requires a process of synthesis and translation when she brings it into the studio and conversely material created in the studio is immediately and radically recontextualised when she explores and performs it with the land.

Julie has performed, presented work, directed projects and taught nationally and internationally over the last 20 years. Her recent solo work ‘Her-acre’, directed by theatre director Jason Byrne was shown nationally and internationally as part of the Eadrainn/Between Us Residency hosted by Dance Ireland and Dance Base/Edinburgh. Two other recent collaborations are with Instant Dissidence: One Last Dance - An Chéad Damhsa a perambulating dance across the UK and Ireland and …As If Trying Not To Own The Earth, performed as a film and live streamed for Dublin Dance Festival 2021.

Between 2004 and 2011, Julie co-founded and directed Genesis Project & Collective with Ella Clarke, a practice-based project for radicalisation in the art form of dance, mentored by eminent American dance artist Deborah Hay and with offshoot projects in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and L.A. She was gifted one solo, commissioned two solos and performed all three of Deborah Hay’s solo choreographies and one group work by her.

Julie has performed with Ella Clarke Choreography, 100 feet (dance film) for Projects Arts Centre, Daghdha Dance Company, Catapult Dance Company, Myriad Dance Company, Opera Ireland and her choreographic work has been presented nationwide and been variously supported by the Arts Council, Dublin Fringe Festival, Project Arts Centre, Dublin City Council and Tipperary County Council. Julie has worked as a teacher for School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam, Trinity College, Dublin, Dance Ireland, Sallynoggin Educational Vocational College, Dance Theatre of Ireland, Creative Schools Programme and she is associate artist with youth circus project Cloughjordan Circus Club.

Julie trained at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa, Cork and got a BA (Hons) in Dance Performance from Middlesex University, UK. She also holds a BA in Modern Languages & International Relations.

From her writings, Julie builds written scores for her work which form the basis for her choreographies.

Extract form current work in progress ‘A way back forward (s)’

In zone 5 of her life, she is ‘speciwoman’. Her body a social scientist.

A feather as compass, the pull of the path. Spiral winds up and propels her forwards. Everything gardens - the wind, the trees, the birds, the beessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Nature creates patterns to solve problems.

Her feet as sensitive as her hands, harvesting the gains from disorder.

She builds structures the wind can pass through.

Tactical self-seeding off-balance.

Fingers dragging along her forearm the ledge to resssssssssssssssssssssssssssst her knowing.  

Image Credits: Benedict Hutchinson