INTERVIEW           •              OCTOBER 1, 2019

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an interview with julia crocket, movement coach

INTERVIEW BY SHIRA WHEELER

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SHIRA: HOW AND WHERE DID YOU LEARN THE MOST ABOUT YOUR BODY AS A YOUNG GIRL?

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JULIA:  

I grew up playing sports, taking dance classes, and taking alternative theater classes. I was always a physical person, but I really developed a dialogue with my body through Jin Shin Jyutsu—a touch therapy practice that’s meant to help balance the body’s energy. A family friend used to come regularly to our home and treat my whole family when I was younger—I even studied it myself for a bit as a young girl. I think it gave me the foundation of the physical dialogue I have with my body now. 

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SHIRA: AS YOU AGE, WHAT HAVE YOU CONTINUED TO LEARN AND UNLEARN ABOUT YOUR BODY?

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JULIA:  

I’ve learned that the body knows best—it knows far more than my mind and always understands how I feel before I can intellectualize it. I’m learning to listen to my body when it asks for something—haven’t aced that though. 

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I’ve learned that it’s ok to be tall, to take up space. 

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I’ve learned that strength has nothing to do with aesthetics. 

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I’m always unlearning habits of self-loathing.

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SHIRA: HOW DO YOU THINK THE DIALOGUE AROUND BODIES AND WOMEN'S HEALTH COULD CHANGE/IMPROVE?

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JULIA:

A lot of the women I work with struggle with being messy and taking up space. SO many women carry in their bodies a sense of apology, and chronic habits of pulling everything up and in. I feel like it’s so much healthier, even in a purely somatic sense, to release down and out, but it’s so contrary to the persistent messaging out there about how we should look and feel. So, I think there needs to be more celebration around women occupying space and being loud, rather than quiet and small. I think this would include a discourse about bodies that is rooted in visibility.

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SHIRA: I'VE BEEN TO YOUR MOVEMENT CLASSES, AND THEY'RE AWESOME. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WORK AT JULIA CROCKETT & GROUP.

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JULIA:

All of my choreographic and directorial projects are through Julia Crockett & Group. I create movement-based work—installations, film/video, and choreography for theater. I’m a performer myself—an actor and physical performer—and an enormous part of my practice is as a teaching artist. I work with actors, artists, designers, and dancers at universities and private studios. For many years, this element of my practice was reserved to university programs or private institutions. This changed last fall, when I founded Movement for Everybody with my partner Briana Packen. 

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Movement for Everybody offers drop in, all-level movement-based classes. Each class focuses on strengthening, lengthening, and uncovering more articulation in the body through a variety of disciplines. They are creative classes on improvisation, collaboration, and composition with bodies. Believe it or not, I still have a hard time describing our sessions to people who have never been—I guess to me they feel like something that has to be experienced to really be understood. Is that hokey? Maybe it’s because a large part of the work has to do with connecting with other people—not just becoming stronger and more physically creative. I suppose that’s a different experience for everyone. 

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SHIRA: WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?

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JULIA:

It’s my favorite thing in the whole world. Turns out I love being around people. I love to see people operate at their most open. I love seeing people become embodied. I also feel like, when it comes to the body and the way we relate to it in a psycho-emotional sense, I’ll never run out of things to learn and discover. 

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SHIRA: HOW HAS DANCE AND MOVEMENT ALLOWED YOU TO BECOME EMBODIED?

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JULIA:

Movement helped me to reconnect to my body. For many years of my life, I felt disembodied. I truly had no sense of my body in space or any understanding of what I was feeling. This was a response to trauma in my life when I was younger; movement helped me recover from trauma and feel comfortable in my body again. 

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SHIRA: HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT MOVEMENT? IS IT A FUNCTION OF YOUR BODY? PART OF YOUR BODY? PART OF YOURSELF?

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JULIA:

A lot of the women I work with struggle with being messy and taking up space. SO many women carry in their bodies a sense of apology, and chronic habits of pulling everything up and in. I feel like it’s so much healthier, even in a purely somatic sense, to release down and out, but it’s so contrary to the persistent messaging out there about how we should look and feel. So, I think there needs to be more celebration around women occupying space and being loud, rather than quiet and small. I think this would include a discourse about bodies that is rooted in visibility.

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I think of movement as the purest form of expression that is available to me. It’s a way to play, and to be honest with myself. Movement is the most effective way to access release. So… I guess it’s a function of my body, yes. My body’s voice? 

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SHIRA: IT SEEMS TO ME, TOO, THAT A LOT OF YOUR WORK IS CENTERED AROUND COMMUNITY BUILDING. DO YOU THINK THE EMBODIMENT THAT COMES WITH MOVEMENT-RELATED WORK IS PERSONAL OR INTERPERSONAL?

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JULIA:

It’s so much about community! I think the process of becoming embodied is a very personal experience, but having that experience within a group of people allows for really deep intimacy, permission, and sense of belonging—all things that I believe are becoming harder to access as we spend more time on our phones and on social media. It’s so helpful to have your experience and point of view witnessed in a room in a very tactile, physical way. 

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SHIRA: THIS IS SOMETHING WE THINK ABOUT A LOT AT ODDOBODY, TOO, AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR BODY MANUALS BOTH EDUCATIONAL AND ACCESSIBLE. YOUR MOVEMENT CLASSES ARE OPEN TO ALL LEVELS. HOW DO YOU APPROACH ACCESSIBILITY?

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JULIA:

No critique. When I teach, I really try to remove the binary of right/wrong good/bad and encourage students to explore more nuanced and intricate responses to class. There are no mirrors, no combinations, no sense of presentation. A lot of the movement is very intuitive. 

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SHIRA: MOST OUTRAGEOUS PAIR OF UNDERWEAR YOU'VE WORN?

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JULIA:

I feel like I keep it pretty low key. Honestly, every time I put on a bra it feels silly and outrageous. Remember padded training bras? 

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SHIRA: FAVORITE UNDERWEAR SCENE IN A MOVIE?

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JULIA:

Maid Marian’s Everlast iron underwear in Robin Hood Men in Tights. 

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SHIRA: UNDERWEAR TREND YOU NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN?
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JULIA: Exposed whale tail? (a 2026 amendment: she has since changed her stance)

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