Belinda Ju

Belinda Ju is a dancer and dancemaker who researches participatory and somatic modes of connection, meaningmaking, and care. She has performed, including original work, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Movement Research at the Judson Memorial Church, Dixon Place, Bates Dance Festival, Movement Research's Open Performance series, and the MUCK performance series.

She published an essay in In Dance magazine’s Winter 2022 edition titled, “Care. Liberation. Now. - Changing Shape, Shaping Change” (also in pretty PDF). It was inspired by movement research into non-traditional infrastructures of care with her collaborator, Sandra Baptista.

Her first original performance counted as influences Erik Erikson’s model of psychosocial development, family constellation therapy, and Iain M. Banks’s science fiction. Her second is titled “走“ (pronounced zǒu in Mandarin), a word that means both “to go” and “to walk”; it is a piece about moving through grief. Her third was a ritual for protection and healing that incorporated Wicca casting, invocation of a heifer, and participatory meditation.

Belinda’s dance home is in the postmodern lineage / experimental dance world. An alum of the Bates Dance Festival’s Professional Training Program, Belinda has trained across ballet, several lineages of modern, jazz, and many social dances including west coast swing. She draws from a diverse movement background that includes taekwondo (black belt), baguazhang (an internal Chinese martial art), Alexander technique, circus arts, ice skating, and running (as a marathon finisher). She’s trained in physical theater and ensemble devising with Anne Bogart of SITI, Pilobolus, Frantic Assembly, and The Carpetbag Brigade. Belinda’s studies have included somatic anatomy, Laban, and Bartenieff Fundamentals, as well as two degrees including in human biology from Stanford University. Her creative work is additionally informed by her meditation, writing, and coaching practices.