Julia Hunkert

I started my dance training in Ballet, Contemporary and Modern, but when I continued training at my local Dance School in Dresden (Germany) the focus was clearly on Contemporary and Jazz. At 17, I started a professional musical theatre program in Hamburg where we were mostly trained in Ballet and Theatre Jazz. Missing Contemporary dance and wanting to explore more styles of dance, to tap into my full potential, I moved to NYC. I am currently specializing in Contemporary/Ballet and am curious to develop my very own technique which will be a combination of all the styles I love.

As a child I always admired and loved passionate, and expressive dance pieces. It fascinated me how dancers managed to build a connection with the audience and transported emotions through a piece. Contemporary and Jazz styles are very good tools to express (oneself) and tell a story. For me it was always more about the way people danced instead of the style. I could fall in love with every style if a performance made me feel something.

My parents realized very early how much I loved moving to music and when I was four years old, I had built enough courage to attend my very first Ballet class. My local dance school in Dresden offered plenty of opportunities to study pieces and to perform them on stage. In fact, we had lots of shows, which is why we had to learn very early how to express and transport emotions through movement. The director of my former dance school was a huge inspiration to me, it seemed like she could choreograph any story she wanted to tell. At some point though, I realized that I’d need a more technical training to turn my passion to my profession.

At my Musical Theatre School, I booked a touring show with a solo piece and had the honour of performing one of my very first original choreographies as a professional dancer at theatres across the north of Germany. It was a contemporary piece, and the first show was an incredible and vulnerable experience. Dancing alone with live musicians is pure magic!

One of the choreographers that inspired me to move to NYC is Nicholas Palmquist. Working with him would be an absolute dream, and I find his unique style of combining Jazz and Contemporary elements very innovative. But there are so many amazing dancers and choreographers around the world that I’d like to work with or for. However, I’d also really enjoy working for James Kinney, one of the best Theatre Jazz choreographers I know.

Dance is my safe place. It’s where I can be free and vulnerable without getting hurt. It’s also my way of expressing what can’t be expressed through words. I was always searching for other artistic ways to express myself, which is what drew me to the performing arts, acting and singing. But dancing is my natural element. I feel very grateful to make it my profession and to share it with the world.

At this moment in time, I prefer performing because there still is so much more to learn and to explore. Also, especially during Covid I realized how much I missed feeling this very special energy of performing in front of an audience. However, I love teaching and it makes me understand more about dance itself, our bodies, and the bodies of individual dancers at different ages.

A psychologist and author.

I am a curious artist, discovering the miracles and beauty of life, creating to inspire and make the world a little bit better.

I see myself still choosing this beautiful job every single day. One big wish of mine is to develop my own style/technique and to choreograph pieces as well as dancing for a company. There are a lot of possibilities that my curiosity could lead me to in ten years, but I’d love to do a lot of collaborations with different artists, and I want to help make the dance industry a better place.