Julie Akerly is the co-director of artist residency space, NueBox, founder of Phoenix Dance Review, and artistic director of J.A.M. (Julie Akerly Movement).  She received an MFA in Dance and Interdisciplinary Multimedia and Performance from Arizona State University.  She is interested in expanding audience interaction and engagement through adapting the traditional proscenium performance stage into a generative communal space where the performance can be viewed through a versatile shifting lens.  Julie received her BA at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, where her primary focus was on discovering the artistry of innovative choreography, and where she began to engage in dance technology and dance film.  Julie has had dance film works screened in the UK at GLOW, and in the United States at Breaking Ground, Bustin’ a Madcap, and (e)Motion.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration is also an important aspect of several projects Julie has been a part of.  She is currently working on a collaboration with Datura, a free jazz band, as well as a dance performance with Jordan Daniels Dance that will premiere at ArtelPHX. In the past she has worked on interactive pieces such as The Sill funded by EMERGE 2014 with media artist Matthew Mosher, and sound designer Tony Obr.  She has also worked in interdisciplinary media design teams for her most well-known works Vertigo (2013), Genesis (2013), and Separation: Short Range Repulsion (2012). She has also performed for Eileen Standley, Rachel Bowdwitch, and the D&Spair, an interdisciplinary improvisation group in the Phoenix area.