Responsive Body Practitioners
holly johnston is the creator and director of Responsive Body, a biodynamic ecology of support for body-based resiliency, social connection, personal, and professional development. She is an award-winning performer and choreographer and was the artistic director/choreographer for the national touring dance company, LEDGES AND BONES. holly is bewildered by most things and is fascinated by learning. She is the descendant of artists and social justice workers. Her identity was formed through the love of her family’s matriarch- a white, queer, single-parent of three adopted children, social worker, fierce defender of human rights who loved cats more than people.
holly has experienced the benefits and deterrents of acquiring a BA in Dance and MFA in Choreography. She has synthesized her study of biodynamic craniosacral therapies, structural integration, barefoot shiatsu, connective tissue mobilization, functional movement, kinesiology, anatomy and physiology, Polyvagal theory, art therapy, epigenetics, yoga, energy medicine and choreography into her work as a developer and coordinator for human(ized) systems of performance and production.
holly works as a consultant, mentor, educator, choreographer, artist, relationship bonder, and community builder. She facilitates certification programs in Responsive Body, mentors creative and professional development, works therapeutically with individuals, partners, and families, and travels frequently to dance programs as a guest artist. She writes poems and essays describing a life-long bewilderment with being a human person. Her podcast A Space To Be discusses subjects related to current events, culture, politics, embodiment, creativity, history, and futurity. holly’s work is rooted through California in Long Beach and San Francisco/Bay Area. She remains wildly in love with her partner, Peter, and their son Sky.
Founder: holly johnston
Contact holly via email at holly@responsivebody.com
or book a session with the links below:
Felicia Kelley
Felicia is a curious, sensitive, and expressive being who believes humor and play are integral components of daily life. Felicia encourages all humans, black humans especially, to find refuge in their bodies as a site for liberation, rebellion and resistance. She believes a movement practice can take many shapes including joyful exploration, body-to-body communication, the sacred expression of rage, and embodied liberation. Felicia teaches pilates-based movement through the lens of Responsive Body and is studying to become a physical therapist. She loves taking naps, eating good food, cuddling, and hitting the dance floor with her favorite humans. www.felicia-kelley.com
Paula Perlman
Paula Perlman’s love of people, physical exertion, adventure, nature and experiential learning are core to who she is. Embodiment and somatic time, listening to messages from the body, grounds her to understand the value of community, the imaginal and creativity. Embodiment is a form of empowerment. Her clients experience emotional connection, joy, pleasure, sorrow and aliveness. Working with Paula can be likened to throwing a pebble in the water and letting the ripples spread out. The boundary can overflow or head back inward. Whether working with people having lived through trauma, teaching creative movement with children and/or taking a dance/movement class for adults her somatic approach leaves one feeling connected to self and other. Paula has been studying Responsive Body with Holly Johnston for 3 years and worked prior in her own development with Holly, is a LMFT, and certified in Laban/ Movement Analysis and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy work of Pat Ogden and Ron Kurtz. Reach out to Paula at 310-709-5473 or email her at paulaperl@verizon.net.
Roya Ramezankhani
Roya Ramezankhani is an Iranian-American visual artist, dancer and bodywork practitioner currently located in Louisville, KY. She graduated with a B.F.A. in Studio Art with a focus in photography from the University of Kentucky. Roya worked and lived in Lexington, KY and Los Angeles, CA until relocating to Louisville, KY in 2021.
Roya fell in love with dance at a young age and has never stopped. She has performed with several companies including Blackbird Dance Theatre (Jenny Fitzpatrick), Ajayi Dance (Melissa Ajayi), The Public Assembly (Los Angeles based theatre company), and The Moving Collective (Theresa Batista).
Roya is also a Level 1 certified Responsive Body practitioner. She is currently working towards her Level 2 Certification.
Dani Galvez
Danielle Galvez (she/they) is a dance artist, movement researcher, public educator, and tarot card reader. Of Ilokano and Pangasinan descent, Dani seeks ancestral healing through her creative works and connection building. She found Archive Dance Collective, a space where artists, community organizers, and educators foster self-discovery through dance education. Through the sponsorship of MPWRD Artist Collective, Archive is able to host monthly dance sessions and classes that focus on centering BIPOC teachers in Afro-diasporic dance forms. She’s currently a Level 2 Responsive body practitioner, a body-based approach to creative expression, relationship building, and social action. Dani has undergone the dance program at San Jose State University, is an Experienced Yoga Teacher since 2016, and a student in the dance form of Krump. Follow her work on Instagram @archivedanceco
Sky Speigel
Sky Spiegel hates writing bios but would love to meet you via dance jam anytime, anyplace. Intentionally working to counteract embodied toxicity of white supremacist, capitalistic, and oppressive systems and ideas, she has found herself endlessly curious about life interconnected at the intersection of sustainability and pleasure. You can often find her deep in thought about “how pleasure and sustainability engage with each other,” “what systems, ecosystems, strategies, rituals, etc curate sustainable pleasure for our bodies, our communities and our planet?” and “what and how do we co-create such living conditions that are non-extractive , abundant, and reciprocal?” When not spiraling down the rabbit hole you can find her travel hacking her way through new adventures in the back of her car, geeking out in garden spaces about permaculture systems and food justice, loving to talk about, experience, and un-shame bodies sexual/sensual nature, and dancing in session spaces, experimental classes, and grocery store lines. Ultimately, Sky Spiegel is a joy seeker and a lover of you and your body who is here in service to the capacity already within all bodies to co-create a life of sustainable pleasure alongside all the bullshit. She can’t wait to dance together in this wild ass life.
To book bodywork sessions, dance jam workshops, find support via movement meditations, and check out her previous and upcoming creative endeavors, head to skyspiegel.com
Twyla Malchow-Hay
Twyla Malchow-Hay (she/her) is a fluid and queer multimedia creator, performing artist, poet, bodyworker, and birthworker in training. She was raised in Portland, OR (Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla land) amongst the rain and evergreens, and is currently rooting in Berkeley, CA (Huchiun, Lisjan Ohlone land). She has lived in the Bay Area since 2017 after graduating from Chapman University with a BFA in Dance Performance. While in the Bay, she's been actively evolving a multi-media creative practice that blends movement, poetry, photography, and ritual and dancing with local artists. Creatively, she's exploring her connection to the earth, spirit, and memory. She finds great passion and pleasure in the healing depths of movement, writing practices, and magic. Twyla finds strength in her sensitivity and sources power from her intuition. Through her years of navigating injuries and healing the experiences of being a survivor, she has grown curious and passionate about the potential of alchemizing pain into embodied aliveness. Following a call to serve the entirety of life's cycles, Twyla is building a practice that weaves together body work, supported movement, birth work, and creation. As a practitioner, Twyla aims to create nourishing spaces that support the sovereignty and wholeness of one's being; the lived experiences, the shadowy depths, and the vibrancy of all life. twylamalchowhay.com
Nick Wagner
Nick (he/him) has his oldest roots in the Seattle area, flowered in Southern California, and became fruit-bearing in the Bay Area. Since relocating, nick found community within dance and has performed with a few companies as well as developing and supporting the operations of a dance organization. Now, he’s refocused toward bodywork and performance after receiving massage and responsive body training. As someone who’s livelihood and happiness was threatened by injury, his most rewarding moments are when he sees the bodywork click and the receiver understands there is renewed possibility and hope they can continue to do what they love. www.nwbodywork.com
Chelsea Brown
For me, dancing is a practice of re-wilding. Movement helps me feel close to nature; to feel regulated, strong, sensitive, and connected.
Chelsea Brown (they/them) is a queer dancer, teacher, choreographer, arts administrator, and activist living in Oakland, CA. They are the Operations Manager for BANDALOOP and passionate about sustainability and equity in the arts in the Bay Area and beyond.
Chelsea has trained in a variety of dance genres including modern, improvisation, ballet, Hip Hop and acrobatics. They are especially interested in responsive, site-specific choreography and sensation-based improvisation. Their creative process aims to dismantle hierarchal systems of oppression by challenging racist, capitalist, ableist "norms."
Join my Patreon for guided movement videos, influenced by Responsive Body. chelseaboydbrowndance.com
Deborah Rosen
Deborah Rosen is a dance artist, associate marriage and family therapist, and responsive body student. Deborah is a lover of nature and the healing powers of the body. As a therapist, Deborah integrates language of our bodies, our senses, and elements of nature in her therapeutic, healing practice. She strongly believes in the power of movement, the strength of presence, and healing touch. In her therapeutic practice she aims to help her clients recognize subtle energy fields around the body and energy centers located within the body, to promote healing on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level. Deborah has a BA in Business, a Minor in Dance, and a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy / with a specialization in Trauma. Her professional experience included, working in her family’s business. Her most current passions are choreographer, associate marriage and family therapist, and her somatics training. Her former career experience as a business administrator, dance performer, dance instructor, and pilates instructor, contribute to her approach in working with clients. Her educational endeavors, as a student of responsive body, and training in trauma sensitive yoga, also, lend to her continued growth and capacity. Deborah started her dance education in college. And, performed with Rosanna Gamson/ World Wide Dance Co., for ten years. She is artistic director and choreographer of her own company, Deborah Rosen and Dancers. She is also currently a therapist for Detour Transitions, an organization providing counseling and mental health services for parolees living in transitional housing. Another aspect of Deborah’s life that contributes to her continued growth as a human and therapist, is her role as a mother. Everyday, being reminded of the beauty and amazement, and natural, innate abilities we are all born with. And, the importance of nurturing them. You can reach Deborah via email at debdancerR@aol.com
Jean Stultz
Jean Stultz, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a doctorate in somatic psychology, a branch of psychotherapy driven by the knowledge that the body is a gateway to transpersonal experiences. Prior to working as a psychotherapist, Jean studied dance and various forms of touch therapy and energy medicine, including massage, Craniosacral therapy, and Reiki. She currently works in private practice and with Mindpath College Health, in Isla Vista, California, serving undergraduate and graduate students. In 2017, she began using her skills at transformational music festivals and leading workshops on boundaries and embodiment. She strives to be an advocate for embodied social justice and the LGBTQ+ community and tries to be a kind human everyday.
I am delving into Responsive Body, because of all my learnings, this seems to be the most comprehensive and fundamental framework for evoking change in the paradigms of our concept of self and how we relate to our own bodies. As we begin to understand the history and meaning in our postures and gestures, we gain perspective on our self in the world and the impact of our interpersonal experiences so that we might be in a more conscious relationship to one another.
Sienna Kresge
Sienna Kresge is a Boise, Idaho native where wide open spaces and a family of dancers inspired an early love for movement expression. Growing up a competitive dancer, she has trained with and assisted professional choreographers in LA, New York, Las Vegas, and Finland. Sienna graduated magna cum laude from Chapman University with BA degrees in Dance and Philosophy. She has extensive stage experience at the competitive, collegiate, and professional levels, and has enjoyed traveling the world and performing professionally at sea with Holland America Line.
Sienna is proud to be Pilates certified on all apparatuses with mentorship under Erika Bloom and Adrienne Weidert. She is currently dancing and researching biodynamic, somatic movement practice in the Responsive Body modality under founder Holly Johnston. She is deeply passionate about empowering dancers and non-dancers alike to feel pleasure and find healing expression in their bodies through the coordination of breath, alignment, rhythm, and ease.
KJ Dahlaw
KJ Dahlaw is a bay area dance artist and makes work under the name of Unruly Body Tanztheater. They hold an MFA in Dance from Saint Mary's College of CA and a BFA in Dance Performance from Northern Illinois University. KJ’s work examines unruliness; queer theology;the body; and practices of counter-hegemony in the dancing body. KJ is exploring the lineage of tanztheater and has a background in ballet, modern dance,and improvisational practices. KJ is currently dancing with Sarah Bush Dance Project, Human Shakes, and Epiphany Dance Theater. KJ teaches adult and youth ballet at ODC and Shawl Anderson Dance Center.