Internationally acclaimed Dancer, Choreographer & Princess Grace Awardee Babatunji Johnson began as a hip-hop dancer in Hilo, Hawai‘i, before dancing over a decade with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. His signature movement language blends ballet, contemporary, breaking, and hip-hop for live performance and multimedia, with film credits that include Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting, and Flower with Misty Copeland.
By enrolling in PMA 1611, participating students will have the opportunity to learn, rehearse, and perform original choreography by Babatunji and PMA Faculty for the Annual Spring Dance Presenting Series, taking March 21-22 on a PMA mainstage.
Students can enroll at 1-4 credits for this 9-week course. Rehearsals are slated for Mondays-Fridays, 5pm to 7pm. Student rehearsal schedules and course contact hours are contingent on credit load.
For your permission code and any questions, please contact Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo at drusso@cornell.edu.
Babatunji Johnson is a dance artist, choreographer, and creative innovator based out of Oakland, CA. Though never formally trained as a child, Babatunji was always moving his body to the beat. At the age of 15, he discovered the art of hip hop. Following this epiphany of love, he grew up through his teens breaking and popping on street corners in Hilo, Hawai’i. After being “discovered” by a local dance instructor, he began his formal training at Center Stage Dance Alliance in various styles of dance, including ballet. This training would inevitably lead him to Lines Ballet’s Training Program, and from there, into LINES Ballet company.
Over the past 10 years, Babatunji has developed a unique movement language, blending his background in ballet, contemporary, breaking, and hip hop. He has choreographed for Berkeley Ballet Theater, Boston Dance Theater, Post:ballet, Trolley Dance, SFDanceworks, ZiRu Dance, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, among other Bay Area companies. As a solo artist, Babatunji has performed internationally, collaborating with visual, sound, and technical artists of countless genres. His work has been seen at Museum of Dance, Lion’s Jaw performance + dance festival, København Danser, and SFJazz in collaboration with Terri Lyne Carrington. In 2015, he was awarded a Princess Grace Award, as well as a Chris Hellman Award for his outstanding achievements and promise in the world of dance. In 2022, Babatunji was featured in Dance Magazine’s “Dancer Spotlight - Making New Movement”.
Additional Links:
Read more about Babatunji’s recent film collaboration with Misty Copeland.
Watch Babatunji Johnson and Misty Copeland discuss their film Flower on Live! in the Bay.
Watch Babatunji Johnson in Not Without Fear (Credit: Tom McKenzie)
Watch a short piece starring Babatunji Johnson (Credit: Quinn B Wharton)
Watch an excerpt of Lift Every Voice from Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet
Photo credit: Quinn B. Wharton
