Bio

Justin Tornow (MFA) is a dance artist, educator, and researcher based in Durham, NC. Her artistic work is primarily collaborative and interdisciplinary, created with a core group of partners in visual art, sound design, filmmaking, and lighting design. She is the architect for the HAPPENINGS projects in and around Durham, NC, the producer of PROMPTS, and a co-founder of Durham Independent Dance Artists (DIDA).

Tornow teaches college-level courses and workshops in dance technique, composition, and repertory, and serves as visiting and guest teaching artist across the U.S. She was the 2017 teaching-artist-in-residence at Tanzart Atelier in Kirschau, Germany, and was recently a 2019 artist-in-residence at The Commons at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Justin was a 2018-2019 Cunningham Dance Research Fellow with the New York Public Library, publishing original research on the pedagogy and practice of the technique titled Cunningham Technique as a Practice of Freedom. She continues this research through workshops and series at Duke University, ACDA, and the American Dance Festival,  examining sustainable pedagogy methods for studio dance practices and devising collaborative lab environments for repertory and composition courses.