2026 Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis (MFAEIP) Graduate
My work investigates identity, belonging, and cultural hybridity through embodied and interdisciplinary artistic practices. Drawing from contemporary choreography, visual art, and embodied research, I examine how lived experience, displacement, and memory are carried and transmitted through the body. This inquiry positions movement as a form of knowledge production, where the body functions as a site of cultural inscription and storytelling.
At the center of my practice is my weaving methodology—an embodied, interdisciplinary process that integrates visual art, movement, and writing. Weaving begins with the creation of imagined landscapes, followed by entering these worlds through movement exploration, reflecting through journaling, and shaping memory into movement phrases. Rooted in dreaming and cultural memory, this intuitive practice treats the body as a living archive and serves as a tool for investigating intersectionality, identity formation, and cultural transmission.
Grounded in the belief that art is a powerful vehicle for community building and cultural preservation, my work seeks to create immersive and dialogic experiences for audiences. Through choreography, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the integration of emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, I aim to expand how stories are embodied, shared, and experienced. This practice invites audiences to reflect on connection, difference, and belonging, positioning creativity as a catalyst for collective understanding and transformation.
weaving Dreams Credits:
Johanna Kepler, choreographer and director
Dancers:
Celeste Brace
Ashley Greeno
Karla Espejo Rodarte
Cindy Lao
Marisa Melchiorre
Johanna Kepler is a choreographer, creative director, and interdisciplinary artist whose work centers embodiment, cultural memory, and storytelling through movement. She is a Guatemalan adoptee and Maya descendant, and her research explores identity, belonging, and cultural transmission through embodied practices. Johanna is an MFA candidate in Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis at Duke University and holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan, where she was a UMS 21st Century Artist Intern. Her work integrates choreography, visual art, and emerging technologies, including VR and AR, and is rooted in ethnographic research in Guatemala and Maya weaving traditions. She is the founder of the Guatemalan Interview Project and Power of the Performing Arts, long-term initiatives dedicated to documenting lived experience, amplifying artist voices, and building community through storytelling and embodied research. Johanna has taught master classes and workshops with the University of Michigan, American Dance Festival, and Duke University, and previously worked at American Ballet Theatre in Marketing and Communications. Through her self-developed weaving methodology, she positions the body as a living archive and art-making as a tool for cultural preservation, community building, and collective healing.
The Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis (MFAEIP) is a two-year, full-time, terminal degree program grounded in Duke’s interdisciplinary approach. This program encourages research that responds to urgent global issues and joins critical conversations both within and beyond the arts.
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