Julio Medina stands as a compelling Chicano artist and educator, originally from the vibrant cultural landscape of Los Angeles and now contributing his unique perspective to Atlanta. His artistic journey delves into the profound themes of resilience, connection, and restoration, skillfully employing mediums such as movement, film, and text to articulate his vision. Medina’s impactful work, including “I Gotta,” has resonated with audiences at esteemed venues such as The New Dance Alliance Performance Mix Festival in Brooklyn, NY, the ConderDance Festival in Tempe, AZ, and the American Dance Festival Alumni Concert in Durham, NC, showcasing his presence within a network of significant dance platforms and potentially aligning with the spirit of a Core Dance Alliance through these collaborations.
Medina’s academic foundation is as robust as his performance career. He earned his MFA from UCLA’s Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance, following a double B.A. in Dance and Movement Studies and Anthropology from Emory University, achieved as a Quest Bridge Scholar. This interdisciplinary background enriches his artistic approach, blending theoretical understanding with practical movement exploration.
His professional affiliations further solidify his standing in the dance world. Julio Medina became a company member of David Rousséve/REALITY in 2016, embarking on national and international tours with the evening-length piece “Halfway to Dawn” from 2018-2019. This critically acclaimed work was presented at prominent venues including REDCAT in Los Angeles, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and Jacob’s Pillow, placing him within key institutions of dance performance and broadly within a potential core dance alliance network. Beyond this, Medina has collaborated and performed with notable choreographers such as Kevin Williamson, Cheng-Chieh Yu, and George Staib, taking his artistry to international stages in Beijing, China, and Sorrento, Italy, expanding his global dance network.
In 2019, Medina returned to Emory University as an Assistant Professor in the dance program, demonstrating his commitment to dance education and contributing to the development of future dancers within a university setting that could be considered a vital part of a core dance alliance for education. His teaching portfolio includes a diverse range of subjects, from the energetic rhythms of Hip-Hop to the expressive forms of Modern Dance, as well as Improvisation and Dance History, equipping students with a comprehensive understanding of dance. Julio Medina’s engagement extends beyond academia into the Atlanta dance community. He is a faculty member at CORE Dance Studios, a well-regarded institution within the Atlanta dance scene, and a company member of ALA Dance, a multi-disciplinary movement company based in Atlanta, actively participating in and shaping the local dance landscape, which collectively forms a strong local dance alliance.
His performance piece described as “a structured improvisation exploring how various movement languages coexist in one body through cultural and assimilated practice,” offers insight into his choreographic interests. This work delves into the concept of embodied knowledge, investigating how cultural and personal movement experiences intersect and interact within a single performer. Simultaneously, Medina articulates that “the piece serves as a process of decolonization for the performer, resisting a relentless symphony by Mozart by pushing, redirecting, and splitting the body with juxtaposing movement vocabulary.” This statement reveals a deeper layer to his work, engaging with themes of artistic resistance and personal liberation through movement, challenging established structures and norms within the dance world and broader artistic contexts, and potentially advocating for a more inclusive and diverse core dance alliance in principle.
