Born in London, Julia James-Griffiths was introduced to dance from a young age. When she was six years old, she began her individual exploration of dance in a small ballet school in Tooting.

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In 2004 she moved to Scotland where she was then introduced to Contemporary Dance, as well as various other dance techniques. In these early years it soon became clear that her passion was to perform and to create work.

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Growing up with a German opera-classical singer as a mother and a well-travelled artistic Englishman as a father, encouraged her to explore different cultures and experiences further afield. This led her to travel across the globe at the age of 18. Her environment and upbringing, as well as her faith, have continued to influence her work and her desire to explore dance through different perspectives and experiences.

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She began her professional dance training in 2010, where she spent a year at PAAS at Edinburgh's Telford College, and then went on to study for a further four years at The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, The Space. She graduated with a BA Honours Degree in May 2015, and then later became a recipient of Scotland's Dancers Emerging Bursary Scheme/DEBS at Dancebase. She currently works as a freelance dance artist based in Edinburgh.

 

Over the years, she has worked with dance artists in the contemporary dance field both locally and abroad, such as: Matthew Robinson, Henri Oguike, Tommy Small, Annarita Mazzilli, Guy Nader and Maria Campos, Merav Israel, Natalia Iwaniec, Christine Devaney, Kirstie Simson, Ohad Naharin, and Chen-Wei Lee.

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As an independent performer and choreographer, she has been involved in several festivals such as: Dance Hunt, Scottish Dance Theatre’s SCALE PARK Festival, Hidden Door Arts Festival, 100 days/100 dances festival, Perth Dance Festival, Agitart Festival Barcelona, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Dancelive Festival, Insights Platform, and Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. On several occasions she has been invited to be a panel judge for Edinburgh University's national dance competition, where she'd judge and award over 100 entries from universities across the UK.

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Her most significant work and project so far has been The Box. 

The work toured across Scotland and has received high praise both by  audience and critics, and is supported by Creative Scotland amongst several other organisations.

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Julia is the creator and founder of Mind To Move - a relaxation and mindful movement practice focused on supporting mental health and well being through relaxation and movement. She is one of the key artists, within the Scottish professional dance community, who is working in the field of mental health and dance.

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For more information about Julia's artistic practice and the inspirations behind the work she creates, please click here

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