What My Teacher Taught Me: Burr Johnson
June 23, 2016

Burr Johnson in John Jasperse’s Within between

John Jasperse Projects dancer Burr Johnson had only been dancing for two years when he took Brenda Daniels’ Cunningham technique class at the American Dance Festival. Because Daniels taught a different phrase every day, he learned how to pick up movement quickly.

“Going from one day to the next, I had to wipe the slate clean and just focus on picking up the material, which was something that I was absolutely horrible at. It would take me a long time because I would get so attached to what I thought it was. But because she would alter the phrases day to day, I couldn’t get attached to them. I never got a chance to rest on my laurels.”

See Johnson perform in John Jasperse Projects’ world premiere of Remains at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, July 5–7.

Photo by Yi-Chun Wu, courtesy of John Jasperse Projects

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