Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Joanna Lees - Season 22, Episode 212

Joanna Lees (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, producer, director, filmmaker, and educator based in Minneapolis, MN. Her current research involves cultivating empowering and healing through trauma-informed artistic practices. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, Joanna graduated cum laude with distinction with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business from The Ohio State University (2007). There, she was an Arts Scholar and the recipient of the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum Scholarship. Joanna studied with various artists including Bebe Miller, Susan Hadley, Karen Eliot Abigail Yager and Ming-Lung Yang. She also performed in Doug Varone’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) in collaboration with BalletMet Columbus.  Joanna moved to Minnesota in 2008, performing in projects and showcasing her choreography independently. In 2011, she co-founded the Minneapolis dance company, Alternative Motion Project alongside Kristin Howe. Joanna serves as the Artistic + Executive Director and has led in creating performing opportunities for artists, educational outreach programs for public school students, and innovating within audience engagement initiatives. As a performer, Joanna has worked with Body Watani (Noelle + Leila Awadallah), Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Khary Jackson, Erin Drummond, Penelope Freeh, Jennifer Glaws, Kristin Howe, Heather Klopchin, Erinn Liebhard, Blake Nellis, Darrius Strong, and Taja Will.  Joanna’s work has been presented by the College of DuPage (Chicago area), The Moving Collective (Louisville, KY) and at  Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival (Kalamazoo, MI – 2013, 2026). Joanna enjoys the collaborative process and has worked with artists in different genres, including composer Lee Kesselman, visual artist René Romero Schuler, the Grand Symphonic Wind Ensemble, soprano Lindsay Kesselman, string quartet 4spiel, and spoken word artist Cole Sarar . She continues to develop creative work with her long-time collaborator, award-winning sound and multimedia artist, Dameun Strange.  In 2020, Joanna earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance at The University of Utah (Salt Lake City). Whilst there, she served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Dance and received the L. Scott Marsh Mentorship Award & a University Teaching Assistantship. Joanna performed works by Charles O. Anderson, Stephen Koester, Sara Pickett, and Christine McMillan with guided mentorship from Molly Heller and Eric Handman. She performed in work by Doug Varone in collaboration with Doug Varone and Dancers and was selected as a choreographer for Varone’s DEVICES mentorship program, showcasing her work, Spiral Into Control, in New York City (2018). An excerpt of her MFA thesis, BECOMING, was selected to represent the University of Utah in performance for the American College Dance Association Northwest Regional Conference at Gonzaga University (2020).  Joanna was a faculty member at Winona State University (2022-2024) where her original work, Entropy, represented WSU at the 2024 Northwest-Central Regional Conference (Northfield, MN). She has also led classes at University of Utah, St. Olaf College, College of DuPage, Universidad de Panamá, and DeSales University and has been a teaching artist at local studios, Zenon Dance School and Threads Dance Project.