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Holly Johnston

@responsivebody

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a social movement and body liberation practice expanding the arts and sciences of loving ❤️

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With the Practitioner Certification Program, creator and director of Responsive Body, holly johnston invites you to participate in a transformational 18-month program that combines live virtual sessions with self-paced study and 3-day intensive trainings. This is a practice-based learning program examining, exploring, and experiencing a biodynamic ecology of support for somatic and social wellness, creative process, and relationship building for the advancement of human systems for equity, excellence, and radical joy

Learn more about Responsive Body and its upcoming Certification Program >> link in bio or reach out for more information 🌱 by @responsivebody

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2 years ago

Roots of Loving Us: the World Premiere | FRI. OCT. 16th

Experience the transformative power of love
@responsivebody @contra_tiempo @artpoweratucsd

Embodied Organizer Cast
Ana Maria Alvarez @movementartivist
holly johnston @responsivebody
Amainary Contreras @amainary
Grace Shinhae Jun @dr.mamagrace
Maria Garcia @beingme_mari
Ruby Morales @rubezyo

Trailer edited by @hess_da_mess

Tickets are limited and are available in our bio🔗 taken in Epstein Family Amphitheater at UC San Diego by @responsivebody

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6 days ago

Roots of Loving Us is more than a performance.

It is a way we reimagine a future built by the memories and the embodied archives of our past and our present. It is a collection of movement narratives. A collection of connection, of memories, and the remembrance that to create is the most human action we can practice.

In order to choose love. We must choose to care for the roots in which we sprouted from, the roots that keep our body and souls interconnected.

Thank you @shenandoahconservatory for sharing your space and your stories 🌱

Slide 1 pc: @artbyvrisika
Slide 2-4 pc: @shenandoahconservatory media team

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Experience the transformative power of love OCT. 16th @artpoweratucsd

#MovementIsMedicine by @responsivebody

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11 days ago

Nothing better than the sounds of communidad

Don’t miss our next Open Community Repertoire class and the last opportunity of the season to be immersed in the healing process of “Roots of Loving Us” before its premiere date on OCT. 16 at @artpoweratucsd .

Sunday OCT. 11
3:30-5:30pm
📍 Nate Holden Performing Arts Center

#contratiempo #jointhemovement #dance #movementculture by @responsivebody

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a month ago

Artistic director @movementartivist & Somatic ecologist @responsivebody sharing the future they move towards ✨💭🧡

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What future are you moving/dancing towards?

#contratiempo #movement #losangeles #jointhemovement by @responsivebody

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a month ago

“Roots of Loving Us” directed by @bridgetcvalenzuela

This short film documented the start of an unforgettable community-driven creative journey with CONTRA-TIEMPO and Responsive Body, back in March 2025. Since then has been screened at the World Culture Film Festival, Life Film Festival 2026, and the Golden Eagle Film Festival.

Roots has continued to evolve, collecting and spreading narratives of love across the country. From the west to the east coast- our family, our roots, have and will always be intertwined.

Come witness the narrative💛
🌍 World Premiere
📅 October 16, 2026 | 7:30 PM
📍 Epstein Family Amphitheater, UC San Diego | La Jolla, CA
🔗 Link in bio to get your tickets now.

#lovelikegravity #familyiseverything #danceperformance #artpower #dancetheater

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🎥 Credits
Director – Bridget Valenzuela
Producer – Malinda Valdez
Writer/Researcher – Edgar Ortega
Cinematographer – Hugo San Juan Garcia
Editors – Chelsea Holzgang & William Luong
Colorist – Chelsea Holzgang
Assistant Colorist – Ryan Ortega
Sound & Music Editing – Ryan Ortega

🌟 Featuring Company Members
Ana Maria Alvarez
Jannet Galdamez
holly johnston
Maritxell Carrero
Jasmine Stanley
Maria Garcia
Jose Jose Arrieta
Norma Ovalle
Amainary Contreras

💬 With Participants
Victoria O’Neal
Jesse Ocampo
Margarita Gonzalez
Brianna Roche
Dey Guzman by @responsivebody

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2 months ago

EMBODIED BOOK CLUB ❤️‍🔥✨
Part 3 of a Soul Filling Evening

After four beautiful sessions led by our dear somatic ecologist, holly johnston (@responsivebody) and inspired by My Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee we wrapped it all up yesterday evening with a soul-filling Sabor Session at @villagewellcc .

Co-led by @contra_tiempo , accompanied by DJ @seecuenz @cuenzascorner and @dastmusica and @eldermartinez1 on live percussion - the evening became a celebration of movement, embodiment, rhythm, and radical self-love. We gathered to move, connect, reflect, and celebrate everything our bodies know when we give them space to speak. So many bodies, stories, and ways of being. And a reminder we’re carrying with us:

Be in movement. Not as a burden. Not as punishment. But as an axis of joy.

Banish the binary. Bodies don’t exist in either/or. Neither do people. Release the categories that were built to limit us.

Be in community.
We are not meant to do this alone. Liberation is a collective practice. Find your people. Stay close.

Our bodies are not apologies. They are places of possibility.
Radical self-love asks us to make room for the whole, beautifully complicated truth of who we are.

Move on your own terms. Live beyond the binary. Come home to your body.

What a beautiful, soul-filling evening. So much love, magic, and Ashe woven into the space. To everyone who was present Thank you for creating, transforming, and pouring your beautiful energy into it. Deep love and gratitude for each and every one of you.

NOTE - This programming was made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Culver City Arts Foundation.

#embodied #bookclub #mybodyisnotanapology #radicalselflove #joy taken in Village Well by @responsivebody

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2 months ago

EMBODIED BOOK CLUB ❤️‍🔥✨
Part 2 of a Soul Filling Evening

After four beautiful sessions led by our dear somatic ecologist, holly johnston (@responsivebody) and inspired by My Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee we wrapped it all up yesterday evening with a soul-filling Sabor Session at @villagewellcc .

Co-led by @contra_tiempo , accompanied by DJ @seecuenz @cuenzascorner and @dastmusica and @eldermartinez1 on live percussion - the evening became a celebration of movement, embodiment, rhythm, and radical self-love. We gathered to move, connect, reflect, and celebrate everything our bodies know when we give them space to speak. So many bodies, stories, and ways of being. And a reminder we’re carrying with us:

Be in movement. Not as a burden. Not as punishment. But as an axis of joy.

Banish the binary. Bodies don’t exist in either/or. Neither do people. Release the categories that were built to limit us.

Be in community.
We are not meant to do this alone. Liberation is a collective practice. Find your people. Stay close.

Our bodies are not apologies. They are places of possibility.
Radical self-love asks us to make room for the whole, beautifully complicated truth of who we are.

Move on your own terms. Live beyond the binary. Come home to your body.

What a beautiful, soul-filling evening. So much love, magic, and Ashe woven into the space. To everyone who was present Thank you for creating, transforming, and pouring your beautiful energy into it. Deep love and gratitude for each and every one of you.

NOTE - This programming was made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Culver City Arts Foundation.

#embodied #bookclub #mybodyisnotanapology #radicalselflove #joy taken in Village Well by @responsivebody

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2 months ago

EMBODIED BOOK CLUB ❤️‍🔥✨
Part 1 of a Soul Filling Evening

After four beautiful sessions led by our dear somatic ecologist, holly johnston (@responsivebody), and inspired by My Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee we wrapped it all up yesterday evening with a soul-filling Sabor Session at @villagewellcc .

Co-led by @contra_tiempo , accompanied by DJ @seecuenz @cuenzascorner and @dastmusica and @eldermartinez1 on live percussion - the evening became a celebration of movement, embodiment, rhythm, and radical self-love. We gathered to move, connect, reflect, and celebrate everything our bodies know when we give them space to speak. So many bodies, stories, and ways of being. And a reminder we’re carrying with us:

Be in movement. Not as a burden. Not as punishment. But as an axis of joy.

Banish the binary. Bodies don’t exist in either/or. Neither do people. Release the categories that were built to limit us.

Be in community.
We are not meant to do this alone. Liberation is a collective practice. Find your people. Stay close.

Our bodies are not apologies. They are places of possibility.
Radical self-love asks us to make room for the whole, beautifully complicated truth of who we are.

Move on your own terms. Live beyond the binary. Come home to your body.

What a beautiful, soul-filling evening. So much love, magic, and Ashe woven into the space. To everyone who was present Thank you for creating, transforming, and pouring your beautiful energy into it. Deep love and gratitude for each and every one of you.

NOTE - This programming was made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Culver City Arts Foundation.

#embodied #bookclub #mybodyisnotanapology #radicalselflove #joy taken in Village Well by @responsivebody

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2 months ago

It’s here. 🌿

Roots of Loving Us - a new work by CONTRA-TIEMPO Artistic Director Ana María Alvarez and choreographer holly johnston - is coming to the stage for its world premiere.

What does it mean to create family in the 21st century? To love across distance, difference, and loss? To find home in each other when home keeps shifting?

This piece was built from real conversations - with adoptees, foster families, chosen families, and the networks of people who show up for one another when it matters most. It is for everyone who has ever had to define family on their own terms.

Come see it. 💛
🌍 World Premiere
📅 October 16, 2026 | 7:30 PM
📍 Epstein Family Amphitheater, UC San Diego | La Jolla, CA
🔗 Link in bio to get your tickets now.

#lovelikegravity #familyiseverything #danceperformance #artpower #dancetheater taken in Epstein Family Amphitheater at UC San Diego by @responsivebody

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2 months ago

All summer we’ve been asking: what does it actually look like to love your body radically, unapologetically, and without condition?

Sonya Renee Taylor gave us 10 tools. We’ve been living inside them together in our Embodied Book Club. Swipe through. 🌿
And if these resonate, come celebrate with us on August 9th! This is what we’ve been building toward.

📅 August 9th | 6:30 – 8:30 PM 📍 Village Well Books & Coffee 
#TheBodyIsNotAnApology #radicalselflove #EmbodiedBookClub #bodyliberation #unapologetic taken in Village Well by @responsivebody

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3 months ago

FUTURO isn’t happening this year - but your summer CONTRA-TIEMPO dance fix is. 💃🏽✨

this year we are hosting a weekend warrior dance intensive - three days of rigorous, joyful, full-body training with contra-tiempo & responsive body. open level. all bodies welcome. come to work hard, move deeply, and land in community.

🗓️ thu july 23 · 4-8pm
🗓️ fri july 24 · 4-8pm
🗓️ sat july 25 · 10am-2pm
📍 fritz b. burns fine arts center, LMU, los angeles
💵 $30/day
✨ RSVP now! Price goes up at the door

think: good movement, good people, and the kind of presence that only happens when community shows up for itself. get movement drunk with us this summer. 🤍

register at the link in bio - don’t wait!

#WeekendWarrior #ResponsiveBody #DanceIntensive #SummerTraining #activistdancetheater AllBodiesWelcome LosAngeles taken in Los Angeles, California by @responsivebody

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4 months ago