As a young dancer, Julie Hunt Knowles began her formal training with the Bischoff-Carroll Dance Centre and Memphis Ballet under the direction of Michael and Judy Tevlin and jazz-great, Gus Giordano. She completed her Royal Academy of Dancing examinations and Dance Education Syllabus with Honours.
She has performed professionally through the Southeast region with classical ballet companies including Memphis Ballet, Tennessee Ballet, Classical Ballet Memphis, Lafayette Festival Ballet, Huntsville Ballet, Birmingham Ballet, and others. Her technical skill and her high-energy flair as a jazz dancer has landed her roles in several theme park shows, industrials, and television spots.
In addition to her long list of dance related credits, Mrs. Knowles used her talents as a director and stage manager in concerts programming at Memphis State University. While at the University she completed her B.A. degree in Communications, and she was in charge of production and stage management of concerts which included Richard Marx, REO Speedwagon, The Call, The Smithereens, Cheap Trick, Jay Leno, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael Winslow, Najee and Pat Metheny.
As an instructor, Mrs. Knowles has a warm-hearted approach to her training for dancers. Her ability to analyze a student's technical problem areas and her ability to communicate effectively with the dancer, not only refines their technique but helps them to find understanding and purpose in their performing art form. She has developed her own curriculum for dance training, blending the highly regarded Russian Vaganova method with the esteemed Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus.
Over the years, she has trained thousands of students in the Mid-South. Many of her students have been accepted into some of the country's most prestigious classical summer study programs and company apprentice programs including Boston Ballet, Joffery Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, Virginia School for the Arts, Houston Ballet, and others. In addition to her student's classical success, her students have excelled in the commercial market as well. Her students have appeared in local and regional theater productions at Theater Memphis, Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse. Nationally, her students have gone on to Disneyworld Theme Park, Broadway musicals (Fosse, Cats and West Side Story), the music video industry, and have pursued careers in arts related business fields.
As a choreographer, Mrs. Knowles' work includes ballets such as The Nutcracker, Paquita, The Skaters, Peter & The Wolf, The Secret Garden, Les Sylphides, Coppelia, The Tarentella. In the last 15 years, she has produced award-winning choreography for competitions, theme park shows, fashion shows, television shows, commercials, and film. Most recently, Mrs. Knowles was Assistant Director/Choreographer for the University of Memphis production of Don Giovanni. If you are in need of professional choreography or stage movement setting or anything related to event production or management, please contact Mrs. Knowles.
Mrs. Knowles is a graduate of Lausanne Collegiate School and a graduate of Memphis State University with a degree in Communications. She lives in Collierville with her husband and four children and owns the Collierville Arts Academy.