Choreographer

Julia Adam (Image © David Allen)

Canadian-born Julia Adam received early ballet training in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, and at age thirteen she began studying at the National Ballet School in Toronto. Upon graduation in 1983, Adam joined the National Ballet of Canada and five years later, became a member of San Francisco Ballet. As a principal dancer, she performed a wide range of lead roles in a diverse repertory.

In 1993, Adam created her first ballet, The Medium is the Message, for San Francisco Ballet’s Choreographic Workshop, and it earned her an Isadora Duncan Award nomination. For the 1994 Choreographic Workshop, she created Once is Enough, a ballet for four dancers to music by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma. In 1995, following the premiere, San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson asked Adam to stage the work for the School’s Spring Student Showcase at the Palace of Fine Arts. That same year, Once is Enough was performed at the opening of San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.

In 1995, Adam choreographed a solo performed at the International Ballet Competition in Korea. The following year, the Marin Ballet commissioned Adam to create Where’s George? and in 1997 she returned to create Butterfly’s Day Out. In June 1996, the Bay Area Dance Series “Summerfest Program” commissioned her to choreograph Thirteen Lullabies, which premiered at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater, and a year later, the workreceived an Isadora Duncan Award for Choreography. Adam’s early work includes Chameleon, for Alberta Ballet, set to a compilation of music ranging from Satie’s Gymnopédie to Sephardic twelfth-century music. In addition, she created Newton: Three Laws of Motion—inspired by Newton’s Law of Physics—on the Lawrence Pech Dance Company at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

In 2000, Adam’s Night was commissioned for San Francisco Ballet’s Discovery Program and it received acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. In April of the same year, Adam choreographed a duet for former Principal Dancer Stephen Legate and his wife, Evelyn Cisneros, for the documenting of Carlos Santana’s “Supernatural” album. In addition, she created a work for world-champion ice dancers, Gorsha Sur and Renée Rocca. In summer 2000, Adam choreographed a solo for former San Francisco Ballet Soloist Peter Brandenhoff, which he performed at the Danish Summer Festival in Copenhagen. That December, Adam traveled to New York City to set another world premiere, Won, for ABT Studio Company.

In 2001, Night was reprised for San Francisco Ballet’s season and was performed by San Francisco Ballet at the Palais Garnier in Paris and at London’s Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. For San Francisco Ballet’s 2002 Repertory Season, Adam choreographed Angelo, set to the music of Vivaldi. That same year, she choreographed Reverence for Cincinnati Ballet’s 40th Anniversary, set to the music of Erik Satie. Also in 2002, Adam retired as a dancer from San Francisco Ballet to pursue motherhood and choreography full-time.

Following imaginal disc, which San Francisco Ballet premiered in May 2003, Adam’s If a Rose Falls premiered at Atlanta Ballet. In August of that year, Marin Ballet premiered Adam’s staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For Ballet Memphis, she choreographed The Awakening in 2004 and two years later, Curtain of Green. For Houston Ballet, Adam choreographed both The Accidental and Ketubah in 2004. For Oregon Ballet Theatre, she created il nodo, also in 2004. In addition, Adam created three works for “Choreographers and Friends.” They include First Position in 2005; a year later, You Feel so Nice; and Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, which was performed in summer 2007. Most recently, Adam choreographed the dance sequences for Tom Stoppard’s Travesties and Philip Kan Gotanda’s After the War, which opened at A.C.T. in spring 2007.