Julie's Background

Julie has offered private classes for most of her adult life, starting with teaching mime while still in high school. She has been based in Santa Cruz, CA for the last 29 years, and here she developed RealPlay MovementTheater.

Most classes focus on improvisation but some are about creating set or semi-set original theater pieces. Julie draws on extensive experience with physical theater, Contact Improvisation, Action Theater, as well as other forms of movement theater, such as Motion Theater and Full Spectrum Improvisation.

She is most grateful for her teachers, and thankful to her students as well, for their contributions.

Julie has also taught at numerous universities and dance festivals throughout California, including Sofia University, Cabrillo College, University of California Santa Cruz, and 1440 MultiVersity.

Julie earned a BA in Somatics and Psychology from Antioch University with a minor in Dance.

For workshops, groups and individual sessions, she draws primarily from Authentic Movement, Process Work, Hakomi, Continuum (Emilie Conrad), Gestalt therapy, and Susan Harper's Em'Oceans and Sensations — as well as her extensive self-work in therapy and in life.

For over forty years, Julie maintained a private practice in bodywork therapy, primarily drawing from Ortho-Bionomy, which she also taught.

Over the course of those years, she began to integrate movement, expressive and somatic therapies, primarily those mentioned above.

Julie studied, taught and performed mime theater at the Valley Studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin, where she lived for several years.

In the Bay Area, California, she worked intensively with Ruth Zaporah, to whom she is deeply grateful. Ruth is the creator of Action Theater. Julie has also worked with Nina Wise (Motion Theater), Joya Cory (Full Spectrum Theater), Nita Little (Mind in Motion) and many other theater and dance approaches.

Julie created, produced, directed, and performed several of her own original shows including "The Ms.Adventures of Julie Oak," "Obsessed," "Into the Elsewhere" (part of the Santa Cruz Actor's Theater season series), and "Jewlinka!" in Santa Cruz Fringe Festival.

Julie co-directed Santa Cruz Group "Plan B: Improvise," and started movement theater improvisation collective the "Somaddics" with Kirk Glaser, Miranda Janeschild and Todd Phillips. Currently Todd Phillips left the group and Caitlin Johnston has joined.

Julie has appeared as a guest performer at Cabrillo College, and as a character actress in the works of Santa Cruz choreographers Nita Little, Rita Rivera, Mandaluz Greenlee and Ana Flecha. She appeared as one of the grandmothers in Stephanie Golino's "Mermaid Madonna."