Julia has been a dancer for almost her whole life. She grew up learning dance by watching Soul Train on Saturday mornings; later, she began studying hip hop and ballet, and received a BFA in dance from the University of California at Irvine. Julia danced and taught at Berkeley City Ballet for many years, and was a dance instructor and choreographer for Young People's Theater Group for close to ten years. She choreographed and directed the show "Hip Hop and its Roots," a live production showing the evolution of hip hop dance. After college, she joined the group Ginga Brasil, and began her journey through Brazilian dances. Today, her focus is dance from Bahia, Brazil. She dances on and off with the Afro-Brazilian group As Yabas, led by Dandha da Hora. She is passionate about dance, and loves sharing that passion with her students.